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As the dog days of summer give way to the season’s final months, the Twins are playing with a pitching staff that looks a little unconventional. Between innings limits for young arms like Zebby Matthews and Simeon Woods Richardson, the trade of Chris Paddack Monday, and a developmental pipeline filled with multi-inning relievers, the Twins are increasingly turning to “bullpen days” to navigate the schedule.
“We’re in a good spot, and we’ve done this multiple times before,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We've been able to play and pitch some good ballgames using a bullpen sort of day. They all look different.”
Why Bullpen Games Work
The Twins are hardly the first team to try this strategy, but they’ve taken a more deliberate and tactical approach this season. Cole Sands, a former starter, has become the opener of choice in these matchups, and his success stems from a diverse arsenal that plays well against any spot in the lineup.
“Cole [Sands] I think is pretty comfortable starting these games,” Baldelli said. “He has a good pitch mix to pitch to both right- and left-handed hitters… I think he’s a good fit to do this every so often when we run a bullpen day.”
Behind Sands, players like Travis Adams are helping to shoulder the innings. Adams, a converted starter with a deep pitch mix, has emerged as a key “bulk guy” who can bridge the middle innings without needing to be stretched into a traditional starter’s workload.
“He’s handled it all well,” Baldelli said of Adams. “He’s got a mix of pitches that he can use to attack hitters in different ways. But I think he’s done a good job with what we’ve asked him to do… Everything we’ve thrown his way, it’s been pretty smooth. And that’s all you can ask for from a young guy.”
One of the significant advantages of a bullpen day is matchup manipulation. When done right, it can prevent opposing lineups from getting a second or third look at any one pitcher, while also giving the Twins the chance to neutralize platoon-heavy hitters through the game.
For some managers, the unpredictability could create a headache. But for Baldelli, it’s a feature.
“Honestly, I enjoy these games. Maybe not every guy enjoys these games, but I do.”
Yes, he really said that. When asked about his apparent comfort with bullpen days, he responded with an explanation only a manager steeped in game theory could provide.
“We play a lot of baseball games, and when you get to do something that’s a little bit different, or somewhat interesting—that makes you think a little bit in a new way—it’s just, I enjoy that every once in a while,” he said. “When you see things that maybe you haven’t quite seen before—and every time you run a bullpen day, you’re gonna see some kind of situation in that game that is something you probably haven’t seen in 99.8% of the games that you’ve ever been a part of—you’re just gonna run into something new.”
It’s more than just the challenge during the game. The planning starts the night before, with Baldelli and the staff game-planning different scenarios.
“It’s definitely different, and it starts yesterday. It doesn’t start during the game, it starts last night. We decide who’s gonna begin the game; we have to decide that first. And then you go from there. Then you have to wait and see what their lineup’s gonna look like."
That was what the Twins did Sunday, and after they dealt away Tuesday's projected starter, they'll do it again Tuesday. It'll be a matter of feeling their way through the game, one decision point at a time.
“So you kind of walk through those scenarios, knowing that even the ones you plan for may not be the ones that play out,” he said. “So you’re prepared for a lot of different things to come. You talk through as much of it as you can, without getting too far. You plan for what you can plan for; that’s pretty much it.”
The real-time decision-making on bullpen days is significantly more involved. It’s a chess match from pitch one.
“Even when the game starts, there’s a lot more talking going on, relating to the pitching,” Baldelli noted.
A Developmental Edge
Minnesota's front office and player development staff haven’t just stumbled into this model; they’ve been building toward it. As I wrote about earlier this season, the organization has been developing more pitchers in the minors who are comfortable working multiple innings in relief.
Rather than limiting pitchers to single-inning bursts or traditional five-inning starts, prospects like John Klein, Mike Paredes, and Pierson Ohl have all been utilized in ways that mirror major-league bullpen days. That kind of minor-league structure directly feeds into the big-league flexibility the Twins are currently using.
“The minor leagues are ultimately a testing ground for these things,” Director of Player Development Drew MacPhail said. “With a select number of pitchers that were maybe on the outside looking in of a starting rotation spot but we felt like had a lot of talent and potential, we sort of brought them this idea of almost being like a quasi-starter/long reliever and pitching every day on a four-day cadence—not going through the order multiple times, but pitching three to four innings.”
Having pitchers like Adams and Sands able to step in and pitch two or three innings at a time gives the team options and keeps the rotation fresh for longer series.
What Comes Next
Bullpen games may become more common over the final stretch. Baldelli has been clear that this isn’t a permanent change. He said it's “not something that I aspire to do, run them constantly,” but it’s a card he’s willing to play.
As young pitchers approach innings caps and the staff continues to juggle injuries, these unconventional games might be the best way for the Twins to bridge the gap from the trade deadline to the season’s final game.
And if you ask Baldelli, the chaos is part of the charm.
“These games keep us on our toes,” he said. “They keep our bullpen on their toes. But I think we’re fully equipped and ready to win a game in this manner.”
Should the Twins be doing more bullpen games? Will this type of strategy be successful over a 162-game season? Leave a comment and start the discussion.
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