The Twins were correct to try to improve somewhere, but while Fuentes is a solid reliever (and while not as got as K-Rod, at least he didn't hurt his hand beating someone up), the Twins have a really solid bullpen and appear to be well to the point of diminishing returns.

This wasn't just trying to improve somewhere, this was filling a hole that recently opened up. The Twins recently lost Ron Mahay to a season-ending injury and moved Brian Duensing into the rotation. With Jose Mijares also out, the lefties in the bullpen were Glen Perkins and Randy Flores. The bullpen has been solid thus far, that's true. But the current bullpen is not the same as the bullpen that has performed well, particularly in terms of left-handed pitching.

Are the Angels hoping Jepsen will be their closer of the future? every time I see him on TV his stuff looks electric but his results are bad.

I'm not sure why the White Sox allowed this to happen.

#1. Yes, lefty was needed quite desperately. As a Twins fan since the day Calvin announced the Senators would be moving, it is quite remarkable to see the Twins in such an operating mode as this--they have that need open up and BOOM they fill it, rather than moping around, oh, woe is me, until a half dozen games have been lost.

Fuentes is really good at getting lefties out. He's better placed with a team that plays matchups than one with set personnel for innings. Decent playoff acquisition.

With the Angels, if you had Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, and Jason Kubel due up to start the 8th, and nothing but righties behind them, Scioscia would still have Fernando Rodney pitch the 8th and go to Fuentes in the 9th. Because those are the innings they pitch.

Jepsen has great stuff, but the Angels recently added a guy with even better stuff, and only mediocre results in AA with Jordan Walden. 98.9 average fastball, harder than Daniel Bard, or Strasburg, or anyone else not named Joel Zumaya. First 3 innings in the majors he's got 1 walk and 5 K. He's got a lot to learn, and with anyone throwing that hard you have to worry about injury, but eventually he will be the closer.

Fuentes is really good at getting lefties out. He's better placed with a team that plays matchups than one with set personnel for innings. Decent playoff acquisition.

And it was refreshing to see him properly used in his first game in Minnesota, saves be damned. 2 outs in the ninth, one-run lead, man on first, lefty Russ Branyan coming to the plate. Gardenhire goes to Fuentes instead of Capps, even though Capps is the designated closer and it was a save situation. Fuentes struck Branyan out on four pitches.

@sunnyday - is this the result of Carl passing the torch to his kids?

@Mauer Power Hour - even more impressive he yanked Blackburn with a complete game shutout on the line. He went past old-school and new-school traditionalism straight to win the goddamned ballgame.

Are the Angels hoping Jepsen will be their closer of the future?

We're not anticipating having any leads to protect.

Are the Angels hoping Jepsen will be their closer of the future?

It will be Walden, right?

Walden is illustration of how hard this game is to predict. Even when I get one right the path is never as expected. I thought Walden was a future closer 2-3 years ago, thinking that his stuff would do well in the role and was close to a sure thing, and the obstacles to him becoming a successful starter were about 20-1 by my estimation. The obstacles were: Could his mechanics hold up? Can he throw that hard for 7 innings? If not will his secondary stuff be adequate? Can he find enough control to keep his pitch counts reasonable?

After last year's injury shortened season I was happy to see they'd try him in the pen, and expected something like 13 K/9 against minor league hitters. I thought he'd move up to AAA mid-season, and finish in the Angel pen. He wasn't terrible, but was pretty much a run of the mill AA reliever by the numbers, striking out a bit less than 1 per inning. Either he needed a lot more seasoning or else maybe his velocity was declining.

Then they call him up, we see 98.9 average velocity, second only to Zumaya, and he's striking out major league hitters. So right now he's about where I thought he'd be pre-season. Hope he can keep it up. I don't think I'd rush him into the closer role just yet, maybe try Jepsen if Rodney implodes. Rodney is the kind of reliever that keeps profits high in the cigarette industry.

and it's too late for the team to pick up the solid starter that they'd love to add.

Alluded to upthread - I think Brian Duensing is that pickup.

Angels get Loek Van Mil as the PTBNL. He has upside in a couple different ways. First, he's the tallest player in professional baseball. Second, he's a European with less experience but he throws hard and has made it to AA. Now the downside - he's already 26 and he's been hurt lately. This is a terrific deal for the Twins - Van Mil was just clogging up the 40 man roster anyway.