Minnesota Twins Acquire a Pair of Relievers

The Minnesota Twins, desperate to find relievers to get the ball to closer Joe Nathan, acquired a pair off the waiver wire today. First they acquired LHP Ron Mahay from the Kansas City Royals and then later in day the Twins traded for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ RHP Jon Rauch.

While I have been begging the Twins to trade for relief help all year, these trades bring quantity to the Twins bullpen, but not quality.

Let’s start with Rauch shall we? In 2008, Rauch had a 2.95 ERA in 48 games with the Washington Nationals. He was traded to the Diamondbacks, and it’s been all down hill from there. While Rauch is 6′11″ and 230 lbs, opponents didn’t find Rauch to intimidating.

Rauch has a 4.14 ERA, only has 35 strikeouts, and has allowed 57 hits in 54.1 innings pitched in 2009. That is while pitching in the offensively challenged NL West. I am not sure how he is going to fare in the much tougher AL.

Ron Mahay pitched really well in 2008 going 5-0 with a 3.48 ERA in 57 games for the Royals. 2009 on the other hand, has not been so great for the veteran lefty.

Mahay has a 4.41 ERA while giving up a whopping 55 hits in 41.1 innings. If you want to know how Mahay does against lefties, it’s not impressive. Lefties are hitting .278 with three home runs in 79 AB’s this year against Mahay.

For his career, Mahay has held lefties to a .231 batting average.

The Twins added a couple of arms today, but I am not so sure how much they are going to help.