Article: Shoring Up Twins Bullpen Will Be a Mighty Challenge

[Mike Sixel]

Have you returned to the future and you're telling us that Alcala and Celestino flame out, or are you just assuming that? Methinks Alcala is going to be a solid MLB reliever for the Twins at some point. The Astros likely won the trade but it won't be so bad if Alcala ends up as a high-leverage arm in the Twins pen in the future.

He's not now, when they need him. When can we expect this?

[Jham]

1) Duffey has a slider and 95mph fastball to go with his curve arsenal.

 

2) #freejhoanduran whip barely over 1. opponent ops .618. throws 100 mph now. No idea what he'll throw in 4 years if he blows a ucl and loses a year rehabbing.

[Danchat]

 

He's not now, when they need him. When can we expect this?

I can't say I know what the plan with Alcala is. They've kept him as a starter at AA, but I really think he'd do well in the bullpen. I don't think they made the trade with the thought that Alcala would be in the majors in 2019.

 

What I don't get is that they never tried to shore up the bullpen. We traded Pressly, Rodney, and Duke and only added Parker... what was the plan? Was it the plan to hope Ryne Harper broke out into a good MLB reliever, to hope Hildenberger would rebound from a rough 2018? Why did they both to give Matt Belisle 25 outings last season, and why did they give Oliver Drake 19 outings and then just DFA him after he looked great?

 

I've liked Falvey & Levine's plan for the hitters and the starters... but I can't understand what they're doing with the pen. 

[Tomj14]

 

He's not now, when they need him. When can we expect this?

Imagine in 2017 if the Twins would have traded all of their top 20 prospects to make a run.

The wouldn't have Kirilloff, Javier or Garver
but Gordon, Gonsalves, Romero, Jay, Diaz, Mejia, Blakenhorn, Chargois, Stewart, Burdi, Wade, Ynoa, Jorge, Rortvedt, Palka, Granite and Thorpe wouldn't really be missed.
Maybe Rortvedt and Thorpe?

 

What I am saying is get help NOW!

[VATwinsFan]

The Royals just DFA'd Boxberger, so there's another one for Falvey's and Levine's collection at Rochester.

[SpicyGarvSauce]

A little late to the party, maybe, on this...but looking around the internet, I came across a SF Giants website that was putting together trade proposals with contenders, etc. Here are some of their proposed deals...

 

To Twins: LHP Will Smith
To Giants: SS Wander Javier, RHP Jhoan Duran, 1B/OF Brent Rooker

 

To Twins: LHP Madison Bumgarner, RHP Nick Vincent
To Giants: RHP Brusdar Graterol, 2B Yunior Severino, C Ryan Jeffers

 

IMO, that is way too much for Will Smith and probably an okay price for Bumgarner & Vincent...? Thoughts?

[HawksNest]

 

A little late to the party, maybe, on this...but looking around the internet, I came across a SF Giants website that was putting together trade proposals with contenders, etc. Here are some of their proposed deals...

 

To Twins: LHP Will Smith
To Giants: SS Wander Javier, RHP Jhoan Duran, 1B/OF Brent Rooker

 

To Twins: LHP Madison Bumgarner, RHP Nick Vincent
To Giants: RHP Brusdar Graterol, 2B Yunior Severino, C Ryan Jeffers

 

IMO, that is way too much for Will Smith and probably an okay price for Bumgarner & Vincent...? Thoughts?

 

Wayyyyyy too much, for both

[SpicyGarvSauce]

 

Wayyyyyy too much, for both

 

Looking at it more, yeah, that is too much. Obviously teams think their own pieces/players are worth more than they actually are, which is probably where this comes from; especially since both of those guys would be rentals.

[Brock Beauchamp]

To Twins: LHP Will Smith

To Giants: SS Wander Javier, RHP Jhoan Duran, 1B/OF Brent Rooker

LOL, no.

