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    Three Internal Options to Help Rebuild Twins Bullpen

    The Minnesota Twins are unlikely to spend to rebuild their bullpen in 2026. What in-house options could step in to help fill it out?
    Cody Pirkl

    By Cody Pirkl

    Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

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    The Twins likely didn’t have plans of contending next season in mind when they shipped out the majority of their bullpen at the 2025 trade deadline. As a result, it’s hard to envision them allocating much money to bringing in replacements for 2026. Instead, they should turn these innings over to younger pieces with chances to break out and (at least) become usable relief arms. They have a few prime options who should be given this opportunity from the start of 2026.

    Cody Laweryson
    It’s fair to argue that Laweryson should have been given a shot to face MLB hitters earlier in 2025. While far from a high-end pitching prospect, he allowed just a single run in 7 2/3 innings in his first cup of big-league coffee. A former 14th-round pick by the Twins in 2019, it’s worth seeing whether the strong numbers he put up in a small sample at the end of 2025 can carry over to 2026. He’ll be cheaper than anyone they can find externally, and could become a great story from the late rounds of the draft.

    Laweryson lacks the velocity and raw stuff to take over as a high-leverage relief arm. Still, his command and ability to limit homers make him a strong candidate to at least fill out a middle relief role. With a wide-open depth chart, his brief success to end 2025 should be more than enough to earn him a look right away in 2026.

    Travis Adams
    Adams was added to the 40-man roster last offseason to serve as rotation depth. While he did wind up being used in that role eventually, he didn’t impress in it, and the Twins' rotation depth headed into 2026 makes him unlikely to serve in that capacity again. Adams made the transition to the bullpen in September, and it didn’t go well, but perhaps a full offseason of preparing for relief work can make a difference.

    Adams has a strong repertoire to transition into relief work. Unlike Laweryson, Adams can run his fastball into the mid- to high 90s. He also has a six-pitch mix that could easily be trimmed down to feature his changeup and slider, which were his best swing-and-miss offerings. Adams will have to perform much better than he did in 2025 to stick in any role, but it’s fair to wonder whether he has the upside to help fill the massive void left by the trade deadline.

    David Festa
    A former 13th-round pick, Festa developed into a legitimate starting pitching prospect before his stock came crashing down in 2025. Poor performance was eventually revealed to be injury-related, as repeated shoulder injuries held him down for much of the year. He struggled to maintain his stuff and consistency for multiple innings at a time. While injury may be the cause, it’s also worth questioning whether Festa’s significant boost in velocity since he was drafted can be maintained in a traditional starting pitching role.

    When it comes to stuff, Festa is near the top of the Twins organization at his best. His high-end velocity and pair of off-speed pitches make him a candidate to become a legitimately dominant back-end relief pitcher. Between his injury, the Twins’ need for bullpen help, and their starting pitching depth, a move to a relief role would make a lot of sense. It’s unlikely we see this transition from day one, as the team always likes to maintain rotation depth, but they shouldn’t be too slow to try Festa in a new role if 2026 doesn’t get out to an encouraging start for him. He’s more than capable of being one of the better relief pitchers on the roster by season’s end.

    Are there any other organizational relievers that should be given a chance to help rebuild the bullpen in 2026? Or some starting pitchers who the team should try in a relief role? Let us know below!

    Cody Pirkl is a Twins Writer for Twins Daily and lover of all things baseball.
    Follow Cody Pirkl on Twitter: CodyPirkl

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    stringer bell

    stringer bell 25,881

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    We know a number of things about the 2026 pitching staff: 1) The 13 that start the season will not be the 13 that finish it. 2) There will be injuries and at least one pitcher will be lost for the season by May 1. 3) Guys who are being counted on will not meet expectations and 4) guys that aren't even on the horizon will get their chance with the Twins.

    With all of the uncertainty in the Twins' pitching staff, it seems prudent to get as many good arms as possible and sort out the roles, which might take much more than spring training. A couple of starters could end up in the 'pen--I've seen it suggested for Bradley, Abel, Festa and Prielipp to name a few. I would surmise that the Twins will keep a couple of potential starters in St. Paul to start the season and wait on converting many guys until there is a better idea of who is going to be effective.

    On the three guys listed in the OP, Festa has injury concerns plus a noted inability to go deep into games. He might be the best candidate to move to the bullpen of guys who have been starters. I think Ohl is pretty much a one-trick pony--his change-up is pretty nasty, but he doesn't have much else. Adams may also benefit by converting to a shorter relief role. It is possible that his stuff will play up in shorter stints. 

