FORT MYERS, Fla. — The gargantuan task of rebuilding the Twins bullpen continued Thursday as the club added its most substantial piece to date, acquiring lefty Anthony Banda from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Described as a “bulldog” by his new manager, Banda, who posted a 3.14 ERA pitching medium-leverage innings the past two seasons for the repeat champions, immediately projects in a late-innings role for the Twins, whose bullpen remains inexperienced after five key relievers were traded last July.
While the current group sorely lacks the firepower of the team’s pre-trade deadline 2025 relief corps, the acquisition of Banda on the heels of the Wednesday signing of veteran Liam Hendriks to a minor-league deal represents a sudden increase in stature and experience for the Twins’ relief corps. Combined with last month’s signing of veteran Taylor Rogers, general manager Jeremy Zoll has cobbled together a low-risk relief trio that potentially could provide much-needed stability late in games.
The Twins sent international bonus pool money to the Dodgers for Banda, who Los Angeles had designated for assignment on Friday. Banda pitched 13 2/3 postseason innings for the Dodgers the past two years, including eight World Series appearances.
“I like the pieces we’ve added,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton, who managed Banda in Pittsburgh. “We have guys that have really good stuff that could pitch at the back end of the game. … What I love that (Zoll) has continued to do and will continue to do is we’re going to add pieces to it, and then we’re going to find how the dominos fall.”
Zoll is doing his best to piece together a bullpen for the Twins, who were under different marching orders from ownership last July. Before the deadline, Zoll and Derek Falvey were tasked with accumulating as much young talent as they could, which resulted in Minnesota making separate deals to trade Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland, a flame-throwing trio each with multiple years of team control remaining.
Two weeks after the deadline, the Twins closed on a partial sale of the club, a transaction that resulted in new executive chair Tom Pohlad taking control of the franchise from his brother, Joe, in mid-December.
While they’re related, the two brothers couldn’t be more different when it comes to operating the Twins. Tom, who’s aggressive and attempting to rekindle fan interest by being honest and direct, is aiming for the Twins to play competitive baseball games in September, a lofty goal that could be waylaid by a makeshift bullpen.
Had they known about the coming change in ownership philosophy, the Twins front office might not have traded all of their key relievers. Instead, the team must get the most out of Rogers, whose sinker is down 3 miles per hour from his previous time with the Twins, and Hendriks, who has been severely limited by injury the past three seasons.
Now comes Banda, whose pitching the past two seasons improved with the development of a wipeout slider, but he still struggles against righty hitters.
“We’re bringing in some more guys that are low-risk, high-reward,” bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins said. “I always like to find the genie in a bottle. I look at Liam and Taylor as myself when I was that age. I was still able to get outs and be very productive. If you can get that from them, we’re going to be fine.”
Hawkins thinks the additions of Hendriks and Rogers should allow him to prevent younger, still-developing relievers from worrying too much about which innings they’re pitching. A month ago, it seemed all but certain the Twins would need to rely on immediate contributions from rookies Marco Raya, Connor Prielipp or John Klein, starters who could be converted into relievers. Now the increased competition should afford the trio more time to acclimate.
After adding Banda, the Twins could have as many as six bullpen spots filled with Hendriks, Rogers, Kody Funderburk, Cole Sands and Justin Topa manning the others. That would leave only two spots for a large contingent of non-roster invitees and the starters who could be converted to relievers.
Pitching coach Pete Maki believes the bullpen issues will be addressed in due time. Maki and Shelton addressed Twins pitchers Thursday, with the manager stressing the importance of pitchers playing good defense and the cost of poor execution. Maki emphasized paying attention to the finer details, worrying less about the big picture and instead focusing on a given day’s work.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care to know right now (about roles),” Maki said. “What I care to do is do my job today with the guys we have in that room. It’s a canned answer, but it is real. … The main thing is just getting your focus in a day at a time, not worrying about the past, not thinking about the future, focus on the present, and control what you can control.”
Rogers is intrigued by the group he’s joining. He also recognizes it could look very different in a few short months.
“If you take a look at most Opening Day bullpens, they’re almost always different by May,” Rogers said. “You can’t ever look too much into what it is right away. … I think there’s more depth with some of the more experienced guys.”
Shelton acknowledged the bullpen has questions to answer. But he’s been around long enough to see relief units funded by big money struggle while a group of non-roster invitees in Tampa Bay, where he was the hitting coach, led the Rays to a division title.
For now, Shelton said he needs to focus on learning his players.
“We’ll find that out,” Shelton said. “There is work to be done, but the undertaking for me is I am trying to learn an entire group.”
Hawkins knows the Twins are projected to be in the bottom half of the league’s bullpens, but he’s optimistic the club can exceed expectations.
“Baseball is unknown,” Hawkins said. “There are so many variables. Anything can happen. … People got us down at the bottom of the list, and that’s fine. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I hope they’re not right.”