Searching For Relief

Bullpen arms in trades are not too expensive in terms of prospects. If we can acquire o e with a 25th team ranked prospect or so we should bee willing to do that for a strong rental. Its ok to give up more with years more control. But we shouldnt give up too much either.

If the rotation doesn't remain intact, it won't matter how good the new additions are. They would still be overworked and ultimately fatigue, just like the arms in the pen now. I would prefer Minor League arms to bridge the gap through July. Ifthe Twins are still in contention then, go ahead and grab someone in trade right by the deadline, to make sure they are fresh.

Its also possible that some of the help has already arrived in the forms of Busenitz and Hildenberg. These rookie bullpen arms may have some ups and downs but they may show long term success with some good coaching, managerial usage, and some patience.

Joe Smith cost the Cubs a single prospect that was on not any a prospect list

Will Smith cost the Giants a backup catcher and a low A prospect but highly rated

Abad brought back Light

Zach Duke cost a low ranked prospect

Tyler Clippard cost a low level prospect

Short term fixes for relievers can be cheap for decent ones. The Giants were the only ones last year that bought high. 

Given the waiver wire carousel, it's quite stunning how Breslow and Belisle have survived this long when they provide essentially nothing better than anyone else who has come and gone. Any idea why that is?

It must be the 22 games  Belisle did not allow a run and the 12 times he was credited with a hold. In high leverage situations batters are hitting .118. Numbers that the fans do not seem to pay much attention to.

Breslow because LH bats are hitting .129 against him. Management likes his brain. 

Reports I've read say that Pat Neshek can be had for a low-level prospect.  I'm assuming that's mostly based on his age [36].  But he is a side-winder, so there's significantly less stress on the arm.  

Also, whomever makes the trade will only be responsible for $3m of a $6m contract.  I'm just not seeing a downside here:  Keep Matt Belisle or take a "gamble" on Neshek.  This, to me, is a no-brainer.  

Of course, I'm also the dreamer that remembers the mediocre 1st half of 1987 and 1991, and how things ended up in the 2nd.

Excited for Curtiss eventual call up, Busenitz stuff looks playable, haven't seen Hildenberger yet but his minors resume is promising.  

Its crazy how deep they are having to reach.  The pen was still going to be a major issue even if everything went right but nothing has.  May was a huge loss, of their "steady vet pickups" Belisle has been terrible and Breslow has been forced into way to big a roll.  on top of that Chargois/ Burdi/ Jay were supposed to be the high end depth.  Thats 5/6 of the best pen arms, in an already weak pen, either failing or hurt.

It looks like Hughes will get a shot this week and Pressly should get another shot next month. We don't know about Hughes, but when not over used Pressly was very good  last year. By August maybe Curtiss and Reed can join the shuttle. Haley has also thrown an inning at Rookie Ball and will have to be dealt with. Besides Busenitz (who threw a no hit no walk inning last night) and Hildenbgerer still working in, we have 5 possible internal options for bullpen help. There are a couple of posibilities at Double A. The team has improved this year by giving internal options opportunities, I prefer this path as it still provides the most long term benefits.  Hopefully by sometime next year we will add Jay, May, Chargois and Burdi to this group.

Go young.  We are building a team and all the dumpster grabs we have made this year have not been the reason we are having a good year.  It must be something in the Minnesota air that has us continually looking out to find old Twins to bring back. 

Busenitz and The Hildenberger Principle got off to good starts.  I feel like the situation is stabilizing.  Taken in isolation, what happened to Belisle last night is a normal deal on every team--I know that isn't fair to do, but I think he and Breslow have long leashes.  True or not, along with Gimenez and Castro, they constitute the veteran leadership intangible quotient that seems to be having a positive effect.  I.e, Belisle has shown the young guys how to have an absolutely crappy game and still show up the next day.

