Where Does Each Twins Reliever Sit In the Bullpen Pecking Order?

The Minnesota Twins bullpen is at a crossroads with only 32 games left on the calendar. Three of their last five losses came with relievers blowing leads late in games, and their Friday night game against St. Louis Cardinals got out of hand when Trevor Richards gave up four base runners in the eighth.

Following Friday night's loss, the Twins DFA’d Steven Okert, who was responsible for Minnesota’s loss against the Padres on Tuesday. His 5.09 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and 10.6% strikeout-minus-walk rate in 44 games were among the highest out of the Twins bullpen this year.

Minnesota’s bullpen meltdown this August has been similar to what the Texas Rangers experienced last season as they fought to keep their postseason chances alive in the AL West. From the beginning of the season until Aug. 26, 2023, the Rangers bullpen’s 4.77 ERA was 24 out of 30 in Major League Baseball. They also had the second-highest home runs per nine allowed at that point in the year, at 1.36 per nine.

Fortunately, Minnesota’s relievers are far from as bad as the defending World Series champs’ bullpen a year ago. They sit 14 out of 30 in MLB in bullpen ERA at 3.97 and have the seventh-lowest HR per nine rate at 0.93. However, the similarity they share with the Rangers of a year ago is the limited relievers they can trust.

Where do Minnesota’s eight relievers rank, given how much the Twins can trust them late in games after Rocco Baldelli removes the starters?

Trusted at the top: Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax

There’s no question that without Jax and Duran, the Twins bullpen would be in a much worse place this season. Jax has been Minnesota’s best reliever this season and one of the 10 best in baseball.

He ranks in the top 10 among relievers in ERA (1.73, ninth), FIP (1.91, fourth), strikeout-to-walk ratio (28.4%, sixth), and fWAR (2.0, third). Jax has been invaluable to the Twins in the 59 games that he’s come out of the bullpen.

Duran has seen a setback this season with his fastball velocity and counting stats but has still been just as invaluable as Jax. His 3.16 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .213 opponents' average, and 10.13 strikeouts per nine are only second to Jax in the Twins bullpen this year.

Middle relief: Cole Sands, Jorge Alcala 

Sands and Alcala have been the biggest surprises in the Twins bullpen this season. Both could easily be Minnesota’s most improved player of the year once the season concludes.

Along with their improvement, though, comes new career highs in workloads. Sands's 58 ⅔ innings out of the bullpen this year is a new career high in the majors. Alcala’s 47 ⅔ innings are only second to his career-high 59 ⅔ innings out of the Twins bullpen in 2021.

Sands's workload is a significant factor in why the Twins have used him more sparingly in August. He has only eight relief appearances in the month. On the other hand, Alcala has only pitched once since his seventh-inning implosion, where he surrendered five hits and five runs against Texas on Aug. 17.

Despite recent setbacks, Alcala and Sands have solid ERAs (Sands 3.07, Alcala 3.21), WHIPs (Sands 0.97 and Alcala 1.05), and opponents batting averages (Sands .221 and Alcala .187) on the year. The Twins may continue to use them sparingly before they can add two more players to the active roster on September 1. Still, giving them rest and having them more dependable as the season winds down could be beneficial.

Unproven: Scott Blewett, Ronny Henriquez

The Twins will likely use Blewett and Henriquez more as the homestand continues if they plan to give Sands and Alcala extra rest. Minnesota called Blewett up to replace Okert after he was DFA’d, and Henriquez joined the team nearly two weeks ago after they optioned Louie Varland to Triple-A.

Blewett and Henriquez have only combined for seven relief appearances with the team this season, but their MLB service time has also been limited. Before this season, Henriquez only pitched one game in the majors with the Twins at the end of 2022. Blewett had not pitched in the majors since 2021 with the Royals before making his Twins debut on August 12.

Considering they only combine for 27 ⅔ innings in their MLB careers, it’s hard to gauge how they’ll fare out of the bullpen.

Bad luck for the year: Caleb Thielbar, Trevor Richards 

Thielbar and Richards will likely want to put 2024 behind them once the season ends. Thielbar’s age has seemed to catch up with him. The 37-year-old lefty is going through his worst season in the majors, posting a 5.54 ERA in 37 ⅓ innings of work across 45 relief appearances. As a result, he’s at the bottom of the pecking order.

Everything seems to fall apart for him anytime the Twins use him in close games, and it’s made it harder for them to trust Thielbar. However, he’s Minnesota’s only remaining lefty.

Richards has a similar story. The Twins traded for Richards at the deadline, so he’s only made nine appearances. However, his two worst appearances overshadow the five scoreless innings he’s pitched in the good ones.

Two outings where any reliever allows three or more walks is enough for any reliever to lose his manager’s trust and for fans to turn against them. Suppose Richards can rebound from his latest outing against the Cardinals on Friday and rebuild that trust. Then, he could turn into the extra arm the Twins needed when they acquired him at the trade deadline.

Is there still hope for bullpen help in the final month of the season? Fortunately, yes. When MLB rosters can expand from 26 active players to 28, the Twins will call up one of the three healthy pitchers on the 40-man who are currently with the St. Paul Saints: Louie Varland, Randy Dobnak, or Josh Winder.

Of the pitchers still on the injured list, Kody Funderburk is the most likely to return before the regular season ends. He will replace Okert as the team’s second lefty. Chris Paddack could also return, but the timeframe he needs to build himself back up for a starting or relief role is much shorter than he had over a year ago.

Giovanny Gallegos, Diego Castillo, and Caleb Boushley are the other options at Triple-A, and Minnesota would have to make a 40-man roster move to add them to the bullpen. Thus, the Twins bullpen pecking order will likely remain the same in the season's final five weeks. The only thing that could change is if someone steps up their performance between now and then.