I am completely 200% against trading prospects for a reliever unless you are a WS contender and trading for Chapman/Miller. It's just not worth it.

Chih-Wei Hu made his MLB debut for the Rays back on April 24. He only pitched once and they just sent him back down, but it would be nice to have him in our system instead of getting nothing out of Kevin Jepsen.

Jepsen was a proven vet and pitched well down the stretch in 2015. Hu is still pie-in-the-sky.

 

But if the hypothesis of this article is that his peripherals show this will not continue, wouldn't the fair thing for everyone (except Kintzler) be to not let the inevitable happen in the first place?

Don't confuse hypothesis with fact. Nick is just guessing. I agree a better role would be 7th or 8th inning, but he's the best we have at this time. Foolish to breakup a winning team. Hopefully we can wait until the shiny new things are ready.

Edited May 4, 20179 yr by howieramone2

I am perplexed by the notion that Kintzler has some right to pitch the 9th inning for the Twins until he implodes. He hasn't been the closer for very long, has never closed out important games, isn't paid much, isn't particularly good . . . I don't even care that much because the Twins have limited options, but the idea that the Twins owe save opportunities to Kintzler is just flat wrong. 

 

Jepsen was a proven vet and pitched well down the stretch in 2015. Hu is still pie-in-the-sky.

Then that "proven vet" inexplicably imploded in 2016. The 2 months we had him in 2015 went very well but it would have been nice if he could have at least regressed to the mean in 2016 instead of falling off the face of the earth.

Ray Moore made me nervous

   Davis made me nervous, Reardon made me nervous, Aguilera probably made me nervous. Guardado made me nervous, Nathan made me nervous.   Perkins made me nervous.    

 

 

Jepsen was a proven vet and pitched well down the stretch in 2015. Hu is still pie-in-the-sky.

He didn't get us to the playoffs and is no longer on the team. The trade wasn't worth it

 

He didn't get us to the playoffs and is no longer on the team. The trade wasn't worth it

Excellent example of hindsight. I would trade pie-in-the-sky for proven vets all day long. Hu was somewhere around our 15-20th prospect when we moved him. Guys like him are a dime a dozen.

 

So last year the general thought was Kintzler's not that valuable in a trade because he didn't have a long track record, nor a ton of saves to generate interest... Is that still going to be the case this year now that national publications are devaluing saves, and wanting to use goose eggs as the new metric? 

National publications?  Is that how general managers determine player value while considering trades?  Let me see what Peter Gammons thinks...hot take as always Vanimal you've got it! 

The biggest problem with improving the outlook of the bullpen is the fact that so many potential pieces are hurt.  O'Rourke is out for the year.  He was one of the best loogys in MLB last year.  Reed and Chargois are both hurt. Those two flame throwers would look pretty good IMO. Tyler Jay was being converted to the bullpen and now he's hurt.  I personally believe that Buddy Boshers is better than Craig Breslow, but I'm not the one in charge of roster decisions.

 

Trevor Hildenberger is probaby the next guy in line for a shot.  He's not so much "upside" as much as he is funky delivery that may or may not fool MLB hitters.  As I have said before, Pat Neshek still has a job.  Hildenberger might stick too.  He started off well in AAA, but hasn't been so good in his last couple outings.  I would probably give him at least until the end of May before evaluating him again.  He likely ceilings as a serviceable specialist type.  Possibly a ROOGY when the team is a contender.  But he is a guy who can also be used in longer stints if needed.  

It's true that Kintzler has been skating on a low BABIP and HR/9, and a high LOB%, but if the Twins actually can identify a more dominant, reliable reliever, do you really want to put him in the 9th-inning closer box rather than using him in high-leverage, decisive moments whenever they may come up? And then do you really want Molitor calling on Kintzler to put out fires in the 6th-8th?

 

I'm sure that he'll continue to make fans nervous, and he may even have a stretch where he blows 3-4 games, but I don't think the Twins are so deep in pitching that switching Kintzler out of the closer role is going to help. Limiting a better reliever to Save Situations, and bringing in Kintzler into situations with RISP, may even hurt the team.

"The Prophetic Writings of Sir Nelson"

Nick, Now that we know you can accurately predict the future, when are you moving to Las Vegas?

What are you guys talking about? Kintzler got a win!!

Nick, Now that we know you can accurately predict the future, when are you moving to Las Vegas?

What makes you think he can predict that date?

I am perplexed by the notion that Kintzler has some right to pitch the 9th inning for the Twins until he implodes. He hasn't been the closer for very long, has never closed out important games, isn't paid much, isn't particularly good . . . I don't even care that much because the Twins have limited options, but the idea that the Twins owe save opportunities to Kintzler is just flat wrong.

This, more than anything else, is why he has the job IMO. For this team (which I still do not view as a contender), he's good enough until someone else TAKES the job.

Well, that regression to the mean for these AAAA relievers hit like a freight train today.

Not looming anymore......

Not looming anymore......

More like dooming and glooming.