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This offseason Derek Falvey and Thad Levine decided to do absolutely nothing for the bullpen. They doubled down on that decision by making no moves at the trade deadline. Brock Stewart had emerged as among the best arms in Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen, but he’s now been hurt for weeks, and both Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax have done all of the heavy lifting.
Despite a desire to add either Matt Moore or Reynaldo Lopez after the Los Angeles Angels parted out their active roster, the Cleveland Guardians scooped up the pair along with Lucas Giolito. Relying now on only internal options, Minnesota’s supplementing the relief corps will likely be done unconventionally.
In the postseason you often don’t need the traditional five-man starting rotation. For a first round series against a wild card team, the Twins will have need for only three starting arms. Given how good Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray have been this season, Baldelli may opt to use them as much as possible in a five or seven game series as well.
Right now the back of Minnesota’s bullpen is set. Duran and Jax are the late-inning guys, with Caleb Thielbar and Emilio Pagan on the fringes of that group. Stewart would be there if he were to return healthy, but that’s where the falloff comes. Josh Winder has shown flashes, and while Cole Sands has largely gone unused, he has pitched well at Triple-A. Needing to extend the available arms though, expect starters to make the trot behind the outfield wall.
The Twins have already begun this transition with Louie Varland at Triple-A. He worked four innings in relief during his most recent outing, and the new role allowed his fastball an opportunity to jump all the way to triple digits. He’s not all of a sudden going to be Duran-esque, but allowing starters to shove for a shorter period can have positive effects. Minnesota gets an immediate look at his efforts after he was recalled on Monday to replace Cole Sands.
It remains to be seen how Bailey Ober is brought back to Minnesota, and while the home run has still gotten him, Joe Ryan has responded nicely after coming off the injured list. Both may find themselves coming out of the bullpen in the postseason, and although neither are flamethrowers, their stuff could play up slightly when asked to work in shorter stretches.
Kenta Maeda has been on a bit of a slide for Minnesota of late, and Dallas Keuchel doesn’t necessarily have a defined starting role for the postseason either. The former has worked out of the bullpen plenty during his career, and while it is new for the latter, Keuchel dominated a good Texas team in relief a couple of appearances ago.
For the Twins, they’ll hope to avoid mop up or long relief situations when games matter the most, but stretching the overall amount of arms capable from the bullpen is a must. Brent Headrick is getting a look again as a September call-up, and Kody Funderburk was finally called upon to make his debut as well.
There isn’t going to be an opportunity for the Twins to infuse the bullpen with another lockdown arm at this point, and by building a pitching staff capable of simply getting outs, they’ll look at every option possible. It could be weird to see how many current or former starters head to the bullpen during the postseason, but piecing games together behind workhouse starters is a must.
If the Twins are going to make a deep run in the postseason, it will most likely be because of their pitching prowess. Finding a way for that to all contribute, while not utilizing a five-man rotation, is something the coaching staff has a month to dissect.
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- glunn, ToddlerHarmon, Oldgoat_MN and 1 other
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