How the Twins Front Office Addressed Past Playoff Weaknesses

[KirbyDome89]

 

I never said the Twins' 2019 bullpen was perfect. None are. 

 

But no, the information I requested is not readily available - I asked where you ranked the Twins' 2019 bullpen, and you refuse to answer. 

 

Truthfully, no facetiousness, I don't even know for sure if we agree or disagree. You won't share your actual assessment, and instead point to anecdotes that do nothing to evaluate the bullpen overall.

 

I just don't see how someone can say a front office fell short in a particular area and then not even say whether that area was good or bad. 

And I'm not forcing to you say as much. We've already agreed all teams have flaws. 

 

I don't think the Twins had a particularly great bullpen going into the trade deadline. I know they had 3 relievers performing at levels ranging from above average to elite. IMO Rocco was cautious to a fault when it came to protecting a number of relievers, and I can't blame him for likely lacking trust in some of them. If you look at value stats like fWAR or WPA it's that trio, and then everybody else. Obviously the innings disparity plays a role in that, but I think that disparity is also an indictment on the state of the bullpen for a large chunk of the season. I wouldn't define depth as simply having bodies to fill slots. If the Twins were flush with pitching depth then they wouldn't have turned to recent minor league signings like Morin, Magill, and Harper, especially early in the season when everybody is healthy. The demotion of Harper and Parker, who finished 4th and 6th respectively in terms of innings pitched, at or short after the trade deadline doesn't strike me as a move #1 ranked bullpens make. 

 

Where they rank isn't relevant to what I've pushed back on. The disagreement was about depth, and whether they were top heavy. I'm certain I've made that clear. If it'll move things along; based on how they ended the season, and how good May, Rogers, and Duffey were all year they were likely a top 1/3 pen when September ended. I certainly don't believe that's what they were for a good amount of the season, which is part of the reason I'm not a fan of the way you're using FIP.