The Twins’ bullpen has been one of thee worst in baseball, no question, the last 10 games. Like, apocalyptically awful. Why?

I want to hear what y’all think. Who’s to blame for this? How do we fix it? CAN we fix it (prior to the trade deadline)? Will the bullpen be a thorn in our side until then? Or has this awful stretch been a fluke?

I’ll give my answer. I think it’s a combination of:

1) Lackluster Construction; Bullpen help was a need this offseason. We were losing Trevor May, Tyler Clippard, Matt Wisler, and the 37-year old junkballer. Three of those guys were very effective in 2020, and they needed to be replaced. They got Colome and Robles. And I don’t have a problem with those two guys on their own. They’ve both had a lot of success with their previous teams. And as I’ve said, relievers are dime a dozen. That being said, we don’t have enough arms. Rogers, Duffey, Alcala, Robles, and Colome is pretty much all we have. And most of those guys appear to be struggling, and might not be the same guys we’ve seen. Alcala is still unproven. Duffey appears to be losing fastball velo and Rogers can’t control his pitches. Same with Robles. And don’t get me started on Colome.

And I don’t think we have any other good relievers. I am not a fan of Dobnak or Thielbar. Those of you who are pissed at the FO about this, you absolutely have a right to and should be pissed. Not good FO work.

2) Bad In-game Management; This was a problem last year, with, for example, Sergio Romo and Caleb Thielbar on the mound in the ninth inning of a 1-1 playoff game. Why? IDK. Both of those guys throw 83. Who should’ve been out there? IDK, maybe Alcala? But it’s also been apparent this year. Rogers was cruising, retiring 7 straight. You need that game, put the struggling Colome out there in the 9th? Letting him throw nearly FIFTY pitches? How about in the 4th Game against Boston, where Pineda was cruising. You go to the bullpen at that point? ?? Again, Rocco deserves the blame he’s getting, he’s been AWFUL thus far

3) Underperformance; It seems like the likes of Rogers, Duffey, and others have not been performing well. Rogers and Duffey have been good for us in the past, why do they look like hot messes now? If Colome is that bad, why was he as good as he was with Chicago? How do you go that quickly from being one of the league’s better relievers to being that bad?