Published: July 07, 2008 12:45 am         

Flop, flop, fizz, fizz: What a relief it isn’t

The one constant of the Ron Gardenhire era has been the quality of Twins’ set-up crew. He has always had an eighth-inning stud to lean on, sometime more than one.

LaTroy Hawkins in 2002-03: 15-3, 41 holds, 138 strikeouts in 1572⁄3 innings, 2.00 ERA.

Juan Rincon, 2004-06: 20-13, 67 holds, 255 Ks in 2331⁄3 innings, 2.66 ERA.

Mix in various servings of Pat Neshek, J.C. Romero, Dennys Reyes, Jesse Crain, Mike Jackson, Grant Balfour and even Johan Santana, and Gardenhire has seldom had to worry about bridging the gap between a starter and the closer.

This year? Worry.

The Twins this year have lost at least four games in which they had at least a three-run lead. The bullpen has been oddly vulnerable to multi-pitcher implosions.

Had the middle-relief corps been merely mediocre in those four games — had they allowed just one run an inning — they’d have gotten leads to Joe Nathan, and the Twins probably win all four. Not only would that put the Twins solidly in first place, but — since three of those losses came against Detroit — it would put the Tigers deep in white-flag territory.

The Twins gambled a couple million during the offseason that Rincon’s decline could be reversed; they gave up on that project last month. Neshek, the heir to that eighth-inning role, is out for the season.

Gardenhire relies on Crain and Reyes to get out of jams. He prefers to have Matt Guerrier start innings. Guerrier isn’t really a power arm, however.

And behind those three are a mix of the unproven and projects.

Brian Bass is emerging as the next option. Rick Anderson, the pitching coach, raves about his sinker — we know how much this organization loves sinkers — and he did rack up a 2.46 ERA in June. He leads the American League in relief innings.

Still, 25 strikeouts in 532⁄3 innings is a low rate, and 17 walks is worrisome.

Craig Breslow has been impressive since the Twins picked him up — he hasn’t allowed a run yet. Nor has he gotten the ball in key situations.

In his (extremely) limited major-league career he’s been much more effective against lefties, which suggests that the Twins may see him more as a lefty specialist, a la Reyes, than as a full-inning option.

Then there’s Boof Bonser, erstwhile starter. Lord knows what the Twins have in mind with him. His ERA has worsened since his move to the bullpen (7.11), but his leading-indicator stats — his walk⁄strikeout ratio and strikeouts per inning — have improved. Not that 121⁄3 innings proves anything anyway.

Bonser might make sense for a long-term conversion. How quickly he can become a reliable option is anther matter.

With the Twins very much in striking range for a divisional title, there’s a limit to how many question marks and projects they can afford in their bullpen. And since Bass, Breslow and Bonser are all out of options, they have limited flexibility.



Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog at www.mankatofreepress.com/ethomabaseball