Mulvey and Keppel Have New Roles

Minnesota Twins pitchers Kevin Mulvey and Bobby Keppel will have different roles heading into the second half of this season.  Mulvey mentioned in Joe Christensen’s (Star Tribune) article that he will take on a long-relief role for the Twins despite having all 75 of his minor league appearances come as a starter.

“I was a little bit surprised but delightfully so,” Mulvey said. ” … All I want to do is help the team win, in whatever role they give me. From what I understand, it’s a long-relief role, and that’s perfect for me.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has also indicated Mulvey’s presence will help the Twins move Keppel into more of a middle role.  Keppel spent most of his career as a starter, but spent most of the time at AAA Rochester as a long-relief pitcher this year.  His transition to middle-relief should be smooth — at least, that is the hope.

Note: Christensen notes a couple interesting facts in the article.  One being that third baseman Brian Buscher does have minor league options, but Gardenhire likes him as a backup at third as well as first base.

Also, the Twins contacted the Diamondbacks about reliever Chad Qualls, but they were reluctant to trade him, especially after dealing reliever Tony Pena to the White Sox.

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