The Minnesota Twins get relief pitcher Kevin Jepsen from the Tampa Bay Rays for AAA pitcher Chih-Wei Hu and Class A pitcher Alexis Tapia.
Jepsen was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2nd round of the 2002 MLB Draft and made his debut in 2008. He is in his 8th season and has a career 3.80 ERA and 305 strikeouts in 322.1 innings.
The Twins want Jepsen to help their bullpen. The Twins’ rotation is near the top of the American League, but the bullpen has not been a strength for them. Jepsen has a 2.81 ERA this season with 34 strikeouts in 41.2 innings pitched. However, if you take away his numbers in April, it does not look as good. His ERA is 3.34 in his last 37 games. His strikeouts to walks ratio went from 7.00 in April to 1.42 since.
The Twins find themselves holding on to the second Wild Card spot under rookie manager Paul Molitor. They are trying to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. They may not be done dealing, but time is running out for them to make a deal. The Twins are walking a fine line between winning now and having the pieces in place to have a team that will contend for years to come.
Jepsen is arbitration eligible after this season.
All MLB trades are pending medical reviews.
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.
