Brock Stewart pitched twice against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field and twice at Guaranteed Rate Field in his last four outings. He started to notice pain in his rotator cuff during the homestand, but it went away once he got on the mound. Stewart didn’t pitch in Anaheim but felt a twinge when he warmed up in the bullpen. Then, he felt a rush of pain during a May 1 relief appearance in Chicago.
“I noticed something at home in the last homestand against the White Sox,” said Stewart. “When I got on the game mound, whether it be adrenaline taking over or just the blood was pumping from the warmup or the run from the bullpen to the mound, and then the warmup pitches out there during the game, didn’t really notice it too much.
“But warming up just wasn’t fun. It wasn’t fun to throw the baseball in the bullpen.”
The Minnesota Twins pivoted to relievers in the offseason. The St. Louis Cardinals signed Sonny Gray for three years, $75 million, and Kenta Maeda signed with the Detroit Tigers for two years, $24 million. Instead of replacing them with free-agent starters, the Twins loaded up on relievers. FanGraphs projected them to have the second-best bullpen in the majors.
However, the Twins left spring training with Jhoan Duran, Caleb Thielbar, Josh Staumont, and Justin Topa on the injured list. Stewart and Griffin Jax split the closing duties in Duran’s absence. Jax pitched well (2.40 ERA/163 ERA+), but Stewart had a 0.68 ERA (582 ERA+) in 13.1 innings pitched. Even with Duran back, Stewart has a vital role in a short-handed bullpen.
“We’ve been getting used a lot, but it’s a good thing,” said Jax after giving up a hit and run in a rare two-inning outing. “The bullpen, in general, has been getting used a lot. Played a lot of games in a row, a couple of short outings by pitchers. But when ballgames are close, generally, the phone is going to be ringing in the bullpen no matter what. A lot of guys are getting used, but everyone’s ready to do their job.”
Thielbar returned to the bullpen in mid-April, and Staumont was in the Twins clubhouse on Wednesday. Thielbar had injured his hamstring sprinting during spring training, which meant he had to build himself back up in April before pitching in the majors. Staumont’s recovery was more complicated. He suffered from thoracic outlet syndrome and hasn’t pitched since early June last year. Staumont has typically been a one-inning pitcher, but he’ll have to pitch multiple innings upon returning to the majors.
“We have to,” said Rocco Baldelli. “We don’t really have an option there as far as how we treat that. Overall, we opened up with a lot of off days, and since all of those off days, we’ve had to play a lot of games. We haven’t had many days to let our bullpen recoup.
“We could probably use, at some point in the next few days, one of our starters to go deep into one of these games and pitch us to a nice win. Hopefully, we can get a cushion and just let him go, make that happen. I think that would be helpful. But the only other way to combat that is to have guys going two innings and pitching well.”
Therein lies the risk with bullpen-focused strategies. Pitching leads to injury, given its stress on players’ shoulders and elbows. Therefore, pitchers are always at risk of missing time. Furthermore, relief pitchers are volatile, producing unpredictable results year to year. The 2015 Kansas City Royals won a World Series title using five-and-dive starters and a dominant bullpen. However, rotations that can’t pitch deep into games expose bullpens that lack depth.
Minnesota has three reliable starters: Pablo López, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober. However, there is a lot of uncertainty at the back end of the rotation. Chris Paddack has recovered from his 8.36 ERA in mid-April but has a limited pitch count after his second Tommy John surgery last year. Simeon Woods Richardson has pitched well in the majors (1.74 ERA/225 ERA+ in four starts) but has a 6.08 ERA in three Triple-A starts this year. And the Twins sent Louie Varland to St. Paul after he started the year with an 8.36 ERA.
Therefore, Minnesota’s starters must go as deep as possible to keep their injured bullpen healthy. Paddack asked for an extra inning on Wednesday, knowing the Twins had taxed their relief corps.
“I looked up there in the fourth inning and I was at 75 pitches, and I was like, ‘Holy cow,’” Paddack said. “I’ve got to find a way to get out to at least the sixth, especially with the bullpen kind of beat up, a couple guys down. Yeah, the 10 punches was nice, but I’m a guy that I want to get deep into games. That’s how we win ballgames.”
Given their schedule and uncertainty at the back end of the rotation, the Twins will continue to stress their bullpen. Minnesota has a winning strategy if its best starters go deep and the bullpen continues to pitch well and stay healthy. Topa had a setback on Sunday after a good bullpen on Friday, and Stewart will play catch this weekend and then expects a two-week buildup. The pitching staff will have to hold it together until then, but that’s what they’ve been doing all season.