[HawksNest]

 

Looking at it more, yeah, that is too much. Obviously teams think their own pieces/players are worth more than they actually are, which is probably where this comes from; especially since both of those guys would be rentals.

 

Yeah, that's for sure what it is.  Fans are almost always delusional (myself included, lol) about trade values, etc. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

A little late to the party, maybe, on this...but looking around the internet, I came across a SF Giants website that was putting together trade proposals with contenders, etc. Here are some of their proposed deals...

 

To Twins: LHP Will Smith
To Giants: SS Wander Javier, RHP Jhoan Duran, 1B/OF Brent Rooker

 

To Twins: LHP Madison Bumgarner, RHP Nick Vincent
To Giants: RHP Brusdar Graterol, 2B Yunior Severino, C Ryan Jeffers

 

IMO, that is way too much for Will Smith and probably an okay price for Bumgarner & Vincent...? Thoughts?

 

I'd guess those would be too high as well -- but it might be close to what the Giants would ask for in negotiations, right now.

[Mike Sixel]

I can't say I know what the plan with Alcala is. They've kept him as a starter at AA, but I really think he'd do well in the bullpen. I don't think they made the trade with the thought that Alcala would be in the majors in 2019.

 

What I don't get is that they never tried to shore up the bullpen. We traded Pressly, Rodney, and Duke and only added Parker... what was the plan? Was it the plan to hope Ryne Harper broke out into a good MLB reliever, to hope Hildenberger would rebound from a rough 2018? Why did they both to give Matt Belisle 25 outings last season, and why did they give Oliver Drake 19 outings and then just DFA him after he looked great?

 

I've liked Falvey & Levine's plan for the hitters and the starters... but I can't understand what they're doing with the pen.

I think it's pretty clear they thought Mejia and Romero would be good RPs. They then hoped on the back end. It didn't work, not sure why on Romero.....

 

Now they need to pivot.

[Jham]

I think it's pretty clear they thought Mejia and Romero would be good RPs. They then hoped on the back end. It didn't work, not sure why on Romero.....

 

Now they need to pivot.

I'd add hilde to that list, and maybe May but yeah. It's past time.

[stringer bell]

I think relief pitchers are incredibly hard to project. Ordinary guys become borderline unhittable and guys who look very good seem to lose it (Cody Allen). 

 

Regarding Pressly, while his metrics seemed to indicate he might break out, during his tenure with the Twins, he was the ultimate tease (IMHO). He have a couple of dominant outings and then walk a guy or two and then lay a fastball in to a guy who was looking for it, Would he have flourished for the Twins? I guess we'll never know.

[yarnivek1972]

I think relief pitchers are incredibly hard to project. Ordinary guys become borderline unhittable and guys who look very good seem to lose it (Cody Allen).

 

Regarding Pressly, while his metrics seemed to indicate he might break out, during his tenure with the Twins, he was the ultimate tease (IMHO). He have a couple of dominant outings and then walk a guy or two and then lay a fastball in to a guy who was looking for it, Would he have flourished for the Twins? I guess we'll never know.

He already was flourishing with the Twins. Would he have become otherworldly? Maybe not. But even if he maintained his 2018 Twins numbers he would be better than every Twins reliever not named Taylor Rogers, and those two would be pretty close.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Regarding Pressly, while his metrics seemed to indicate he might break out, during his tenure with the Twins, he was the ultimate tease (IMHO). He have a couple of dominant outings and then walk a guy or two and then lay a fastball in to a guy who was looking for it, Would he have flourished for the Twins? I guess we'll never know.

This is true to an extent, but by the end of July 2018 Pressly had four months of very strong work, fully backed up by peripherals, far more than he'd ever done before. Obviously the Twins bet on it not continuing, but I think it was enough that I would have bet Alcala/Celestino to see if it would continue.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

Great piece. You reap what you sow. The Twins traded Pressley; I still think it was front office payback.

 

What do you mean by FO payback?