Minnesota Twins: 5 options to strengthen the bullpen
The Minnesota Twins are a team with serious potential. If they want to capitalize on this and take advantage of a weak AL Central they need to do some work to bolster their bullpen.
The Minnesota Twins are an intriguing team.
After a disappointing 2018 that saw the team finish with a 78-84 record, the Twins have made some pretty good moves this offseason, highlighted by the signing of slugger Nelson Cruz and the hiring of young manager Rocco Baldelli.
In most divisions in baseball, these moves wouldn’t move the needle much as far as a team’s playoff hopes are concerned; the AL Central is not most divisions in baseball.
The Indians are no longer trying to move their top two rotation arms, but in all of the hubbub surrounding potential trades, they’ve done little to nothing to make their team better heading into 2019.
If the White Sox don’t end up making a major addition to their roster (you know the one) there’s not much standing in the way of the Twins making a division run, at least not if they’re smart in finishing up the construction of their own roster.
One area the Twins need to pay particular attention to if they want to improve next year is in the bullpen. The group finished last season with a weak bullpen ERA of 4.50, and without some key additions, they’ll likely disappoint again in 2019.
Luckily for the Twins, there are still quite a few effective relievers available in free agency (even some that are in the Twins “budget”). Let’s check out a few.
Sergio Romo
It’s not likely that Sergio Romo will return to his peak Giants form anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that the veteran should be totally discounted. Romo still has something left in the tank, and he’s an intriguing relief option who could help the Twins in the short term.
Romo is not a power pitcher, so the fact that he’ll be 36 next year shouldn’t be a major issue for prospective teams. Over the last few years he’s shown that he’s fairly durable, and he’s failed to 50+ IP only once since 2012.
Romo has seen regression in some areas of his game, but his slider, which is his most used pitch, is still very effective. Over the years the pitch hasn’t lost movement, and opposing batters only slug .380 when it’s thrown.
Despite the fact that he doesn’t fit the typical fireballer mold Romo could actually be a viable, if not ideal, option to close games out for the Twins. Romo has a fair amount of experience in the closer role, and last year he was often used by the Rays in high leverage situations late in games.
His performance in this role wasn’t all-star level, but he certainly wasn’t a liability and he’d be an improvement over most of the late innings options currently on the Twins roster.
Romo made $2.5 million last year and likely won’t ask for more than that in 2019, so adding him wouldn’t stop the Twins from going after another reliever or two to fill out the pen.
Xavier Cedeño
Xavier Cedeño quietly had a very good year in 2018, showing flashes of the impressive potential that he displayed during the 2015 season. In 33.1 IP with the White Sox and the Brewers Cedeño had an impressive 175 ERA+, resulting the in the second highest bWAR season of his career.
One reason Cedeño was able to return to form last year was the increased usage of his curveball. In 2015, his best season, he threw the curve 52.18% of the time. The results spoke for themselves; hitters only slugged .219 when the pitch was thrown, with an isolated power against of .052.
In 2016 and 2017 Cedeño changed his approach; he cut his curveball usage in half and started using his cutter as his primary pitch. The results weren’t disastrous, but Cedeño didn’t show much progression through 2016 before his next season was cut short by injury.
Upon returning Cedeño returned to his curve-centric approach, and the results were good enough for him to end up on the Brewers playoff roster (his playoff performance left much to be desired, but hey, small sample size).
One super impressive thing about Cedeño last year is that his platoon splits show no real platoon advantage for opposing hitters. Right-handed batters facing the left-handed Cedeño only had an OPS of .604, with left-handed batters producing an OPS of .574.
If Cedeño can keep this form next year he’d be a valuable bullpen asset, and his versatility would allow the Twins to go after more relievers that are lefty or righty specialists. All of this Cedeño is a generally solid, if not exciting, bullpen option, and the Twins should certainly pursue him.
Nick Vincent
Though he’s far from flashy, one could argue that Nick Vincent has never had a truly bad season.
Over seven years in the majors, Vincent has never had an ERA over 3.99, and his impressive career 4.05 K/BB ratio is indicative of a pitcher with masterful control of the zone.
He’s not a shutdown closer, and his fastball tops out at around 93 MPH, but he certainly has all of the trappings of a super solid middle reliever.
One benefit of signing Vincent is that he’s relatively young (he’ll be 32 next season), and he’s been able to avoid major injuries over the past few seasons. He stands out among most of the available free agent relievers as a player who can be a long term option, something the Twins could use.
Another thing that makes Vincent an attractive player to pick up is that, like Cedeño, he fairs pretty well even when hitters have a platoon advantage against him.
Also promising is Vincen’ts experience working in high leverage situations. He has a career average leverage index of 1.179, and his hold numbers show that he has some real set up man potential.
Vincent has always been solid, so getting added to a team like the Twins where he’d have the chance to be a real bullpen leader is the type of move he’d need to bring his game and reputation up to the next level.
Tony Sipp
Tony Sipp is a tough egg to crack, but if he can bring the momentum and success he had last year into 2019 he could be one of the steals of the offseason.
After a disappointing 2016 and 2017 Sipp was able to return to the 2015 form that earned him a three-year contract. He finished the year with a 1.86 ERA, striking out 42 over 38.2 innings; not a super high usage guy, but very impressive numbers none the less.
Last season saw Sipp abandon his sinker, a pitch he threw a lot in 2017, but more notable than that was the improvement he made with his four-seam fastball.
Opposing batters slugging percentage against his four-seam dropped by well over 500 points from 2017 to 2018, an improvement that came as he effectively doubled his usage of the pitch.
There’s no guarantee this success will carry into next year, but the fact that a clear difference in approach can be found is a positive sign towards last season not being a fluke.
It’s probably not realistic to expect him to improve much more next season (he’ll be 35), but he certainly could remain at the same level and bring value to a pen that desperately needs it.
Among free agent relievers that are still available Sipp ranks second in WAR from last year; that’s fairly impressive when you think about how he pitched less than 40 innings; with higher usage Sipp could likely flourish, and he’s certainly worth taking a chance on a one-year contract.
Craig Kimbrel
Of course Craig Kimbrel is number one on this list; honestly, it’s not even a particularly close race. Kimbrel is arguably the best reliever in baseball, not just the best available free agent reliever, and the Twins would be very, very, very lucky to have him.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
With that said, it’s not super likely. Kimbrel’s desired contract has kept big money teams like the Red Sox away, so for the Twins to shell out the cash to acquire him would be quite a surprise.
But this isn’t a list of who they will sign, this is a list of who the should sign, and price aside they really should get Kimbrel.
He’d immediately make their pitching staff a lot better, and he’s still young enough that he’s worth signing to a multi-year deal, meaning he’d potentially be around when their contention window really opens up.
Relievers, especially closers, are pretty fickle; they often burn bright for a few seasons before succumbing to age or injury. So far, Kimbrel hasn’t fit this mold. Over 9 major league seasons, he’s posted an ERA over 3.00 only once, and he’s never had a K/9 below 13.
Over the years Kimbrel has been mostly injury free while sustaining a high average speed on his four-seam fastball, something that’s not super common in this era of fireballers. Last year he strengthened his repertoire by getting more movement on his curveball, which made the pitch harder for opposing batters to get a hold of.
dark. Next. Twins will be the surprise team of 2019
Simply put, he’s one of the best. If the Minnesota Twins want to contend in the near future they’ll need to pick up Kimbrel level players, so they might as well pick him up now while he’s available.