Building one of the best bullpens in baseball appears to be the Twins’ offseason strategy, and so far, it looks like it’s working, at least on paper.
The Twins further bolstered their bullpen on Sunday by reportedly acquiring left-handed reliever Steven Okert from the Miami Marlins in exchange for utility man Nick Gordon. The Twins have made their bullpen a position of strength this offseason by adding the likes of Okert, Jay Jackson, Justin Topa and Josh Staumont, not to mention their plethora of impact returners.
The addition of Okert was just the latest step in building arguably the best bullpen in baseball. FanGraphs now projects the Twins to have the best bullpen in the American League and the second-best bullpen in all of the majors. Only the Philadelphia Phillies’ bullpen is projected to have more wins above replacement, and not by much.
FanGraphs projects a 4.8 WAR for the Phillies’ bullpen, slightly above the Twins’ 4.7. But FanGraphs also projects the Minnesota bullpen to throw 30 more innings than Philadelphia’s, and the Twins are projected to have a lower earned-run average — 4.00 to the Phillies’ 4.25.
While at the end of the day they are just predictions and the games still have to be played, it appears the Twins will have a pretty formidable bullpen in 2024.
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