Let's spare hyperbole: The Minnesota Twins bullpen stinks.
For the second time in three days the Twins coughed up a late lead and lost. After Minnesota broke a 3-3 tie in San Diego, Steven Okert entered the game and completely melted down by giving up a pair of singles that set up a three-run homer that put the Padres up for good.
It's not the first time we've seen the bullpen blow it, but this latest meltdown comes at perhaps the worst possible time.
Minnesota began the night just 2.5 games behind Cleveland for first place in the AL Central. That lead grew after the loss and it served as a painful reminder of how easily the Twins could have avoided this nightmare scenario from unfolding.
Twins deciding to get cheap is coming back to bite them now
For all the good that Minnesota has been able to do this season, the clound hanging over everything is how the team did absolutely nothing to supplement a clearly talented roster.
We all know what happened this winter when the Twins slashed over $30 million out of the payroll and refused to spend on any meaingful additions. Fans were no doubt frustrated by this, but the end result of the team getting cheap at every turn is being felt now.
Minnesota's modus operandi seems to be hoping for the best rather than seizing the day.
This was felt when the team chased the franchise's most successful postseason run in two decades by cutting costs and making moves on the margin rather than truly adding to a roster that proved it was ready to contend. Minnesota ran this strategy back at the trade deadline when it refused to make a trade for a starting pitcher or a top reliever and instead put its faith in a bullpen that was already leaking fuel.
Teams in similar positions did what the Twins should have done. Kansas City spent bit in free agency but added a number of key players and Cleveland traded for a supplemental bat and a high-upside starting pitcher. Baltimore dipped into its talented farm system to get a top pitcher, while Houston made a splash to ensure its rotation didn't take a step back.
Meanwhile, Minnesota made a single low wattage trade that wouldn't even be able to power a light bulb.
It's not just that the Twins didn't make a huge splash at the deadline or in free agency, it's that the team phoned in the deals it did make.
Minnesota had the core of a bullpen that was rated among the best in baseball on Opening Day, but supplemented it with fringe arms that have become total liabilities during the stretch run of a postseason race.
The Twins had a really great bullpen core this year in Duran, Jax, Alcala, Sands. They supplemented it with Okert, Topa, Staumont, Richards. Talk about self sabotage.
— Nick Nelson (@NickNelsonMN) August 21, 2024
It's truly embarrassing stuff.
Injuries are always hard to account for, but it was par for the course that just days after the Twins didn't trade for a starter or reliever the team lost Joe Ryan and Brock Stewart for the rest of the season, and are expected to be without Chris Paddack as well.
Losing to San Diego the way it did on Tuesday was frustrating enough, but the fact that Minnesota made its own bed this way is truly tough to handle. The Twins are reaping what they sowed by choosing profit over progress, and it's the fans who are left picking up the pieces of their own heart that the team is callously breaking.
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