MN Twins Bring in More Notable Reliever Depth
After a frustrating late-inning loss at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles Sunday afternoon, the 1-2 Minnesota Twins have closed the book on their first series of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.
First-year manager Derek Shelton and his new squad had a real chance to win both games they lost too. Unfortunately, nobody could hit with runners in scoring position Thursday and the bullpen melted down Sunday.
That’s no surprise, since the bullpen was the weakest part of an underwhelming Twins’ roster since last summer’s trade deadline. But to their credit (or maybe not), the Zoll keeps on swinging at fringe relievers in hopes that one of them will eventually stick.
John Brebbia signs minor league deal with Minnesota Twins
And on Sunday evening, he added their latest bullpen candidate, 35-year-old righty John Brebbia, who will join the 3-0 St. Paul Saints this week. This, just one day after signing 32-year-old righty Drew Smith.
Twins signed veteran relievers John Brebbia and Drew Smith to minor league deals. They'll join Triple-A St. Paul's bullpen.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) March 29, 2026
Brebbia is 35, with 378 innings across eight MLB seasons.
Smith is 32, with 196 innings across six MLB seasons. He's coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Brebbia was a 30th round pick by the New York Yankees way back in 2011. He spent Spring Training this year with the Colorado Rockies. In nine innings, he allowed seven runs on nine hits, three of which left the yard. Brebbia did carry an 11/0 K/BB.
An eight-year veteran, Brebbia was at his best from 2017 through 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Last season he threw 23 1/3 innings for the Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves. He posted a gaudy 7.71 ERA (5.75 FIP) and had a 26/12 K/BB.
Related: MN Twins Manager Defends Late-Game Royce Lewis Decision
Pitchers like Brebbia, and the aforementioned Smith, are interesting pickups. Minnesota had similar arms in camp in the form of Liam Hendriks and Andrew Chafin. Both had opt-out clauses and exercised them when notified they wouldn’t make the big league team.
It doesn’t seem like Brebbia would be a higher caliber addition than either of those arms, but he’ll head to St. Paul anyways and look for his name to be called.
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