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Twins fans are still anxiously awaiting a big splash, but the team has taken another step toward beefing up its bullpen. Late Christmas afternoon, Paul Lambert (aka Meat Sauce) of KFAN reported that the Twins had an agreement to sign veteran left-handed reliever Zach Duke. It was a busy day for Twins rumors, as there were also reports regarding the Twins interest in veteran slugger Mike Napoli.It wasn't too long ago Duke was a hot commodity on the free agent market. In November of 2014, Duke landed a three-year, $15 million deal to pitch for the White Sox. He was eventually traded to the Cardinals in mid-2016. From 2014-16 he was among the more consistently effective relievers in baseball, posting a 2.74 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 10.4 K/9 over 180.1 innings. But after the end of the 2016 season, Duke was forced to undergo not only Tommy John surgery, but also had a flexor muscle repaired at the same time. He was expected to miss all of 2017. Remarkably, Duke made his season debut on July 21. Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote up a great review of the recovery process. He noted that Duke's comeback from Tommy John, just a 287-day process, was the fastest anyone has done it over the past decade. Duke pitched in 27 ballgames for the Cardinals, but the results weren't nearly as good as the previous few years. He had a 3.93 ERA and just 5.9 K/9 over 18.1 innings, but that came with a much more encouraging 1.04 WHIP. The Twins are surely hoping he can regain some of that excellence now that he's more than a full year removed from going under the knife. Along with the impressive recovery, it's interesting to note that Duke was been known to be a guy to throw from multiple release points. Twins fans got accustomed to seeing that from Trevor Hildenberger from time to time, but it's a pretty uncommon practice for the most part. Here's a look at Duke's 2017 release point chart from Baseball Savant. Download attachment: Duke17Release.png Details on Duke's contract are not known at this time, but assuming he'll be getting a major league deal, his addition will fill the Twins 40-man roster. The only other southpaw relievers the Twins currently have on the roster are Taylor Rogers, Buddy Boshers and Gabriel Moya. Party at Napoli's? That wasn't the only noteworthy item on the rumor mill Christmas morning. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported that the Twins were in "serious talks" with Mike Napoli. Later in the evening, however, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com pumped the brakes on the Napoli to the Twins steam by reporting "talks aren't intense as being reported. Nothing even close to imminent." On Friday, the Star Tribune duo of La Velle E. Neal III and Phil Miller were first to report the Twins' interest in Napoli. Of course, we also heard his name connected to the Twins throughout most of last offseason as well. It's expected Napoli would take the role of part-time first baseman/designated hitter. Considering how his numbers stack up against the likes of Robbie Grossman and Kennys Vargas, however, it's easy to wonder if that's really a hole that needs to be filled. 2016-17 Mike Napoli .219/.314/.449 (.763 OPS), 31.6 K%, 11.2 BB% Robbie Grossman .262/.372/.409 (.781 OPS), 20.7 K%, 14.4 BB% Kennys Vargas .244/.322/.466 (.788 OPS), 30.4 K%, 10.0 BB% But we know from the additions last offseason that clubhouse character is an important factor this front office takes into account when considering new additions, and Napoli has long been regarded as a guy who helps keep things loose over the long season. Click here to view the article

Every team is looking for that one piece that will push them to the next level. It can be an ace pitcher at the front of the rotation or a relief pitcher to help solidify the back-end of the bullpen. Other veteran players can provide a voice in the locker room that might have been missing in previous years. Minnesota is rumored to be interested in veteran first baseman and designated hitter Mike Napoli. Could he be Minnesota’s missing piece in 2018?The Napoli Connection Derek Falvey and Thad Levine both got to know Napoli during his time in Cleveland and Texas. There were rumors of the Twins being interested last off-season but he decided to return to Texas. During the 2017 campaign, he hit .193/.285/.428 with 29 home runs in 124 games. While these numbers don’t exactly stand out, Napoli is known for more than his offensive production. The Star Tribune was told by a source that “the Twins’ interest in him extends nearly as much to the clubhouse as to the batter’s box.” If