    The Twins need to hit on a pretty high number of question marks to have a representative bullpen and they still probably need to bring in a couple of experienced guys from outside the organization.

    Riverbrian

    Riverbrian 42,821

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    12 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

    The Twins look to have more major league ready starters than major league quality relievers. I wonder if damage is done by having them relieve at the major league level rather than start in AAA. Quite a while ago many pitchers started as relievers and moved to a starter. I looked to the all star rosters from the last two years to see if any of those starters spent time in the bullpen earlier in their career.

    Chris Sale pitched his first two seasons as a reliever. Lugo was a reliever for the Mets. Bubic pitcher from relief last year after returning from injury. Crochet began his career as a reliever. Rasmussen was a reliever. Peralta pitched from the pen. Glasnow was put in the pen by the Pirates after struggling as a starter. Lopez had 4 seasons in relief before returning to a starter in 2024, Ranger Suarez began as a reliever. Ragans was a reliever with the Rangers the season he was traded to the Royals. Holmes was a reliever from 2018-2024 prior to his successful season as a starter this year. Houck was a reliever in 2022 and an all star starter in 2024. I will acknowledge that some of these pitchers changed teams before changing roles. It could be it was their first organization that had their minds fixed on that relief role. 

    I am not convinced we are harming careers by having potential young starters pitch from the bullpen. Some of these pitchers even transitioned from reliever to starter midseason. I would start the 2026 season with the 12 best arms even if it means putting a pitcher capable of starting in the bullpen. I don’t believe pitching from a major league bullpen is going to stop these pitchers from being a starter in the future. The only thing that would stop that from happening is if the Twins management gets fixated on their role and not open to moving them to a starter when an opportunity arises.
     

    Tagging @Riverbrian here because he often challenges us (myself included) on keeping an open mind and not be so fixated on roles. Maybe this is not what he envisions though.

    It's exactly what I hope for.

    Just roster your best players and give more work to the best of your best. 

    Anything that stops you from doing that is a self imposed handicap. 

    Defined roles with self imposed limitations are handicaps that can stop you from rostering your best players. It's a mistake to just shop the reliever aisle because you are looking for specific roles. It's a mistake to just shop the starter aisle when looking for a rotation specific role. You just look for the best arms period. It's a mistake to look for a crappy 1B to play a specific role. Roster your best players please. Looking for specific roles is how you choose Celestino over what had to be better players at the time. There had to be better players but Celestino could fill that one role and he ends up playing more than he should when you consider his overall talent and performance. It's how you choose Margot looking for that right handed OF role. 

    The Twins need to stop trying to piece this thing together and make a full on blitz to find and develop TALENT period.  

    To your point... The bullpen can be a great way to manage innings on young arms if necessary. 

    You've done a great job of listing players who have transitioned... there are more. Can you hang a zero and how many can you hang. 

    The next step is for others to stop thinking that the players you list are oddities or special.

    They are not. 

    TwinsDr2021

    TwinsDr2021 4,463

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    10 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

    The Twins look to have more major league ready starters than major league quality relievers. I wonder if damage is done by having them relieve at the major league level rather than start in AAA. Quite a while ago many pitchers started as relievers and moved to a starter. I looked to the all star rosters from the last two years to see if any of those starters spent time in the bullpen earlier in their career.

    Chris Sale pitched his first two seasons as a reliever. Lugo was a reliever for the Mets. Bubic pitcher from relief last year after returning from injury. Crochet began his career as a reliever. Rasmussen was a reliever. Peralta pitched from the pen. Glasnow was put in the pen by the Pirates after struggling as a starter. Lopez had 4 seasons in relief before returning to a starter in 2024, Ranger Suarez began as a reliever. Ragans was a reliever with the Rangers the season he was traded to the Royals. Holmes was a reliever from 2018-2024 prior to his successful season as a starter this year. Houck was a reliever in 2022 and an all star starter in 2024. I will acknowledge that some of these pitchers changed teams before changing roles. It could be it was their first organization that had their minds fixed on that relief role. 


     

    Tagging @Riverbrian here because he often challenges us (myself included) on keeping an open mind and not be so fixated on roles. Maybe this is not what he envisions though.

    Of all those pitchers you mentioned (11) 8 of them were in the majors at age 22 or before, 3 of them were in the majors at age 24 (Ragans, Rasmussen, Houck).  I am not seeing any Twins pitching prospects that are 22 or younger close to the majors. I see many more twins pitching prospects in the second group, which isn't a bad group to be in, just need to temper expectations on them a bit. 

