New Nathan, New Pitchers... Better than Ever?

 Twins Closer Joe Nathan

After finishing the 2010 season with the 8th best bullpen ERA in the league, the Twins knew that much of their success was due to their solid relief pitchers eating up those middle innings before John Rauch or Matt Capps came out to seal the deal.  With a lead going into the 7th or 8th inning, the Twins were confident their guys could close out the game.

This season, however, they will be looking to a lot of new names to try to mimic that success.  After losing Jessie Crain to the division rival Chicago White Sox, Matt Guerrier to the Dodgers, Brian Fuentes to the A's, and John Rauch to the Blue Jays, much of what made the Twins a good pitching team is gone.  In fact, the Twins stellar bullpen is much of what gave Minnesota the edge in the always tight AL Central.  Without them, their playoff hopes would have gone drastically down, and that inaugural season in Target Field, would have seemed far less magical.

But hope is not lost for 2011... in fact, I think they will be better.  First, Nathan's return is huge.  As with any pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery, you don't know how he'll play until the season progresses.  But if his preseason workouts tell us anything, Nathan may be better than ever.  Nathan says he hit 88-89 repeatedly, and topped out at 91.  If this is accurate, not only is he healthy, he's weeks ahead of where he usually is during spring training.  If this pattern continues, and Nathan returns with an even stronger arm (something not unheard of with Tommy John recipients), the 2011 bullpen will already be off to a good start.  More importantly, with Nathan returning to the mound, Matt Capps suddenly becomes one of the better setup men in the league.  Add a healthy Pat Neshek, who is hoping a full offseason of rest and a new vigorous weightlifting program can help him rebound from surgery to anywhere near his 2007 level, where he pitched 70+ innings with a 2.94 ERA, and the Twins might just have one of the best late inning bullpens in the league.


The rest of the bullpen isn't looking too bad either.  Adding ex-Oriole Jim Hoey, if he works on throwing more strikes, can definitely match up with opposing power hitters late in games.  Glen Perkins, although inconsistant, has the potential to form a nice left-handed 1-2 punch with Jose Mijares.  Finally, with the signing of Carl Pavano, one of the end of rotation starters, likely Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing or Scott Baker will be forced to join the bullpen, and they are all more than capable of eating up the middle innings.

The Twins are known as being a fundamentally sound team, and with one of the best pitching coaches in the league, Rick Anderson, this year's staff should be no different.  Despite a few question marks, and some different faces, the Twins pitching staff should keep them in the mix in the AL Central in 2011.