Napoli were to come to Minnesota, he would serve as a part-time first baseman and designated hitter. Current players Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano will both see time at designated hitter so Napoli could help to bolster the bench. Current Veteran Pieces Minnesota currently has Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer to serve in a leadership role. Dozier has clearly become the team’s vocal leader in recent years. Mauer’s quiet nature often makes fans call for him to take on more of a leadership role. Napoli has been part of winning team’s throughout his career. This gives him a different perspective than the Dozier-Mauer combo. During the 2015 campaign, Torii Hunter returned to Minnesota and helped the club back to respectability. In manager Paul Molitor’s first year on the job, Hunter provided a veteran voice as the club was surprisingly in the playoff race until the season’s last weekend. Napoli might not provide the same kind of fire (see Hunter ripping his jersey off on the field) but he could still fill a role sinilar to Hunter's in 2015. Houston’s Blueprint As the Astros were heading toward their first World Series title, it was clear they had found the right mix of veteran pieces to complement their young core. Players like Brian McCann, Josh Reddick,and Carlos Beltran were added to the Astros roster to provide a voice and leadership in the locker room. There’s no doubt that young players like Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and Lance McCullers Jr. all relied on those veteran pieces at some point in the season. In Houston, it took multiple veteran pieces to bolster the roster. Like Napoli, Beltran wasn’t an every day player by the end of his career. In fact, the Astros’ players had a funeral for Beltran’s glove during the 2017 season. Napoli might just be the first veteran piece of the puzzle to help Minnesota in 2018. Can Napoli be the missing piece for the Twins? What do you think he can add to the locker room? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. Click here to view the article

We’ve established the rules for post-July 31 trades. Now we should take a look at who the Twins might target, right? It’s pretty easy to isolate three areas where the Twins can use some help: Starting pitching Relief pitching Batters who can hit left-handed pitching The pitching woes are hard to miss. Only the Rangers (6.4) have gotten fewer strikeouts per nine innings from starting pitchers than the Twins (6.9), and just four teams have posted higher ERA from their rotations than the Twins (4.89). Similarly, only five teams have a higher bullpen ERA than the Twins (4.53), and no team has a bullpen fanning fewer batters per nine than Minnesota (7.6). With that said, the Twins bullpen has been quite a bit better of late. Only seven teams have a lower ERA over the past 30 days than the Twins (3.53) out of the bullpen, and that comes with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, 2.0 walks per nine and a groundball rate of 47.4 percent. When it comes to making bullpen additions, it’s not just adding that player to a bullpen, though. It’s also swapping out the worst player on the other side of the bullpen. And while that’s a bit tougher to do now than it was a couple months ago, subtracting a Buddy Boshers or an Alan Busenitz now is a bit tougher of a decision than Matt Belisle or Craig Breslow would have been two months ago. Still, there’s room to improve. As an offense, the Twins aren’t far from the middle of the pack. They have a collected wRC+ of 97 — tied for 13th with the Cubs and Reds — and have been around there most of the season. Against righties, they have a 99 wRC+, which is 13th in MLB. Against lefties though, it’s just 89 — 21st in MLB. So the Twins could use some help against lefties, and that’s easy to see with the struggles of Max Kepler, Joe Mauer and others against southpaws this season. So let’s take a look at some pieces that might be made available over the next couple weeks to see who might be a good fit for the Twins: SP Marco Estrada – Toronto Blue Jays Estrada is probably atop every general manager’s list this month as far as teams seeking starting pitching help. His ERA is unsightly (4.85), but it’s backed by a 4.35 FIP, more than a strikeout per inning and a strong recent run. He’s got a 2.08 ERA over his last four starts, which includes pitching the Jays to wins over the Yankees and Astros — the AL’s two best offenses. This deal might take time to get done, as the Jays are just four games out of the second Wild Card and maybe haven’t quite packed it in yet. Please click through to Zone Coverage here to see the rest of this story.