Hey, guess what? The Twins need bullpen help.

And what better time to reinforce that point than when you enter the bottom of the ninth inning with a 10-run lead and have to bring in your closer to pick up the save. Gardy can hope and wish and give Jesse Crain all the rest that he wants, but his presence on the mound is a crapshoot for everyone. I’m not going to buy the big-lead-means-a-lack-of-mental-edge argument because, when you have a 7-plus ERA, you’re going to be the guy who comes in if anything happens to the starter in a one-sided game. And I’m sure Jose Mijares made Gardy and Rick Anderson a whole lot more comfortable when he walked two guys with the bases loaded before Joe Nathan finally and professionally ended the nonsense.

I’m assuming Craig Breslow was telling some pretty good stories to the remaining pitchers in the A’s bullpen as that final inning went on. “Uncle Craig, did anyone hide PEDs in the Barbie backpack?”

It was a night when the headline should have been: “Delmon, finally!” or “Gomez gets a big hit!” or “Geez, chill about Justin Morneau because every player goes through slumps!” or “Tolbert bats second, but Twins dominate anyway!” or “Mauer/Morneau/Kubel go 8-for-14!” or “Quit hurting Joe Crede!” or “OMG! GARDY SAYS HARRIS WILL STAY AT SHORTSTOP EVEN AFTER NICK PUNTO COMES OFF THE DISABLED LIST!”

But, no, the Twins led 10-0 going into the bottom of the ninth and I’m writing about the stinkin’ bullpen.

Here’s why: While the Twins were running up their lead, first-place Detroit took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth in Chicago before closer Fernando Rodney walked the first three batters he faced and Brandon Lyon finished off the blown save to let the White Sox tie the game. The Tigers won in the 10th, but what do you think their front office is thinking about?

Building a better bullpen. Same thing with Tampa Bay, which has its own cast of underperforming relievers, and the Yankees, who always need help between their starters and Mariano Rivera. Those are three contending teams that are certain to compete with the Twins in that area. And even teams that look pretty solid right now will find a need as the season stretches out.

Keep in mind, though, that the bullpen enhancement game isn’t an easy one to play.

Every now and again, somebody comments about how the Twins should have fixed this one over the winter, but didn’t do anything. At this point, the main somethings they didn’t do are named Brandon Lyon (5.06 ERA, more walks than strikeouts, 5 home runs in 21 innings, 1.43 WHIP), Juan Cruz (5.63 ERA, 16 walks and 16 strikeouts in 28 innings for the Royals) and Eric Gagne, who is scheduled to start this weekend … for the Quebec Capitales of the CanAm League against the defending champion Sussex Skyhawks.

By that standard, the Luis Ayala signing only looks awful, instead of the total worst thing since Rondell White.

The Twins won’t be the only ones trying to make a deal for Colorado’s Huston Street or Houston’s LaTroy Hawkins. The front office needs to be better than its rivals on this one.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.