Twins Waive Tyler Duffey After a Decade in the Organization

It was inevitable.

Things change quickly. Seems like yesterday that Rogers and Duffey were  the Twin stalwarts out of the pen.

He's been horrible. Someone will pick him up, though.

I guess the best memories I have for Duffey were the 2019 season.  He was a big part of a pretty good bullpen that year.  He had stretches where he looked unhittable K'ing the side in order. He seemed fearless that year just going after hitters. I wish that was the same kind of pitcher he could have been this year.

I'm sorry to see it happen to him, he seems like a good enough guy. But - nothing lasts forever and I wish him well and to hopefully catch on someplace else.  Maybe Pagan next?

Farewell Doof, hope you get a few more shots out there in the big league.

Wow.

If I recall correctly, his first ever appearance he was bludgeoned by the Blue Jays in Toronto. His last game as a Twin, mashed by the Blue Jays again.

Most of the games in between were good, thanks for the service to the Twins, Tyler. I'm sure he'll catch on somewhere else and be in another team's uniform shortly.

Twins need to cut Pagan as well, I see him as worse than Duffey.

EDIT: Holy smokes the Twins are replacing Duffey with Cole Sands?!?!! Is it possible the bullpen just got worse?

I think some team will take a flyer out on him. I doubt he'll clear and stay with the organization. 

Dud the Twins dangle Smith Pagan Cotton and Duffey during the trade deadline. Any might thrive in another environment.

I had jokes that Duffey would improve rather than falter. Was made the Reins didn’t give him (instead of Cologne) closing chances a year ago. Because he was going to return to the team and might still have it to be the inbetween guy in what I thought would be more of a rebuild year.

God bless you Tyler for the years of good service, you'll be remembered by them and your even temper. And in your next phase of your life.

I am beginning to wonder if there is a FO created gremlin in the Twins pitching force.

When Happ left for the Cardinals, sudden change, similar with some others that went else where to a degree.

Sadly this needed to happen but also even more so with Pagan. 

He had some fantastic years for the Twins, but this season we could not count on consistency with him.  
 

I hope he gets picked up by someone and turns it around, 

8 minutes ago, RpR said:

I am beginning to wonder if there is a FO created gremlin in the Twins pitching force.

When Happ left for the Cardinals, sudden change, similar with some others that went else where to a degree.

Happ managed a 2.22 ERA with the Cardinals in August, then regressed to a 5.96 ERA in September and appears to be out of baseball. A sudden change, but a pretty short one.

I hope Duffey can turn it around and get back to big leagues eventually, ideally in the National League. He's a lot younger than Happ.

Was shocked when I checked my mail and saw an email from the Strib with this news.  Also saddened, as I have liked Duffey since he joined the organization from college.  As several mentioned above, my best to him in his future.  Although many of us will kick ourselves, I hope he catches on with another team and finds what seems to have been lost for some time.

I see a lot of you are assuming Moran will be called up when he reaches the ten day limit.  They are going to have to be careful if they do as he cannot be optioned again.  I understand that there is a new rule this year that any player can be optioned to the minors only 4 times and if he is optioned a fifth time he in essence is released (don't know the details of how this works).  Moran has been optioned four times, so if called up again he will be here until the end of the year or gone.

I wouldn't count out Tyler Duffey just yet. It's possible he could get back some of his greatness by getting a cruel pilates coach and hardening his soft body into muscles of stone. 

I remember when Duffey first came up, I dubbed him "Bender" for his curveball hooked so hard almost nobody could touch it. After a while, he started using it more and more, because his heater never was much of a challenge. After Wes Johnson tinkered with his mechanics, Duffey's heater suddenly became a weapon at 94 mph, and for a while, he seemed able to spot that pitch, making it extremely effective. Unfortunately, his old curveball became a so-so offering. 

Today, after various adjustment and experiments, Duffey has nothing that a good hitter can't smash. Is it just the march of time, his arm and body worn out? That's what I thought about Caleb Thielbar, but look at him now. 

Wouldn't it be a hoot if all Duffey needed to get his stuff back was to smack the ball into his glove mid- delivery, like Thielbar? 

I thought Pagan would go first, but he is one of the FO acquisitions so I think he has a longer leash. Good luck to Duffey, it is a reminder that careers are short if you are not a star. 

38 minutes ago, jimbo92107 said:

I wouldn't count out Tyler Duffey just yet. It's possible he could get back some of his greatness by getting a cruel pilates coach and hardening his soft body into muscles of stone. 

