The Minnesota Twins aspired to have baseball’s best bullpen when they emerged from Grapefruit League action and flew up to St. Louis for Opening Day. Local pundits and highly respected projection models (ZiPS) thought it was a good possibility, too.
Unfortunately, early injuries to some of the bullpen’s most reliable middle relievers, combined with some unlikely poor performances from guys like Griffin Jax, have put a damper on Rocco Baldelli’s high bullpen aspirations to start the 2025 season.
Entering tonight’s game vs the Kansas City Royals, the Twins are a disappointing 3-7 to start the year.
Their starting rotation owns the worst ERA in baseball and they’ve already cycled through multiple relievers to try and makeup for the innings.
Richard Lovelady signs with MN Twins and heads to St. Paul
The MN Twins have some internal depth to help fill innings, including a lefty, Danny Coulombe, who they signed as a free agent in the offseason.
But after the Toronto Blue Jays waived LHP Richard Lovelady, the Twins saw an opportunity to strengthen their lefty depth, after the 29-year-old out of Kennesaw State was waived by the Blue Jays after just 1 2/3 innings.
After he signed, the Twins assigned Lovelady to Triple A St. Paul
Richard Lovelady has pitched in six big league seasons and spent time with the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays during 2024.
Last season Lovelady made 35 appearances and tallied 34 1/3 innings of major league action. He posted a 4.46 ERA (3.92 FIP) with 26 strikeouts and 11 walks.
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The southpaw was successful against left-handed batters and allowed just a .634 OPS.
That was 100 points lower than the .737 OPS give up to right-handed batters.
He has never spent an entire year at the big league level and his 34+ innings last year were a career high.
It’s unlikely he surpasses that tally with the Twins this season, but he probably slots in ahead of Kody Funderburk and Anthony Misiewicz, as lefty options for Minnesota, should they need to make a call up in that area.
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Lovelady owns a 2.56 career ERA in the minors, across 232 innings. At Triple-A he has posted a 2.88 ERA in 137 2/3 innings.
His 9.9 K/9 at the highest farm level hasn’t really translated to the big leagues, but it’s clear he has stuff that can work.
The Saints are home this week for a six-game series against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Lovelady is a former 10th round pick by the Royals organization, of which Omaha represents the Triple-A team.
Minnesota Twins bullpen seeking consistency
The Twins bullpen couldn’t be further from a league-best unit at this point.
Griffin Jax blew a save against the Houston Astros on Sunday. Jorge Alcala has been mediocre while being the target of multiple comebackers. They have also swapped out long-relief arms multiple times.
It’s not a guarantee that Lovelady winds up factoring into the equation, but he certainly gives the organization another arm to look at.
Middle relief has been taxed for the Twins. Louie Varland wasn’t a guaranteed reliever through Grapefruit League action, but has been used a league-high six times in just ten games.
Baldelli needs plenty of things to work better than they have for the Minnesota Twins thus far. If they are going to turn things around though, the relief corps must be better as well.
