The Twins haven’t signed any free agents this off-season but it is only a matter of time before they do. One of the relief spots they need to fill is the closer role. The Twins traded Brandon Kintzler, their closer to the Washington Nationals this past summer for 20 year-old left-handed starter Tyler Watson and some international bonus slot cash. Watson pitched in class A ball for both the Nats and Twins.
Brandon Kintzler earned $2.925 million last year and saved 28 games in Minnesota during the four months he was a Minnesota Twin in 2017. In 2016 he saved 29 games. Although not a prototypical closer, he got the job done for the Twins for a modest price on a team in 2016 that lost 103 games. After the Twins traded Kintzler, reliever Matt Belisle received the most save opportunities and he notched 9 saves.
Let’s take a look at the Twins last 12 seasons and see how their closers did and how much they were paid.
| YEAR | NAME | SAVES | BS | SAVE % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Kintzler ($2.93 M) | 28 | 4 | 87.5% |
| 2017 | Belisle ($2.05 M) | 9 | 5 | 64% |
| 2016 | Kintzler ($507,000) | 17 | 3 | 85% |
| 2016 | Jepsen ($5.31 M) | 7 | 4 | 63.6% |
| 2015 | Perkins ($4.66 M) | 32 | 3 | 91.4% |
| 2015 | Jepsen ($3.03 M) | 10 | 1 | 90.9% |
| 2014 | Perkins ($4.03 M) | 34 | 7 | 82.9% |
| 2013 | Perkins ($2.5 M) | 36 | 4 | 90% |
| 2012 | Perkins ($1.55 M) | 16 | 4 | 80% |
| 2012 | Capps ($4.5 M) | 14 | 1 | 93.3% |
| 2011 | Capps ($7.15M) | 15 | 9 | 62.5% |
| 2011 | Nathan ($11.25 M) | 14 | 3 | 82.4% |
| 2010 | Rauch ($2.9 M) | 21 | 4 | 84.0% |
| 2010 | Capps ($3.5 M) | 16 | 2 | 88.9% |
| 2009 | Nathan ($11.25) | 47 | 5 | 98.4% |
| 2008 | Nathan ($6.0 M) | 39 | 6 | 86.7% |
| 2007 | Nathan ($5.25 M) | 37 | 4 | 90.2% |
| 2006 | Nathan ($3.75 M) | 36 | 2 | 94.7% |
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If you look at the percentage of games closed for the top three Twins closers over the last 12 seasons you end up with a save percentage of 90.3 for Joe Nathan, 86.8 for Glen Perkins, and 86.5 for Brandon Kintzler. In 2017 the average closer had 25 saves in 29 opportunities and saved 86.7% of games they were asked to save.