The Minnesota Twins are only 13 games into the season, and they’ve already had four relievers record a save. That’s a positive in the sense that they’ve won games with their overhauled bullpen, allowing them to sweep the Detroit Tigers and get over .500 after Thursday’s game. However, they’ve also done so without an established closer or bullpen hierarchy.
“Any manager would like to tell you, ‘Hey, we know we have a guy that is exclusively pitching in the ninth and work back from there,’” Derek Shelton admitted. “I don’t know how many teams actually have that, or have someone that they really want to be that.”
Squint in this moment, and you could try to justify Minnesota’s deadline selloff last year. Trading Griffin Jax for Taj Bradley looks like a steal. Mick Abel has stuff, and the Twins need a legitimate catching prospect like Eduardo Tait. Relievers burn bright and fade fast; starting pitching is the foundation of winning.
Minnesota has a smaller payroll than the Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Still, they just swept the Tigers, and their $200 million team. Perhaps the Twins did the right thing and offloaded the bullpen from a team that wouldn’t make the playoffs.
However, we’re witnessing why teams don’t do that, unless they’re at the end of a winning cycle and want to rebuild.
Wednesday’s win over Detroit was Exhibit A. The Twins scored six runs off Framber Valdez and built a seven-run lead, only to nearly relinquish it. Anthony Banda gave up four earned runs, and Minnesota gave up six runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make it a close ballgame.
That was 24 hours after Taj Bradley outdueled Tarik Skubal, but the bullpen made things interesting. Eric Orze gave up a run and only recorded one out in the ninth. Shelton replaced him with Justin Topa, who inherited one runner and escaped a jam with men on the corners.
The Twins have been cardiac kids early this season, but not in a fun way. Bradley is looking like a potential ace. Joe Ryan is still a star pitcher, and Bailey Ober is working around his low velocity. Minnesota is scoring enough to win, and the starters have pitched well. Still, many games end with an elevated heartbeat as the other team closes in on the Twins’ lead.
Minnesota’s bullpen isn’t the only issue with the team. They don’t have enough right-handed hitters, Brooks Lee is stretched at shortstop, and the lineup isn’t long enough. Still, they seem to have enough offense and starting pitching to stay in games. However, the bullpen remains a liability.
The Twins didn’t have a defined bullpen hierarchy entering the season, and Shelton is still figuring it out early in the season. He will play matchups until someone emerges as a reliable closer and setup guy. Until then, it’ll be a mad scramble at the end of games.
“We’re going to mix and match,” said Shelton. “I think we said that coming in. We weren’t going to have someone [who] was exclusively going to pitch the eighth and ninth inning. We knew we were going to have to go back and forth, and some of it just comes [down to] availability.”
Shelton should play matchups until someone elevates themselves as a closer. They will also win games so long as the starters pitch well and they get some offense. Still, there’s a reason that teams typically don’t trade nearly 40% of their roster.
If the Twins had kept some of their bullpen intact or replaced the players they traded, they’d be better able to capitalize on a surprising start to the season.
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