No one can claim to be shocked.
At last year's trade deadline, the Twins blew up the bullpen by dealing their five best relievers: Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart, and Danny Coulombe. And then in August and September, they predictably had one of MLB's worst bullpens, ranking 26th in ERA and 28th in Win Probability Added.
It was a bold decision to tear down the entire bullpen, especially with Duran and Jax under team control through 2027, and Varland controlled through 2030. Nine months later, trading Jax for Taj Bradley looks like a massive win, trading Varland has become even more unpopular, and the jury is still out on the Duran deal.
I'm not here to re-litigate the deadline fire sale, at least not today. But it seemed obvious the Twins would need to put significant offseason effort into rebuilding the bullpen if they wanted any chance of being competitive in 2026. Instead, the winter weeks and months rolled by without any major additions.
Reuniting with a 35-year-old, clearly declining Taylor Rogers for $2 million was the Twins' most expensive bullpen pickup. They also traded for Dodgers castoff Anthony Banda and his $1.6 million salary, and swung a minor deal with the Rays for Triple-A reliever Eric Orze. That was it for offseason bullpen moves.