Cole Sands Can Be More Than a Mop-Up Man

This is curious.  Would this be Winder's position if he had been healthy?  It just seems that there are a lot of prospects with better track records (which I value more than spin metrics).  If Sands fails who is next up?

But good luck to Cole.  

Cole Sands is quite popular here at Twins Daily lately.  Did Getty Images have a BOGO on his likeness or something?

His pitch mix sounds a lot like a few other very solid Twins relievers who were failed starters.  Jax and Duffey.  
 

To me he seems much more like a RH Glen Perkins.  If that fastball can tick up in the bullpen and he can rely that big sweeper and split he can be very valuable out of the pen.

10 hours ago, PatPfund said:

Sands making the Opening Day roster is a pretty clear sign the Twins overlooked the bullpen in their offseason-stack-up-quality-backups bonanza. He is the pitching equivalent of Gilberto Celestino; maybe Sands has the goods to play MLB someday, but he really hasn't shown it yet. I suspect his pitch selection has a lot to do with not being able to control his better pitches (thus the less-than-ideal walk rate), and at times having to throw fastballs to avoid walks.

With Sands and Pagán, the Twins 'pen now has two (aka a full quarter of the RPs) pitchers you just don't want to pitch with a game on the line. Hopefully Winder and Henriquez heal quickly, and too bad the Twins didn't skip signing Solano (who looks like the Archer of position players, and instead use the money on an MLB RP. Or just keep Coulombe in the role instead of bowing to the lefty/righty fetishists.

Unless he has copies of Pagán's pictures, Cole might easily be the first one dropped from the 26-man roster.

I think your pitch selection speculation is correct, but at some point either the Twins or Sands need to recognize giving up walks is probably better than extra base hits. 

Sands is very likely on this team because Winder is hurt, and I would think as soon as he's back Sands is headed to St. Paul. 

You need low leverage pitchers too, not every game is going to be 3-2 and you need length to eat innings when your losing by 7. I suspect Sands and Pagán can fill those spots, especially after seeing them work multi-inning outings in spring. 

11 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

Another RP with "stuff".... ughhhhhh

much better than relievers without stuff, I assure you 

I prefer Sands to retreads like Joe Smith on one year deals.  Atleast if he does get his stuff to play up in the bullpen we have a reliever under contract for a couple years.   Seemed to work well with Griffen Jax.

18 hours ago, PatPfund said:

We probably aren't far apart (because neither really saw Sands making the Opening Day roster), but I sort of disagree with your last paragraph here assuming the Twins will be a competitive team. When you are down by 7, it really doesn't matter who comes in, any arm will do, but a good team probably has that happen once every couple weeks. 

Having a quarter of your 'pen being gas cans starts to hurt in two situations. 1. The SP struggles with control, uses a lot of pitches, but essentially needs to come out after 4 or 5, the team is down by a few, and you need a long arm to give the hitters a chance to rally (not somebody to eat innings while giving away the game). 2. A manager (let's call him Rocco for fun) gets in a habit of pulling people after 5 in competitive games, leans far too heavily on his top 4 RPs, and with them over-used finds himself forced to put 'low leverage' pitchers into high leverage situations (happened A LOT last year).

As for amping up his stuff in a relief role, that is exactly what he was supposed to be doing this spring, and opponents beat him like a drum (12 innings pitched, 18 hits, 6 BB, 7 ER, 5.25 ERA, 2.00 WHIP per baseball-reference.com). That is more a stat line to get you released than one to make the 26-man, and if the Twins don't have a better option, I repeat that it is an indictment of their skipping the 'pen in the search for depth.

Perhaps 7 runs was an exaggeration. Most win probability models would show being down 3-4 runs in mid-late innings as low leverage, which even for good teams isn't infrequent. 

Spring training numbers aren't very reliable for player evaluation, too many variables for it to be reliable data and teams (every team, not just the Twins) clearly don't use them to make roster decisions. While it's better to pitch well than not pitch well I'm not concerned about it. We don't know if he was working on stuff or trying out new things. 

I would expect Sands to be in AAA by the end of April, given the role assigned, the options left, and the guys likely coming off the IL. This is Winder's spot on the team, I would assume as soon as he's healthy Sands is headed for St. Paul. 

He is on the opening day roster because Henriguez and Winder are injured.  That situation is likely to rectify itself relatively soon and Sands will be in AAA.  I do think there is reasonable upside if he gains better command.