Here Comes the Injury Bug: Who Can Backfill in the Bullpen?

Last I checked, Austin Adams was on the Red Sox Triple-A roster and not in the Twins organization. 

Isn't this the reason we bring in 13 guys for an 8 man pen?  The depth is there.  High end is still intact.  

Keep my 2025 BP crush LOUIS Varland in short relief and I'll be happy.  

This BP is going to rock.

What exactly happened to Canterino?

If the plan is to exclusively use Castellano in low leverage they should return him now. There are no low leverage roles for a competing team.

There really aren’t long reliever roles either unless that player has an option so that they can be sent to AAA after an outing that will make them unavailable the next 2-3 games.

Castellano needs to show enough that he can be trusted on the occasions he is needed in higher leverage. If he isn’t ready they need to send him back. A competing team can’t devote a spot on the 26 to a player not ready to compete at the major league level.

Castellano still needs more injuries not to get sent back to Philly (Philly is unwilling to trade him for anything reasonable). I don't keep him unless he really shows greatness in spring training. I'm just looking at box scores so someone tell me if watching him is different.

Disappointing. Usually the “best bullpen in baseball” narrative makes it to April.

29 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Castellano still needs more injuries not to get sent back to Philly (Philly is unwilling to trade him for anything reasonable). I don't keep him unless he really shows greatness in spring training. I'm just looking at box scores so someone tell me if watching him is different.

His 2 IP today was the first I have seen of him.  He has very good stuff but a bit erratic.  

18 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Everybody understands the concept of not keeping a pitcher who isn't of MLB caliber or potential. Johan Santana wasn't worth a roster spot when the Twins took him in. Worked out okay for the Twins as I recall.

The Twins were a 63 win team on the way to a 69 win season. I don’t think they make the same roster decision if they felt they had a good shot at winning the division.

I still don’t believe a competing team can devote a spot on the 26 to an ineffective reliever they can’t option. If Castellano can put up a lot of innings with an ERA of 3.81 or 4.25 I am fine with the Twins rostering him.

26 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

The very best bullpen in all of baseball last year, the Guardians, sent out Scott Barlow and Nick Sandlin to pitch 130 times for a total of 111.2 innings. Barlow produced 0.0 fWAR with a 4.25 ERA and a 4.02 FIP while Sandlin's 0.0 fWAR came with a very lucky 3.81 ERA despite the 5.23 FIP. 

I am curious why FIP is better here than xFIP. Do you always use FIP?

Defense, running the bases, and timely hitting are major concerns for this team. The pitching staff doesn't worry me in the least.

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Every pitcher in the bullpen for more than a week will be asked to pitch in games where their performance will be an important part of winning or losing.  Multiple times. Teams use three or more relievers in games almost daily. Its inevitable every pitcher will be called into close games. You can't just park a guy in the pen and only use him when his performance doesn't matter. To do so would be equivalent to carrying a 7 man oen instead of 8. 

fWAR? Seriously??

Johan Santana pitched in an era when staff usage was different.  Starters would see the 7th inning! You could look it up! BTW, he still managed to be the pitcher of record in 5 games.

 

There is no longer any such animal as a "low leverage reliever."

They don't exist.

I know this is not your typical black and white debate with no middle ground, it is entirely each persons opinion, but I have to go with Bean5302 on this one.  To say there is no such thing as a "low leverage reliever" is to say every one of them is a high to mid level reliever, and there simply aren't 240 pitchers on the planet that have that ability, hence the 30 shuttle busses to and from AAA using options on the border line 8th through 11th or 12th guys in your system.  The same goes for starters; there simply are not 150 guys around that you would call #1 through 3 starters.  Your 4th and 5th starters are not on the same level as the top 3.  Nor are your 6th, 7th, and 8th pen guys.  High leverage and low leverage are just slang terms for level of ability, but there are both levels on every team.  

Sure, with extra inning games and games that are tied or very tight throughout the entire game, each reliever is going to see a tense inning now and then throughout the year.  But when 45% of your games are decided by 4 runs or more, win or lose, your bottom end of the pen eats those innings predominately, not your top end guys, again, using the shuttle busses along the way.  It may be just a matter of semantics, but there are high leverage and low leverage, top end and bottom end, etc., relievers; just because they all see the same situations at some point is only a matter of necessity, not a matter of ability.  

It is a great debate.  Somehow I have a hunch I didn't change your mind, though, did I?  😉

It may be tough to keep Castellano in the pen all year if he isn't quite ready, but I think he has way too much potential to just give him back to PHI. If we can find a way to keep him and send him back to AAA next year to finish off his development, he could end up a TOR starting pitcher or a set up/closer type of bullpen arm. Canterino and Topa going down doesn't worry me too much. Nobody was counting on them to be impact arms this year. Varland can take Topa's spot. I've got to imagine the twins give up on Canterino. The dude just won't ever be able to pitch without hurting himself.

The linè that this is one of the best bullpen in baseball was used last year as well.  That didn't work out so well.  They led all of baseball in letting inherited runs score and by a lot.  The bullpen is supposed to help put out the fire not fan the flames.  In addition our closer last year lost 9 games and blew several save opportunities.  Losing 9 games from your closer was catastrophic.   They are going to need him to be healthy and produce.  In todays game you better have a great bullpen of you plan on being à contender.  Their building the bullpen on the cheap may cost them again.

12 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

Rice University.

There is now a rule in college baseball one child call the Rice Rule. Pitchers are limited to 110 pitches. Rest days sew mandated by the number of pitches thrown. 

5 hours ago, Mark G said:

I know this is not your typical black and white debate with no middle ground, it is entirely each persons opinion, but I have to go with Bean5302 on this one.  To say there is no such thing as a "low leverage reliever" is to say every one of them is a high to mid level reliever, and there simply aren't 240 pitchers on the planet that have that ability, hence the 30 shuttle busses to and from AAA using options on the border line 8th through 11th or 12th guys in your system.  The same goes for starters; there simply are not 150 guys around that you would call #1 through 3 starters.  Your 4th and 5th starters are not on the same level as the top 3.  Nor are your 6th, 7th, and 8th pen guys.  High leverage and low leverage are just slang terms for level of ability, but there are both levels on every team.  

Sure, with extra inning games and games that are tied or very tight throughout the entire game, each reliever is going to see a tense inning now and then throughout the year.  But when 45% of your games are decided by 4 runs or more, win or lose, your bottom end of the pen eats those innings predominately, not your top end guys, again, using the shuttle busses along the way.  It may be just a matter of semantics, but there are high leverage and low leverage, top end and bottom end, etc., relievers; just because they all see the same situations at some point is only a matter of necessity, not a matter of ability.  

It is a great debate.  Somehow I have a hunch I didn't change your mind, though, did I?  😉

Jay Jackson, Staurmont and Blewit combined had over 60 innings of pitching last year that were in aggregate rated as low leverage. Sands started the year as a low leverage pitcher. Blowouts happen. With the offensive juggernaut that a healthy Twins team can be with the aged veterans once again finding past glories and the young players hitting their ceilings, there should be plenty of blowouts this year. If you don’t believe that those hitting conditions exist, well there will still be plenty of blowouts

Castellano is going to get a roster spot for April no matter what the circumstances are. His ceiling is high enough that the FO isnt going to send him back until he completely melts down. Which is doubtful.