The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Ed Thoma

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August 2, 2009

No relief in sight for Twins bullpen

Edward Thoma

The Twins front office, we are told, was diligent in its pursuit of middle relief help in the days leading up to the trading deadline.

Heath Bell (San Diego). Michael Wuertz (Oakland). Jon Rausch (Arizona). Matt Capps (Pittsburgh). George Sherrill (who actually did get traded, from Baltimore to the Dodgers).

The Twins were said to have pursued each, and whiffed on them all, deeming the price of multiple prospects too high.

General manager Bill Smith was quoted in the St. Paul paper: ‘"I won't claim this as mine, but I read it the other day, every team with a reliever was trying to turn a Larry Andersen into a Jeff Bagwell.”

That’s a reference to a now infamous end-of-August trade in 1990 in which Houston sent veteran set-up man Andersen to Boston for a Double-A third baseman. The Red Sox got exactly what they wanted — he had an ERA of 1.23 in his short stint with Boston, and they won the division title.

But the third baseman was Bagwell. The Sox gave up a Hall of Fame career for one month of solid middle relief.

The few relievers who got moved at this deadline — Sherrill, John Grabow — drew multiple prospects in return.

Sherrill, for example, cost the Dodgers a pair of Double A players, one of whom (Josh Bell) may well be the Orioles’ regular third baseman next season. An equivalent package from the Twins would have included Danny Valencia, and that wasn’t going to happen. Not that the Twins have any realistic expectations that Valencia is going to be the second coming of Jeff Bagwell. More that they didn’t want to trade a five-year solution to their third-base problem for a two-month releif stop gap.

So for now the Twins continue to hope that Matt Guerrier and Jose Mijares don’t break down, and that Jesse Crain or Bobby Keppel will emerge as a legitimate third set-up option.

It’s difficult to be optimistic about those two. Keppel’s ERA has gone from 0.56 to 4.84 in 6 1/3 innings over his last six appearances (entering Sunday’s play). He’s walked six men in that period and allowed the first man he’s faced to reach three times.

Crain’s 7.50 ERA speaks for itself. He has retired the first man he’s faced once since his recall.

That first-man stat is important for middle men. They’re frequently called upon to pull the starter out of a jam. Keppel and Crain have been throwing gasoline on the fires.

Then there’s R.A. Dickey. Watching him serve up a three-run dinger to the likes of Maicer Izturis on a fast ball is irritating. If the situation is such that he can’t throw his knuckleball, he shouldn’t be pitching.

I’ve said this before: The ability to fix a troubled bullpen is a basic sign of a quality organization. In this area, we’re waiting for the Smith regime to prove itself.

Somewhere in the organization, they have to have somebody who has command of an above-average major league pitch. That’s basically all a reliever needs.

Keppel has a quality sinker — but he doesn’t command it. Dickey too often gets hurt with his less-than-fringe fastball. And Crain ... Dick Bremer can talk about his bad luck, but lack of command has bitten him at least as often as bad breaks.



Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog at www.mankatofreepress.com/ethomabaseball

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Ed Thoma