The Twins have added one of MLB’s most adored clubhouse guys in a last-ditch effort to bolster their injury-ravaged bullpen. Though he is only a few months younger than Joe Mauer, he could still be competitive.
A 2024 Chicago White Sox cut you—not a good sign—but Jesse Chavez is clinging to his dream of playing in Major League Baseball for 17 seasons. He has played in 607 games throughout his career and was a starter for the first five years of his nomadic big-league career. Although Chavez’s velocity has dropped to an almost unbearable level and he has been more of a low-to-medium leverage matchup arm lately, he has managed to get outs throughout his 30s and now joins the Twins organization in an attempt to reach 41 years old while still wearing a big-league uniform.
According to sources who spoke with Twins Daily’s John Bonnes, the Twins inked Chavez to a big-league contract on Sunday. He will be joining the team on Opening Day, which will not include bullpen standouts Jhoan Durán and Caleb Thielbar. Chavez,40, has primarily evolved into a split-neutral middle reliever, with his go-to pitch being a cutter in the top 80s. He uses a sinker as his secondary pitch against righties and a changeup as his secondary offering against lefties, creating pretty weak contact. He can walk a lot of batters due to his style of pitching and the necessity to avoid the center of the plate with his lackluster raw stuff, but he can pile up strikeouts against righties.
Anticipate Chavez to start in middle relief and occasionally move into the late innings depending on the situation and opponent. Although he isn’t a challenge to Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax as the pen’s best righties or a substitute for Durán, he is more skilled at striking out left-handed batters than Jay Jackson or Josh Staumont. The Twins’ bullpen now seems to be nearly full with him included.
