Thread: 2013 Bullpen

Gonna assume that the team will go back to 12 pitchers next yr, so I gotta say there already is no competition in spring training as Gardy/Andy will write the following 7 relievers in ink this offseason (barring trades of course)
RHP
Jaret Burton
Alex Burnett
Casey Fien
Anthony Swarzak

LHP
Glen Perkins
Brian Duensing
Tyler Robertson

All 7 have had some sort of decent success when they have pitched in pen.
Any disagreements

Waldrop, Vasquez, Perdomo, Pugh, & Slama, to name a few, should at least be invited to compete, because competition leads to.....

Perkins is my only lock. Hope the Twins re-sign Burton.

Burton has another year of team control, he's a lock to be there.

Originally Posted by snepp

Burton has another year of team control, he's a lock to be there.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/jared-burton/

Never fully understood arbitration. How does this scenario work. It says he'll go to arbitration this off-season... doesn't he have the right to decline arbitration?

Originally Posted by The Greatest Poster Alive

Originally Posted by snepp

Burton has another year of team control, he's a lock to be there.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/jared-burton/

Never fully understood arbitration. How does this scenario work. It says he'll go to arbitration this off-season... doesn't he have the right to decline arbitration?

only if you're a FA. If you're under team control, you either agree to a deal......agree to arbitration......become a FA
He's in same boat as Casilla, Duensing, Butera & Burnett,

Originally Posted by The Greatest Poster Alive

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/jared-burton/

Never fully understood arbitration. How does this scenario work. It says he'll go to arbitration this off-season... doesn't he have the right to decline arbitration?

As long as you have less than 6 years of service time, you're at the mercy of the team. He'll end the season with a little over 5 years of service time.

Current bullpen options, in highest to lowest chance of making 2013 opening day roster:

Perkins
Duensing
Burton

Fien




Robertson




Arrange the rest in any order you like, none of them are locks. At least lets hope not.

If I was the GM I'd stay within the system, maybe look at adding a rule 5 pick if you can find one. But I think looking at the 7 guys mentioned and the 3-5 that will end up in AAA that its not something that resources should be spent on. I've had a saying that I like to repeat, I hope every year that the Twins don't go after bullpen or middle infielders during free agency, because the guys they target and the money they spend, are just more expensive options then what is available within the system.

My guess would be that 1 of the starters in ST is sent to the pen, and the rest is what we are looking at right now. And I don't see a problem with that.

though I think Burnett is getting towards the end of his scholarship, he is not effective at all right now

I think that if Blackie makes the team out of ST, he will have to be out of the bullpen. Burnett, unfortunately, is really one of the last "scholarship" players left on the team, and since Gardy and Andy seem to be high on him, I think he makes it. Gray, I hope doesn't even get an invite, and Robertson hasn't seemed that much better than Burnett or Gray. I think the plan is to have Duensing be in the bullpen and stay there next year, except acting as the spot-starter when necessary. I am not sure that Manship has earned a look for next year, and Swarzak is kinda on the bubble.

These are the guys that I can see making the team as RP next year:
Burton; Perkins; Waldrop; Fien; Duensing; (Slama); (Vazquez?); (Swarzak?)

Originally Posted by J-Dog Dungan

I think that if Blackie makes the team out of ST, he will have to be out of the bullpen. Burnett, unfortunately, is really one of the last "scholarship" players left on the team, and since Gardy and Andy seem to be high on him, I think he makes it. Gray, I hope doesn't even get an invite, and Robertson hasn't seemed that much better than Burnett or Gray. I think the plan is to have Duensing be in the bullpen and stay there next year, except acting as the spot-starter when necessary. I am not sure that Manship has earned a look for next year, and Swarzak is kinda on the bubble.

These are the guys that I can see making the team as RP next year:
Burton; Perkins; Waldrop; Fien; Duensing; (Slama); (Vazquez?); (Swarzak?)

Drew Butera anyone......

