Digging Deep for Relevant Relievers

[Cody Pirkl]

The Twins still have some high leverage innings to fill in the bullpen and the obvious options are dwindling. There are a few under the radar arms still out there however that may be just the Twins style.Trevor Rosenthal, Brad Hand, Alex Colomé, all fun names, all on the top end of what’s left of free agency. It may make us feel better to pick up more of a surefire option, but the Twins take a lot of pride in manufacturing their bullpen. For that reason, a few options are still out there that may fit their mould for one reason or another and at a cheaper price.

 

Darren O’Day

At 38, he’s coming off a season with a 1.10 ERA/2.76 FIP. O’Day had a strong 7 year career in Baltimore before moving to Atlanta where he’s had his fair share of injuries. He won’t wow you with even a 90 mph fastball, but what he will do is absolutely mow down right handed hitters. In fact, he’s allowed a triple slash of .193/.262/.287 against same handed hitters in his 13 year career.

 

O’Day likely won’t fill the part time closer role left by Sergio Romo, but in terms of matching up against righties, O’Day would surely have that role taken care of. Specialists in the bullpen aren’t worth much these days, but O’Day would shine against right handed slugging teams such as the White Sox and Yankees for a modest pay day. Perhaps an extra roster spot would make O’Day a worthwhile luxury.

 

Cam Bedrosian

Son of Steve “Bedrock” Bedrosian, Cam has had a valuable 7 year career with the Angels with a 3.70 ERA/3.60 FIP before being non tendered this offseason. He throws mostly a low to mid 90s fastball and slider as well as conservatively mixing in a splitter. The reason the Twins may be in on Bedrosian is that he loves to use his 2300 rpm fastball up in the zone while pairing it with a slider that had a 34% whiff rate in 2019. He saw that whiff rate and his overall K% drop in 2020, but his 2019 Statcast measures are what may really pique the front office’s interest.

Download attachment: Bedrosian.PNG

 

At only 29 years old, Bedrosian could definitely have a few years left as an effective reliever and recreating his 2019 breakout may not be all that unrealistic. He’s regularly factored into the holds in LA, though not so much for saves. That being said, he has at least some history of high leverage work and could serve as a setup man.

 

David Robertson

I wanted the Twins to sign Robertson two offseasons ago and it turns out they know more than me. Robertson suffered through part of 2019 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Up to that point, Robertson was one of the premier relievers in baseball with a career 2.90 ERA/2.84 FIP as the Twins know all too well.

 

At 35, Robertson may be a bit sketchy, but he has what is essentially a starter’s pitch mix with a cutter, four seam, curve and slider which could help stave off father time. Tommy John has also become a procedure where recovery is almost assumed, and a healthy Robertson is one you could certainly factor into high leverage innings. The Twins were linked to John Brebbia who was similarly on the mend earlier this winter which means recovering pitchers aren’t out of the question. Robertson could command a bit more than the $800k Brebbia wound up with, but if they attend a showcase and like what they see, Robertson could become an impact addition.

 

The free agent reliever market is admittedly thinning, but it’s far from time to panic. You can dig pretty far down the remaining list and find redeeming factors that the Twins could snag up and capitalize upon. At this point in the offseason it’s fair to say the 2021 Opening Day bullpen isn’t one that will blow you away, but it'll likely be one Twins fans should have faith in.

 

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[DocBauer]

Rosenthal is still there if you are looking for a potential difference maker. History says I wouldn't go expensive, but I'd trust Rocco to use him right and Johnson to keep the walks down.

 

Soria is still out there as a 1yr option who could fit in nicely.

 

Why isn't Clippard already on board who can handle both sides of the plate in the middle innings on the cheap?

 

TOTALLY understand the talent on hand and coming up. But there are too many arms and innings missing. I don't want to trust Alcala and others out of the gate. Blew it on Yates, IMO, but there is still room to add a valuable arm or two for 2021 to deepen the pen and allow the kids time to prove themselves.

 

 

[High heat]

Darren O Day has been a solid successful soft tosser for years bring him in with all the right handed power in the division.

 

Clippard is still out there if you don’t want to spend on A back end reliever.

[mikelink45]

Finally we are looking at the bottom of the list.  After this year we now know how the Twins will operate and all those articles on the best fits or the matchups need a new strategy.  Next year make the list, look at the bottom third and start there.

[Trov]

I trust the Falvene duo to come up with what we need pen wise.  They get paid the big bucks to do it, and so far the last couple years have been fine.  Finding guys we never would have expected to have big innings on low cost. 