Twins standard 8 man bullpen choices (no particular order)

Preferred (uh)- Kinzler, Rogers, Duffy, Boshers, Busenitz, Hildenberger

Others (uhg) - Breslow, Belisle, Hughes, ?, ?,  ?, Pressly, Tonkin

Future (YEA) (2018 hopefully)- Rogers, Duffy, Busenitz, Hildenberger, May, Jay, Chargois, Burdi, Reed, Bard, Curtiss, 

More future than present. With our starters I don't see how Moliter won't burn out the reliable pen members this year. I don't see A trade for A relief pitcher making a sizable difference over the remaining 85 games this year. More likely a pickup of non injured arms.

Busenitz and The Hildenberger Principle got off to good starts.  I feel like the situation is stabilizing. 

I wonder how much of this is because of the scenario when they made their first appearances. Most of the other emergency call-ups have been thrown into the fire because arms where needed NOW. Similar cases for these two, but apperance #1 was in a much calmer time of the game, not being called mid-inning to stop a rally before a game gets out of control.

Breslow has been fine, but he's limited at this point and shouldn't be counted as one of your top 4-5 guys. Belisle is starting to look cooked and if he can't pull it together and start yanking that WHIP down, he should be a candidate to move on from.

The injuries to May, Burdi, and Chargois really hurt the bullpen depth. A key guy gone and two of the better prospects for high-end reinforcements wiped out sets you back, there's no question.

But if Hughes and Hildenberger can provide quality outings in high leverage situations it could settle things down without the need to for outside help. I'm not saying they shouldn't consider it, but it's still not an area I want to invest much in. There's a lot of help on the way if people can get healthy or stay on the development path: May, Jay, Chargois, Burdi, Bard, and Curtiss would all be good options to pair with Kintzler, Rogers, and Duffy.

The bigger issue remains in the rotation. The bullpen gets better/stronger when we have starters getting deeper into the game and right now we have too many guys who are sitting at 90+ pitches in the 5th. this team badly needs a 3rd starter to step up with Santana and Berrios, who are the only guys right now I feel confident about getting to the 7th on a fairly consistent basis.

Go young.  We are building a team and all the dumpster grabs we have made this year have not been the reason we are having a good year.  It must be something in the Minnesota air that has us continually looking out to find old Twins to bring back. 

I really agree with this as far as the bullpen goes, use the young guys see what they have.  a Neshek can always be picked up for cheap at the deadline if still in contention.  The rotation is a different matter, there aren't any internal options that are really close to being ready, so might as well see what Gee and a few guys like that can do to hold crap together at the backend of the rotation when we need them at least for this year?  Next year hopefully there will be a better plan in place for the rotation.  But as far as the bullpen goes, keep rolling out some young guys and see what they got?

Generally I am against myopic responses and solutions, but there is too much to fix with the pitching and there are no extraneous players on this team apart from Dozier. They had better not be trading Dozier for bullpen arms, and they had better not be making holes elsewhere to get a deal done either.

I'm not worried about it, I'm taking a leap of faith and hoping Twins management knows they have no one to spare. Fixing the pitching with this team has to be a process, not an event. It's going to take time. There are simply no trades possible that would fix every pitching problem this team has, nor are there any trades possible that would bring the team's pitching up to average. It's sink or swim with what they have or trade with cash, and cash only deals make the Twins a last resort trading partner. No one wants the Twins 6.00 ERA guns.

Given the waiver wire carousel, it's quite stunning how Breslow and Belisle have survived this long when they provide essentially nothing better than anyone else who has come and gone. Any idea why that is?

Breslow was good until this month, with a 1.47 ERA one month ago tomorrow.

Which free agent pitchers do you think are better?

You saw the Twins picked up Gee from waivers, I'm guessing, so you can't say they haven't been paying attention.

Good catch on the Breslow platoon split this season. However, he has no good platoon splits in any recent seasons prior to his signing this winter. Molitor rightly trusts Rogers and Boshers more. So, we seem to disagree on the value of Breslow's intangible strengths.

Except that he retooled his pitching approach prior to this year, so previous season splits may not be relevant anymore...assuming he hasn't reverted to old habits.

They should target Madson and Doolittle. This would add 2 more proven closers although I think I'd make Madson the closer with Doolittle and Kintzler as the setup guys. 

Would a package of Polanco, Palka, Ynoa, and maybe someone like Graterol be enough? I know Madson is controlled through next year and Doolittle has some options coming up I believe