Stauffer Signing Slightly Improves Staff

Stauffer's one-year, $2.2 million deal isn't significantly different from what the Twins would have given Anthony Swarzak, who was the only arbitration-eligible player they chose to non-tender. Considering the similarities between the two pitchers, this looks like a straight-up swap.

Like Swarzak, Stauffer has spent time as a starter and as a reliever. And like Swarzak, he's been much better in the bullpen, where he has a 2.65 career ERA.

But unlike Swarzak, Stauffer has actually had some success as a starter. In that role, the veteran has a 4.29 career ERA -- compared to 5.87 for Swarzak -- and in his most recent season as a full-time member of the rotation (2011), Stauffer put up a solid 3.73 ERA and 1.26 WHIP over 31 starts.

Now, all of those numbers were accrued in the National League, with Petco Park as his home field, so the skill difference between Stauffer and Swarzak might not actually be as large as the statistical gap suggests.

But the newcomer profiles as a better reliever, capable of missing more bats and filling a more impactful role in the bullpen, so he's a welcome addition.

He also looks like a guy who can step in and make a good spot start in situations where the Twins need someone and don't want to make a roster move. That is a weapon that any team likes to have available somewhere in its bullpen, and it's an area where Swarzak never really proved adequate.

With all the talk of improving the quality of their starting pitching depth, this may have been the key consideration for the Twins in replacing Swarzak with Stauffer.

It's not a huge upgrade, but it does make the team slightly better, and getting slightly better in many different areas is a good way to move the needle in a larger sense.