Comparing AL Central Rosters: Part 4 (Bullpens)

I agree with everything you say. In the near future, CWS will develop some good pitchers.

I think you wrote some really good material in doing the comparisons.  I thought you came up with a nice clean simple scoring system.  It will be interesting to see what the Twins can do to make the team better with all restrictions the team has.  It will take some good creativity on the FO to really make this team have a chance to win the Central,  I think the Guardians , Royals & Twins will make it competitive. The Tigers are also going to be in the mix based on how they finished the second half of last season.  Thanks again creating some good off season reading material.

I think a LH specialist in the bullpen is increasingly overrated with the rules on minimum batters faced, so giving that slot the same impact as the closer/fireman or top set-up guy doesn't work for me. frankly, having more depth in your bullpen is more important than having a LH specialist IMHO.

But ranking Cleveland over the Twins is...fine? I think they're very close, and very strong in comparison to the rest of the division and the league.

I know a lot of people are very down on the Twins bullpen, but even in a down season Duran was good and has never been bad for the Twins. That matters when relievers often vary so wildly from year to year. Alcala had some notable implosions, but even with those on his record, he was very effective for the Twins, and he's arguably their 4th or 5th best reliever? The depth is really good here, especially if a couple of the injury guys (Stewart, Topa) are able to go, and that's really impactful over a long season. Don't let recency bias drag you down too far.

40 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I do like & appreciate the information and comparative thoughts on all the players/positions in the Division! Thanks.

I too think the “lefty” can be valuable but isn’t necessary to thrive within a Team’s PEN.

I opt for Paddack to stick and be an 80-90 inning long/bridge reliever and spot starter once a month. Also, I think the Rule 5 guy will be released or traded for so his status changes and is very doubtful to take a roster spot if it risks somebody with talent and Team history.

Paddack - Varland - Stewart - Topa - Alcala - Sands - Jax - Duran………talent wise, as good of a list of 8, top to bottom as you’ll find. Health???

I think as health gets sorted in Spring, or prior, Tonkin & Henriquez and/or Paddack & Duran are all traded to help infuse more talent on the field at C - 1B!!

I know this is a Reliever Post but how about Pete Alonso on the 1 year deal with player opt outs over a 3 year deal……at $26M/yr?? Seems his market is adrift and Boras has worked this deal with Twins previously…….. (Castro/Paddack/Duran/Vazquez …..team covers $3M…… it’s $28.5M less the $3M……Pete’s covered & we traded for a good young g Catcher) BLUE SKY!!

Probably trade Duran to the Dodgers for Trevor May.  I mean they've got no use for him anymore.   Then make Jax the closer.  You should start a different thread for the Alonzo idea?  I mean it doesn't really fit here, but it might be cool to talk about?  

Please, let the white socks suck for another year. 

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

There's another distinct role to pull out from The Bottom Three -- The Vulture -- the guy you bring in when you are down one or two in the 5th, 6th or 7th, still in the game but not wanting to use the Closer, TSUG or N2. You want the Vulture to keep it close and hope that your bats can come through. In essence, when you're down a run or two midgame, the Vulture is the guy who determines whether you use the top four or five in the final innings or the Nos. 7 and 8 guy.

Often, but not always, the Vulture is a younger guy working his way up the ladder. They usually end up with sparkling records, since it's hard for them to get a loss. In last year's pen, Cole Sands was probably the closest to it. This may be a polarizing statement, but if you go back to 2023, you'll see that Emilio Pagan actually pitched pretty when he was in that role. Guys like Jesse Crain and Pat Neshek served well in that role for a time before moving toward N2 or TSUG roles.   

With a couple of late implosions, I actually wonder if Alcala might fit well in that role, particularly since the team can be well-served if the Vulture can go more than an inning as Alcala can and particularly if guys like Stewart and Topa show they can be N2 guys. 

I wonder if our new Rule 5 draft acquisition could fit into that if they can do a couple of tweaks or if that might be where Louie fits on the Twins pitching staff.

Good series - thanks.

7 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I agree with everything you say. In the near future, CWS will develop some good pitchers.

Yeah CWS. They're going to stink for a couple of more years. But if they ever get a good management team in place and the support of a good owner they will become a major force. Farm system is looking really good and they have no long term bad contracts. Whoever wants to be on top of the Central should take advantage of 2025 and 26 while they can. 

Excellent point Indiana Twin.  Cleveland's BP was EPIC last year.  Clase had a year few closers have ever had.  That his WAR was just 2.1 amazes me.  But it wasn't just Clase, a LOT of guys in Cleveland's pen were absolutely outstanding.  Cade Smith especially.  There is a strong chance Cleveland's BP will still be good, but could also have some significant regression.  They were THAT good.

You could say the same about Griffin Jax.  He was really good last year.  Can he do it again?  I think so because he was pretty solid in 2023 as well.  There may be a slight regression from Jax, but he will still be good.  I look for Duran to bounce back and be dominant again.  I'm just not confident Rocco will use him exclusively as the CLOSER.  That's how Cleveland uses Clase.  That's what I think Rocco needs to do with Duran.  

The Royals and Tigers look to have a lot of question marks but it's certainly possible some guys will emerge.  I think some trades may get done for the Twins within a week or two and I'm hopeful they will create some excitement for Twins fans.  

22 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Excellent point Indiana Twin.  Cleveland's BP was EPIC last year.  Clase had a year few closers have ever had.  That his WAR was just 2.1 amazes me.  But it wasn't just Clase, a LOT of guys in Cleveland's pen were absolutely outstanding.  Cade Smith especially.  There is a strong chance Cleveland's BP will still be good, but could also have some significant regression.  They were THAT good.

Yeah, it'll be interesting. On the one hand, these are all guys that should be in their primes: they're basically all in their mid-20's. On the other hand, they had a bunch of guys whose FIP was quite a bit worse than their ERA, which suggests there may have been some luck in there. They had great health in their bullpen last season, with 4 guys making 70+ appearances (Twins had 1), and it was their best 4 guys too. Is it sustainable? We'll find out, but I think it's fair to expect some drop off.

If you're going to predict drop-off for Jax or Sands, then you should also be predicting the same for Clase or Gaddis or maybe Smith.

Of course in part 5 we're going to see why Cleveland needed such an awesome performance from the their bullpen last season...