Rays trade reliever Kevin Jepsen to Minnesota for two minor leaguers

In his first year with the Rays this season, he has been good. Before arriving in Minnesota his 2.81 ERA looked just as impressive, but the 4.14 FIP, 19% strikeout rate, and 11% walk rate make him less the reliable right-handed reliever that the club needed and more of a decent middle reliever who could take innings away from Blaine Boyer. While it’s odd to see such a close margin in strikeouts and walks with a non-strikeout pitcher, Jepsen has found ways to get the job done for the Rays this season, and he will be a welcomed addition to the Twins’ bullpen.

Seeking to boost a struggling bullpen that had slipped to 24th in the majors with a 3.97 earned-run average, the Twins sent two minor-league pitchers to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jepsen.

The commerce deadline got here and went Friday with the Twins making one transfer to bolster their bullpen. The return to the Rays is minor-league pitchers Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia. As it stands today, the Twins would face the Angels in a single playoff game. While fans may overvalue their team’s prospects, there’s no doubt that Hu is a very nice prospect to attain for a reliever who could have been traded in August pretty easily.

“That was big because we certainly want to bring a guy over here that was going to stay with us for longer than the two-month period”, General Manager Terry Ryan was quoted in an article on the Twins website. With High-A Fort Myers, he has pitched in two games, not giving up a run in two innings. “We have options. Because of our fluidity of our situation, you just have to be ready”. Might the Twins, sensing an opportunity to get into the playoffs, go grab one of the available bats on the market?

But at the same time, Ryan said he wanted to be careful not to break up a young core that the Twins believe will soon have them in contention for years to come. With the deals that he Blue Jays made at the deadline, the Twins have virtually no chance of hanging on to the wild card anyway, but stranger things have happened. “He seems to be a good fit”, Ryan said. “I can inform you, he’s a top quality man within the clubhouse and he’s going to pump these guys up”. The native of Taiwan was 5-3 with a 2.44 ERA for Class A Fort Myers. “I don’t think there’s any reason he can’t pitch in the eighth”.