The Twins are on the lookout for at least one, and possibly two, relievers, according to two sources with knowledge of the Twins' intentions.
Their goal is to boost a bullpen that, for now, lacks power and could be very inexperienced in a couple places when it's time to face the Detroit Tigers on April 6 in Comerica Park.
They will likely inquire about potential deals but General Manager Terry Ryan and his staff will also scour the transaction wire too see who's been released as well as who becomes available on waivers as teams clear space to make room for players they want to open the season with. ``This time of spring they are always combing the waiver wires to see if there are areas we can improve," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ``(Ryan) doesn't like to make lateral moves, obviously. I'm sure that's ongoing as the transactions have picked up here the last few days." This isn't surprising. This bullpen has been a topic of conversation at headquarters. There's not a lot of swing-and-miss types in the bullpen to start, unless you count Rule 5 guy J.R. Graham. Graham and Mark Hamburger don't have a lot of experience. They might need another lefty to go with Brian Duensing because Caleb Thielbar has not pitched well.
Molitor held a lengthy meeting with his coaching staff Thursday morning to go over the roster, encouraging them to not hold anything back if they wanted to discuss a player. And Molitor will try to chase Ryan down for a meeting on Friday to see how they want to shape the roster. With just over a week to go, the Twins have a long way to go before finalizing their bullpen,
``We are going to have to collaborate to put this thing together," Molitor said. In other news...
Glen Perkins pitched a scoreless inning in a minor league game, throwing 11 pitches
Oswaldo Arcia hit a deep drive to right and thought the ball was going out, so he began to trot. Sure enough, the ball was in play. Fortunately for Ozzie, the ball deflected sharply and rolled away, allowing Arcia to reach third. Molly said he wasn't mad at Arcia, which I took as a conscious decision to not pick on the guy at that particular moment.
Aaron Hicks was on the trip, but did not play. Hmmmm. Molly said he's playing Friday. Hicks needs to surge to make it easier to bring him north.
Hamburger entered with the bases loaded in the seventh and struck out Rusney Castillo with a slider to end the seventh, then added two more scoreless innings in a bounceback outing to help his cause.