Yeah, I kind of wondered about his conditioning as he looked kind of squiggie to me too.

I remember when he first came up in 2015 and looked like a HOPEFUL piece for the future of the rotation. Man, he looked solid and made some batters look just silly.

After finding out he just wasn't, in fact, a ML SP, he was absolutely lights out as a FIREMAN in 2019 and '20. He got off to a poor start in 2021, but re-worked a few things, settled down, and had a really nice year after that rough start. 

But that early 2021 and a drop in velocity and K numbers was teasing the end. I was really hoping the "not as good" but still solid Duffey of 2021 was going to return in 2022. It just didn't happen. And that's too bad. He has been an important part of some very good teams and a class act all the way. I wish him all the luck in the world going forward.

40 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Duffey had a really good run here and I wish him well. I hope he ends up in the NL though.

I've been hoping to see Sands in the bullpen, I really like turning those borderline starters into relievers. Of course I was hoping to see him in St. Paul's bullpen first. Hope it works out, but if it doesn't I'm sure his leash will be short considering he has options.

Personally, I think Sands is up temporarily until they can bring Moran back up. Makes a heck of a lot more sense.

I do believe there is a chance that Sands does, indeed, end up in the pen eventually. I don't think it will happen until next year though. While he just hasn't been the SP I was really hoping he was going to be this year, we're starting to run out of options if we have to dip down to St Paul. So I think any transition will take place next year.

AND...while I've been optimistic a less pressure impacted, middle innings Pagan might be valuable to us...after his last appearance being so horrible I'm just starting to wonder if the squeeze is worth the juice. I don't know for sure who you'd replace him with, but maybe he needs to be gone next. Peacock maybe??

20 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I thought Pagan would go first, but he is one of the FO acquisitions so I think he has a longer leash. Good luck to Duffey, it is a reminder that careers are short if you are not a star. 

Pagan has also been showing better stuff and more ability to miss bats, even if their overall results have been pretty similar. but his leash is probably fairly short as well at this point.

It's too bad about Duffey. It was reasonable to look at him as a guy who might have a bounceback season after being not so great last year and showing real decline, but it just didn't happen. His fastball and his curve are getting pounded, and without those two pitches, his other offerings aren't good enough to compete.

I wish him luck, but this was a move they really had to make.

Velocity drop sometime is the precursor to an arm issue.  

Last night was finally the straw that broke the camel's back. Wish him well where ever he may end up.

I'm sure that one of 29 teams will take him on. Hope the change of scenery does him good.

Good luck Duffman. Thanks for being a Minnesota Twin all these years.

I really feel bad about this situation,  unfortunately I guess it happens to all players eventually. I've always been a Duffey  fan. I really hopes he figures things out. Seems like a good guy.

Thanks Duff for your years of service to the Twins organization.  The writing has been on the wall lately.  I'm hoping a national league team picks him up.  I figured he wouldn't be back next year so I thought they would hang on to him through the end of the year.  Pagan also needs to go.  You can't trust him in any role.  I believe he leads all a.l. relievers in home runs allowed this year. Rocco says he still has good spin rates and is missing bats.  He's not missing too many.  Rocco, as usual is missing the boat.  Pagan needs to be DFA' d soon.  Spin rates and missed bats mean absolutely nothing when the final result is you give up way too many homeruns.  

Overdue. Needed to happen earlier, but at least it is done?

Sands? Have you seen his stats in AAA? People like to say he has "stuff". It just doesn't fool even the AAA batters much consistently. Or MLB batters in the brief times he has been given the ball in emergencies with the Twins. 

This was something that should have been done before the trade deadline, though. Maybe even including him in a trade as a forced piece if necessary.

Baldelli likes to keep saying, even last night after the game, that Pagan has that great stuff, and he would continue to use Pagan in high leverage situations. I wish "stuff" wasn't as important as results.

Sorry see Duffey go, but it was time.  Was hopeful that Duffey had reignited some magic when we went on a stretch of 13 games from June 17 to July 26 where he did not give up a run.

He did have a good run with the Twins, and I wish him the best in his future endeavors.

There goes my Duffman posts

Sad it had to end this way, but is best for the team.  I am incredibly uncomfortable with Pagan in any situation and to a much lesser extent Jax.  Any chance Sands sticks when we can bring Moran back?