[strumdatjaguar]

There seems to be a consensus in baseball banter that paying big for top end relief doesn’t work. The Twins supposedly made this “mistake” with Addison Reed (not the hair coloring). Yet, it would be nice to see the Twins get a quality start and then be able to hand the game over to three shutdown guys in innings 7, 8 and 9. Not too long ago, that approach took the Royals to World Series Championships. In an era where starters hardly ever pitch a complete game, relief pitching is important enough to warrant paying for talent. Just saying!

[strumdatjaguar]

There seems to be a consensus in baseball banter that paying big for top end relief doesn’t work. The Twins supposedly made this “mistake” with Addison Reed (not the hair coloring). Yet, it would be nice to see the Twins get a quality start and then be able to hand the game over to three shutdown guys in innings 7, 8 and 9. Not too long ago, that approach took the Royals to World Series Championships. In an era where starters hardly ever pitch a complete game, relief pitching is important enough to warrant paying for talent. Just saying!

[darin617]

This also could have been titled "dumpster diving"

[specialiststeve]

Kind of a skimpy list there Cody.... Let's see.... 

 

Jose Alverez, Cam Bedrosian, Brad Boxberger, Trevor Cahill, Tyler Clippard, Alex Colome, Chris Devenski, Sean Doolittle, Carl Edwards Jr., Ken Giles, Junior Guerra, Brad Hand, Matt Harvey, Heath Hembree, Derek Holland, Jared Hughes, Tommy Hunter, Jeremy Jeffress, Rob Kaminsky, Keone Kela, Ian Kennedy, Brandon Kintzler, Corey Knebel, Aaron Loup, T.J. McFarland, Jake McGee, Mark Melancon, Daniel Mengden, Mike Montgomery, Adam Morgan, Juan Nicasio, Darren O'Day, Roberto Osuna, Blake Parker, Brad Peacock, Oliver Perez, Yusmeiro Petit, David Phelps, Erasmo Ramirez, AJ Ramos, Chaz Roe, Sergio Romo, Hector Rondon, Randy Rosario, Trevor Rosenthal, Trevor Rosenthal, Pedro Strop, Ryan Tepera, Tyler Thornburg, Nick Tropeano, Nick Vincent, Edinson Volquez, Tony Watson, Justin Wilson, Brandon Workman and Kirby Yates.

 

Wondering why the Twin's are being patient? No reason to have to jump. The musical chairs game is being played and the last few chairs will be cheap and likely still very effective.... 

 

 

[Seansy]

O'Day and Clippard are my top two RH relief targets based on track record, injury history, and cost. I truly believe they are the best values for relief pitchers available. We could sign them both for ~6-7M combined and each of them individually could be as good as or better than any other higher priced reliever except for probably Hendricks. 

[Desert Twins Fan]

Who in this group do you want to come in to a close playoff game? Front office failed again to set us up to contend when it matters

[nicksaviking]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/marlins-designate-jordan-yamamoto-for-assignment.html

 

Dibs on this guy. I was just looking at random rosters the other day and Yamamoto caught my eye. Now he's DFA'd so it must be fate. Great results in the minors but he struggles with command in the majors. It looks like it's mostly just his curve that he can't get over though. Looks like he has a nice slider, if he's not injured pick him up and making him a FB/slider reliever.

 

Not that he'd be a "relevant reliever" as the title of this thread implies, but he's the type of guy I like to speculate on as a diamond in the rough. I'll never get why guys who do very well as starters in the minors but struggle in the majors get DFA'd before they're given a shot in the bullpen.

[ashbury]

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/marlins-designate-jordan-yamamoto-for-assignment.html

 

Dibs on this guy. I was just looking at random rosters the other day and Yamamoto caught my eye. Now he's DFA'd so it must be fate. Great results in the minors but he struggles with command in the majors. It looks like it's mostly just his curve that he can't get over though. Looks like he has a nice slider, if he's not injured pick him up and making him a FB/slider reliever.

 

Not that he'd be a "relevant reliever" as the title of this thread implies, but he's the type of guy I like to speculate on as a diamond in the rough. I'll never get why guys who do very well as starters in the minors but struggle in the majors get DFA'd before they're given a shot in the bullpen.

From the MLBTR article: "Notably, Yamamoto’s 2019 season ended with an IL placement due to a forearm strain. In 2020, his already modest 91.5 mph average fastball dropped to just 89.8 mph. He didn’t spend any time on the injured list in 2020, but it’s certainly plausible that there were physical reasons for his drop in velocity and his abrupt downturn in production."

 

What's the correlation between forearm strains and TJS? That plus the drop in velo suggests we'd just be buying into surgery. Ordinarily I'd be OK with a minor league signing, but maybe not if there are significant hidden medical expenses. I don't have any insight into how surgery is paid in MLB, though.
 

[nicksaviking]

Oh for sure. I wouldn't care to have him if he's staring TJ in the face.