Burnett is safe to start the year out as Gardy/Andy are old schooled and wil/do look at ERA & not K's/BABIP where it shows Burnett is about to get killed.
Think Robertson is safe as he'll be the one hitter lefty type & he's held LHH to under .200BAve this year.
Swarzak, for me, is safe only because he's out of options & was very effective as a bullpen only guy untill coming back from his shoulder problem.
Gray becomes a FAgent once the season ends and wont be back.
Manship, Vasquez (who I wouldnt be stunned if he beats out Swarzak) & Walters are out of options. Not even sure if Jeff & PJ will be kept on 40 man this winter as both have no shot next spring.
Waldrop will start in AAA & am not sure how MN will handle Pedomo as he has options left BUT guys like Slama, Pugh, Watts, Lanigan are options that dont have to be protected

Tyler Robertson is a fine LOOGY, but I doubt the team's going to have the depth to be sure they can use a roster spot on another pure LOOGY. If the rotation is going to have a few question marks, they might need an innings eater more than that.

I wouldn't reserve a slot for Alex Burnett by any means.

Strange....none of you have mentioned the $6M elephant in the corner of the room.

Originally Posted by Craig in MN

Tyler Robertson is a fine LOOGY, but I doubt the team's going to have the depth to be sure they can use a roster spot on another pure LOOGY. If the rotation is going to have a few question marks, they might need an innings eater more than that.

I wouldn't reserve a slot for Alex Burnett by any means.

I agree, although I wouldn't call Robertson a "fine LOOGy". He has made many LH hitters look bad, but too many (Prince comes to mind) have figured out his one-trick pony routine. Robertson needs to come up with a better compliment to the slider to be an effective reliever.

Burnett has been fascinating this year. He was mostly very effective the first 2/3 of the year, despite very mediocre peripherals. I think he needs to be effective in the spring, but he would have the inside track for a spot.

What about Guerra? He will be out of options.

Guerra is out of options.

Manship will be out of options.

Is Swarzak arbitration eligible?

Burton will be a keeper...if he stays healthy he can be flipped.

DeVries could be in the long-relief mix.

Robertson has options.

Blackburn is owed money.

Waldrop is also out of options, I believe.

The Twins have some guys they need to worry about more than Perdomo.

I bet the Twins put Slama on the 40-man.

Will they DFA Carlos Gutierrez and Lester Oliveros?

Capps could come back for $6 million right away or $2.5 if the Twins wait him out!!!!!

With Capps if the Twins resign him it will just be more good money chasing bad to try to make a bad trade look better

Perkins is the closer, Burton the Setup man. Duensing is the lefty reliever who can go 1IP+ where Robertson is more of the lefty that is 1-2 batters. Thielbar is prolly the top lefty at Rochester in the bullpen, and he is kinda inbetween a 1IP to maybe 2IP reliever. I don't think left handed bullpen arms are a big problem for the Twins

As far as righties, you have Burton as the setup (previously stated), Swarzak the long relief, Fein is the 7th inning guy. So we have 7-8-9th pretty rapped up with Duensing (lefty 7th) Fein (righty 7th) Burton 8th, Perk 9th. Robertson the 1AB lefty specialist guy in the middle of it. That is 6 guys right there. The 1-2 other spots my guess would be a Manship, Perdomo, Guerra, or 6th starter, or rule 5 pickup.

I hope Burnett is not on the team, it will mean we have improved. Do not expect Manship or Vasquez here either. Swarzak could fail because he is now arbitration eligible and we should not be paying him much to be a long reliever. Maybe De Vires could fill that role. Walters will need to show more to make it next year, so we still need 2 pitchers to come from somewhere(trades).

Capps at 2.5m is not a bad deal. He's a decent set up man. People just hate him because we gave up Ramos, because he's fat, and because we overpaid him.

Matt Capps at 2.5 is still ****. You don't need to pay for his kind of mediocrity when you can get it for a little bit of nothing. Every dollar you spend over the minimum on him is a dollar that could be better spent elsewhere.