How the Minnesota Twins will improve before any offseason moves are made

Young pitchers finally ready

For years we have been hearing about this group of relief pitchers that the Twins invested heavily in. A group that would most specifically address the need for power arms in a bullpen void of them. This will likely be the make it or break it year for many of them. Guys like J.T. Chargois, Luke Bard, Jake Reed, Nick Burdi, and Arizona Fall League stand out Tyler Jay should all be close to or in the majors this season.

This above list simply lists the arms that the team has been waiting on and selling hope on for the past couple seasons. The belief was that the reason major bullpen additions weren’t made in the previous couple off-seasons was that this group was to emerge as the next competitive Twins bullpen. Injuries are largely the reason that this group hasn’t helped on the major league level to this point.

Since then some other young arms have emerged as strong candidates for bullpen time as well. Taylor Rogers and Trevor Hildenberger were surprises this season and a full season of Hildenberger should help the Twins improve further in 2018. Rogers and Hildenberger will need help and Gabriel Moya, John Curtiss, and Alan Busenitz are another group of relievers that has some major league experience that could be poised to take another step this coming season. The bullpen will need some outside upgrades to truly take off, but there is a lot to optimistic about within the Twins organization as well.

All that is said without even mentioning the two most intriguing arms in the system in starters Stephen Gonsalves and Fernando Romero who also will be pressing hard to be given a shot in the majors at some point in 2018.