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The Twins are just two games into a run of 12 straight without an off day. The remainder of that stretch includes seven in a row against division rivals and three more against a strong Mets team. Currently two games back from the division lead, the Twins are in position to create some separation in the standings. There’s only one problem: the bullpen isn’t exactly fresh, after back-to-back short starts from Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack, and an extra-innings game on Sunday.
Monday’s starter, Simeon Woods Richardson, isn’t exactly known for length at this point in his young career. He hasn't completed five innings in a start since last Aug. 27, even counting spring training, and he last pitched into the sixth on Aug. 10. Cole Sands, Jhoan Duran, Louis Varland and Justin Topa will all be down after pitching back-to-back days. That leaves the team with just Danny Coulombe, Darren McCaughan, Jorge Alcala and Griffin Jax available for the first game against the Royals, among players who have been active with the team this week.
The season is still incredibly young, but after two turns through the rotation, only Pablo López is averaging more than five innings per start. In fact, in five of the nine contests, the team's starter has failed to get an out in the fifth. Luckily, the relief corps is pretty deep at the major-league level, but reinforcements will almost certainly be needed over the next few days. McCaughan, a journeyman with a career 5.93 ERA across parts of four seasons, is likely the odd man out. It would be surprising if he isn’t designated for assignment Monday, in favor of a fresher—and hopefully better—arm. But where will this arm come from? There are two pretty realistic possibilities, and a third that I believe makes a ton of sense.
Calling Up a Triple-A Reliever
This is the most straightforward option, and there are two guys who could make sense. Kody Funderburk is on the 40-man roster, and could easily be a like-for-like replacement for McCaughan. He’s been a bit underwhelming in brief stints with the Twins, but has the stuff to be a medium-leverage arm. He has also been great so far with the Saints this season, with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings and a 0.82 WHIP. However, because the season isn't yet 15 days old, Funderburk's option can't be reversed unless the team places a pitcher on the injured list.
Scott Blewett is another realistic option. He did well for the Twins in 2024, and aside from the unfortunate last name, he belongs on a big-league club. However, he’s not on the 40-man roster. Calling him up would probably result in the Twins losing him when Brock Stewart or Michael Tonkin are ready for action, and we know they prefer to preserve legitimate depth whenever possible.
Waiver Claims
Claiming another team’s castoff is the second likely option. Similar to the Blewett situation, the Twins would likely lose anyone they claim within a couple of weeks. Derek Falvey has shown a willingness to quickly part ways with waiver pickups. The downside here is twofold. First, it isn’t clear that guys who aren’t good enough for another team’s bullpen would actually improve the Twins'. The second challenge is that this process may be slower than what’s convenient to shore up the bullpen at the beginning of this stretch of games.
There has been a fair bit of roster churn across baseball, even this early in the season. There have been a half-dozen guys who have been designated by their teams recently, but most are the same sort of fungible relievers as McCaughan. Padres lefty Tom Cosgrove and Mariners righty Hagen Danner are both currently in DFA limbo, but neither even made those teams' rosters to open the season. This probably doesn't make too much sense.
Free-Agent Signings
There are a number of free agents whom the Twins could pursue, should they be interested (and have the ability to free up some cash, which there’s no indication they will do). Drew Smyly, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Brooks Raley are all unsigned. So is the real prize, David Robertson. Yes, this is his age-40 season, but he’s still really good. He could slot in at the back of the bullpen, deepening an already enviable group. He declined a mutual option with the Rangers this offseason, taking a $1.5 million buyout. It’s not clear what his services would cost, but this sort of move would certainly boost fan morale and could be worth the expense. After all, what’s another $7 million in debt, when you're $425 million in the hole? This would be worth it.
Now, these options make some sense in terms of bullpen quality, but neither solves the need to eat some innings immediately. Even Robertson will, presumably, need onboarding and a bullpen session or two to demonstrate readiness before he can help anyone. So, let’s look at the next couple of options.
Converting Marco Raya
If the Twins want a long reliever, Marco Raya could also be an option. Thus far in his career, he has rarely gone more than four innings in a start. Many evaluators believe he may end up in the bullpen, anyway, and they could decide that trying him for a few innings at a time with the big-league club makes sense. Of course, the Twins have been slowly stretching him out with the intention of a full starter’s workload, so this would only make sense if they, too, secretly believe he will end up a reliever. His stuff will almost certainly play, and he’s no higher than ninth on their starter depth chart. Still, this would be a sudden pivot.
The Unconventional Option
If the Twins wanted to get a tiny bit creative, they could decide to do something they really haven’t done much of before: call up a starter from the Saints and plan to piggyback Woods Richardson with, say, Zebby Matthews for the next couple of turns through the rotation. They could plan on four or five innings from each and give the bullpen a full day off on the piggyback days. As luck would have it, Matthews is set to start on Tuesday, but if he was a bulk guy on Monday, that would be five days' rest for him. In this scenario, no players would be lost due to 40-man churn (assuming they feel comfortable optioning someone like Topa or Varland to St. Paul), and the Twins would add a high-caliber arm to the bullpen.
With how Matthews’s stuff has been playing up so far in 2025, this almost makes too much sense to not at least try it, and it gets my vote. It feels far-fetched, though. In all likelihood, we're about to see Blewett join the pen. What's less clear is whether that will be enough to help the team survive this difficult early stretch.
How do you feel about these options? Would you like to see a reliever call-up? Converting Marco Raya? Claiming someone off waivers? A piggyback situation? Or, do you think this is all unnecessary? Let’s chat below!
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