    I also believe that starting guys in the pen isn't a bad thing (Johan Santana, F-Bomb, both 21), but if it takes them to age 25 to get to the majors be it injury or just figuring it out, it is less likely them become anything but a bullpen pitcher or an Ober type pitcher at best (Again not a bad thing) 

    jorgenswest

    jorgenswest 10,637

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    2 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

    Of all those pitchers you mentioned (11) 8 of them were in the majors at age 22 or before, 3 of them were in the majors at age 24 (Ragans, Rasmussen, Houck).  I am not seeing any Twins pitching prospects that are 22 or younger close to the majors. I see many more twins pitching prospects in the second group, which isn't a bad group to be in, just need to temper expectations on them a bit. 

    I also believe that starting guys in the pen isn't a bad thing (Johan Santana, F-Bomb, both 21), but if it takes them to age 25 to get to the majors be it injury or just figuring it out, it is less likely them become anything but a bullpen pitcher or an Ober type pitcher at best (Again not a bad thing) 

    Good point. Younger debut age correlates to pitchers that land in all star games so maybe more correlation than causation. In any case Bradley, SWR, Festa, Matthews and Raya already have or can debut in the majors in that 22-24 range. That leaves Prielipp who is in that 25 due to injury group. His fit is Ragans. I don’t think relieving this year will keep him from being a starter in the future. 

    It is those 6 starters that I have in mind. They all can’t join Ryan, Lopez and Ober. I think the best route is to keep all 9. If all 9 are among the best 12 then I want to roster them all.

    I should note that they need to make the top 12 and not 13. That 13th spot should be shuttled between slightly older prospects that have options. Pitchers like Adams, Ohl and Laweryson would fit if they aren’t in the top 12. Sands and Jax were in that role and pitched their way into a permanent spot. They can do the same.

    Nshore

    Nshore 826

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    On 10/13/2025 at 10:34 PM, TNtwins85 said:

    He had the command though right out of the gate. That matters. Stuff helps but after watching Deja vu of Duran in Philly walking batters like he did with the Twins and Abner Uribe doing the same and Roki Sasaki tonight with all the stuff and losing command. Also Griffin Jax had 3 incredible pitches but would struggle with command. Stuff and velocity doesn’t guarantee success. The Twins bullpen the last few years should have been a shutdown bullpen. It wasn’t. Go watch all the walk off games in Cleveland the last 2 years. Laweryson can get guys out. So can Adams. 

    Adams had a 7.00+ ERA and Lawyerson is a 27 year old Quad A player.  But I hope you're right and they become Aguilera and Nathan.

    TNtwins85

    TNtwins85 608

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, Nshore said:

    Adams had a 7.00+ ERA and Lawyerson is a 27 year old Quad A player.  But I hope you're right and they become Aguilera and Nathan.

    Nobody said they would be Aguilera and Nathan. Adams’ velocity improved when he became strictly a short stint BP guy which plays up and he’s got an assortment of pitches to go to. No he’s not Duran but neither was Duran. Laweryson had good command. Threw strikes and got some good outs for only being in the majors for a few appearances. Duran was a failed starter with terrible command. Constantly injured. Jax was one of the worst starters in Twins history, had a -1 WAR and a 6 something ERA his first year. low velocity and iffy secondary stuff, Brock Stewart was a 30 something injury plagued scrap heap guy, Varland was a failed starter who couldn’t finish guys as a 15th round draft pick out of a tiny Minnesota college. Point is you never know where the next dominant BP arm will come from and if they show any promise they could be something. Especially when they can throw strikes and spot pitches. The eye test is superior to stats when it comes to spotting relievers. ERA is irrelevant as a few bad games blows it for the year. Nathan and Aguilera weren’t world beaters either unless you’re counting saves which is as good as errors as far as counting stats. As far as Lawerysons age, if he pitches good for a season or two what does that matter?

    stringer bell

    stringer bell 25,881

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    As of now, there’s plenty of room on the 2026 Twins staff, especially the bullpen. I don’t think anyone that debuted this year this year should be ruled out, even if they struggled, but OTOH none of the new guys proved they are a major league pitcher. I like the idea of going with all of the best arms and sorting out roles, but there may be some need to tinker with a small number of guys at AAA.

    With so many question marks, it is very predictable that there will be a lot of turnover in the coming season and that just about every viable arm will get a shot. 



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