Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Minnesota has acquired right-hander Kevin Jepsen from the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Jepsen is a decent enough bullpen arm and should be at least a slight upgrade over the right-handed setup men the Twins have used for most of the year in Blaine Boyer and Casey Fien, but that’s a pretty low bar to clear.
Jepsen went 2-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 46 appearances for the Rays this season. In 41.2 innings, Jepsen has walked 20 and struck out 34. He was a strikeout machine last year with the Angels, averaging 10.4 K/9, but has seen that number drop to 7.3 this season while his walks have gone up.
But Twins G.M. Terry Ryan believes the move makes the Twins better for the stretch run to the playoffs.
Hu is a nice prospect, and represents a fairly high cost for a reliever with one year of team control remaining.
Hu, a 21-year-old native of Taiwan, rose quickly through the Twins system. “He’s got good depth and break on his breaking ball”, Ryan said of Jepsen. “I would say he’s an effectively wild guy”.
“I don’t expect him to be the potion here to get us over the hump”, Ryan said.
The Twins did their due diligence on Jepsen with help from the coaching staff. Neil Allen, who joined the Twins as the pitching coach this winter from the Rays’ organization, tapped his contacts in Tampa Bay for information. In three seasons Hu is 16-5 with a 2.31 ERA.
“Our bullpens have been quietly effective here without a lot of premier names. He should be OK here and fit in well here and he should be effective here”, Ryan said.
To make room for Jepsen on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated Caleb Thielbar, a left-handed reliever from Randolph, Minn., for assignment.
This was a very solid move by Minnesota, and they are without question on the right track to making the playoffs. Considering they’re now a wild-card team and the rest of the American League is racing to catch them, the Twins needed to do something.
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The teams completed the deal about two hours before the deadline to make trades without waivers.
