Brad Brach
Another proven, quality option the Minnesota Twins should make an effort to sign is Brad Brach. Brach spent the first few years of his career with the San Diego Padres before going to the Baltimore Orioles where his career really took off. He had been with the Orioles from 2014 until shortly before the trade deadline this past season when he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. During this period of time, he has been stellar. Brach has pitched 60+ innings each season in this time span, totalling a 2.89 ERA. His best year by far was 2016, where he pitched 79 innings and boasted a 2.05 ERA, earning himself his lone All-Star appearance in his career.
Brach is a little bit older than my other suggested targets, as he will be 33 early in the season next year, and there could be a bit of concern over the fact that his stats have worsened each of the past 2 seasons. Yet, he’s still put up good numbers overall, and it’s worth noting that the 2017 and 2018 Orioles were downright terrible. As one of the few quality players on each of those teams, it’s reasonable to think that part of those lesser numbers may be as result of entering games with more players on base more often. But it’s hard to say without diving into each individual game over that two year span.
Brach will be another guy that will get plenty of attention this offseason, yet might be more of a backup plan for many teams. There’s a good number of free agent relievers that are better than him at this point, including Kimbrel, Robertson, Britton, Miller, Herrera, Ottavino, Soria, and a handful of guys that one could put ahead of Brach based on preference, but Brach is definitely still a solid option. To me, it’s the same case as with Allen above. Teams are going to want him, but they might try to get a few of the bigger names before they try for Brach.
If the Minnesota Twins get out ahead of everyone else and meet with Brach early on, he could be a nice addition to the team while everyone else focuses on the top few relievers (who the Twins probably shouldn’t be looking at anyways due to the money they’ll likely command).