Keep Plundering the Pirate Ship

The Twins still may benefit from another starting pitcher and reliever following the Cruz and Colomé signings. Things like former Twin Kohl Stewart getting a Major League deal and Chris Archer signing for $6.5m have muddied the waters on price points. Paired with the depth of their farm system and the fact that they haven’t parted with any of it, the real value pick ups could lie on the trade market where payroll hits are already determined. This would be especially valuable for a team with a seemingly small window to fit in.

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The Pirates have parted with tons of talent this winter including Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon as they continue to sink into irrelevancy. Despite all of this, they’re still reportedly open to discussing what players are left. At first glance it doesn’t look like a whole lot, but there’s some definite help that the Twins could acquire. There’s one pairing in particular that the Twins could explore to possibly make a big improvement in the rotation and bullpen.

Chad Kuhl

Kuhl has a history that makes you wonder why the Twins would be interested with his 4.36 ERA and 4.45 FIP. At 28 years old, Kuhl has a 5 pitch mix including a sinker he uses over 42% of the time. The issue is that in 2020 the pitch was clubbed for a .667 slugging % and has had similar results his entire career. Some pitchers have no choice but to continue trying to induce groundballs, but Kuhl has two other pitches in a slider and curve that have multiple seasons of much higher overall success and >30% whiff rates. He may not be the second coming of Kenta Maeda, but a change of scenery and pitch mix change could make him a valuable piece of a team’s rotation.

Kuhl has two seasons of arbitration left and is due a bit over $2m in 2021.Furthermore, he’s been reported as one of their top candidates to still be traded. With all of that in mind, he’s a cheap option both payroll and prospect wise to come in and compete for the 5th rotation spot with a few indicators saying his ceiling could be higher.

Richard Rodriguez

Tom Froemming turned me onto Richard Rodriguez a few weeks ago as a possible bullpen target. Rodriguez uses a high spin fastball and slider combo to dominate hitters. In fact, he fell in the 96th percentile in K% and 92nd in Whiff% in 2020. His slider posted a hilarious 63.6% whiff rate. It’s likely Rodriguez would be able to come in and play a big role in a Twins bullpen that has lost so much this winter after posting a very believable 2.70 ERA last season. It’s a role the Twins may not have confidently filled yet after last season’s departures from the bullpen.

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While Rodriguez may be the closer in Pittsburgh, he’s already 30 years old. Even with his 3 remaining years of control, he likely won’t be playing a big role the next time the Pirates are ready to compete. If they can cash in on him by getting a younger player that better fits their timeline, they would certainly be willing to move the right hander.

What Would It Cost?

Controllable pitchers are never cheap. The Twins however are in a great situation to make an acquisition. As previously mentioned, they haven’t parted with a single prospect this winter and would likely be willing to do so for the right return. Second, the Twins have some cheap controllable players on their roster who may be best utilized in a trade. Lewis Thorpe may not be perceived as a valuable piece by Twins fans, but he still has plenty of cheap control attached. Pittsburgh would be a perfect place to plug him into the rotation and see if he can capture that former prospect pedigree. Brent Rooker also has a roster crunch on the horizon with Kirilloff and Larnach on their way. The Pirates could give him the everyday opportunity he deserves and likely won’t get in Minnesota. Maybe Jake Cave would even interest them. In any case, it would likely take some prospects attached to one of these current big leaguers to get a deal done, but the Twins need to offset the 40 man roster impact anyways after the flurry of pickups they’ve made in the last week.

I’ve expected the Twins to dabble in the trade market all winter and I continue to believe they should do so as the payroll adds up. It’s not Sonny Gray or Luis Castillo but a Chad Kuhl/Richard Rodriguez combo would address the rotation and bullpen in a big way for $4m. The Pirate ship is sinking. The Twins should take advantage and rescue some crew members.

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