Twins claim lefty reliever, a former first-round pick, off waivers

The Twins have claimed left-handed reliever Joey Wentz off of waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates, they announced on Wednesday. Pablo Lopez was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster. Another move will be needed on Thursday to make room for Wentz on the active 26-man roster, and it feels like that might be bad news for Jorge Alcala.

Wentz, 27, was a first-round pick (No. 40 overall) by the Braves out of high school in Kansas in 2016. The 6'5" lefty was traded to the Tigers in 2019 and made his MLB debut for Detroit in 2022. After struggling last season, he was designated for assignment in late August and claimed by the Pirates. He'll now be joining his fourth MLB organization and his third big-league team.

Across 97 big-league games and 231.2 innings pitched, Wentz has a 5.40 ERA. But that's largely because he was ineffective as a starter for the Tigers in 2023 and in a relief role last season. If there's a reason to be encouraged, it's that Wentz was actually pretty solid for the Pirates, pitching to a 3.32 ERA in 38 innings between last September and the first couple months of this season.

Wentz gives the Twins a lefty option who can eat multiple innings in lower-leverage situations. That was something they were missing in their bullpen. He won't be a high-leverage guy, but they have plenty of those already. They needed someone who can save their bullpen when a starter gets knocked out early or eat some innings with a big lead.

Wentz, who gets excellent extension because of his height, features a fastball, cutter, and curveball. He's also used a changeup in previous seasons. He has 220 strikeouts in his 231.2 career innings, but also 104 walks. In his minor league career, he had a 3.44 ERA with 571 strikeouts in 525.1 innings across five different levels.

If it's Alcala who goes to make room for Wentz (and it's hard to see there being any other option), the Twins' bullpen would look like this:

• Jhoan Duran
• Griffin Jax
• Louis Varland
• Cole Sands
• Brock Stewart
• Danny Coulombe (LHP)
• Justin Topa
• Joey Wentz (LHP)