The Minnesota Twins took a small step toward rebuilding their bullpen Tuesday by acquiring reliever Eric Orze in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league pitcher Jacob Kisting.
Orze had a 3.02 ERA and three saves in 33 relief appearances last season for the Rays, with 19 walks, 40 strikeouts and a .244 opponents' batting average in 41 2/3 innings. The 28-year-old right-hander also made 24 appearances at Triple-A Durham, posting a 2.20 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings.
A cancer survivor, Orze was a fifth-round draft pick in 2020 by the New York Mets and made his major league debut for them on July 8, 2024.
During the week leading up to the MLB trade deadline on July 31, the Twins dealt away their top four relievers: Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and Brock Stewart.
Kisting, 22, was a 14th-round draft pick by the Twins in 2024. The right-hander had a 3.79 ERA with 23 walks and 77 strikeouts in 73 2/3 innings over 30 appearances this year between Low-A Fort Myers and High-A Cedar Rapids.
The Twins also announced on Tuesday that they have added right-handed pitchers John Klein and Andrew Morris, left-handed pitchers Connor Prielipp and Kendry Rojas, and outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez to their major league 40-man roster.
Prielipp, Morris and Rojas all spent time as starters at Class AAA at the end of 2025 and could help round out the bullpen which was gutted at the trade deadline this past season.
Prielipp was a second-round pick in 2022 and has shown some promise, being named the Twins’ minor league pitcher of the year. He combined to post a 4.03 ERA (82.2 IP, 37 ER) with 31 walks and 98 strikeouts in 24 games (23 starts) between AA Witchita and AAA St. Paul.
The Twins begin spring training in the Grapefruit League in February with the first game in Fort Myers scheduled for February 20 against the University of Minnesota.
Twins round out the coaching staff
Now that Derek Shelton has been introduced as the team's new manager, they're rounding out his staff over the last few days.
Keith Beauregard was added as the team's new hitting coach, Toby Gardenhire, the son of former manager Ron Gardenhire, as major league field coordinator, Mark Hallberg as bench coach, LaTroy Hawkins as bullpen coach, Mike Rabelo as assistant bench coach and Grady Sizemore as first base coach for the 2026 season.
Hallberg, a Wisconsin native, told WCCO's Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar on Wednesday that a spot on the Twins coaching staff is a dream come true, and watching the 1991 World Series where the Twins beat Atlanta ignited a lifetime love of baseball and the Twins.
"That kind of ignited a passion that stuck with me for my life and it's come full circle," says Hallberg. "So it's with a tremendous amount of humility and gratitude that I get an opportunity to be part of the Twins organization now."
These six new staff members join returnees Trevor Amicone (assistant hitting coach), Ramon Borrego (in a new role as third base coach), Pete Maki (pitching coach), Luis Ramirez (assistant pitching coach) and Rayden Sierra (assistant hitting coach) on the Twins coaching staff.
The group of players the staff will work with will be very different than the group that began in 2025 with Rocco Baldelli. That could change even further before the spring with rumors pitchers like Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan could be ripe for trades, or even centerfield Byron Buxton who has said repeatedly he would like to remain in Minnesota.
Hallberg says the Twins new group of coaches is committed to making the team better between spring training and the end of the season, no matter who is on the field.
"As coaches, our job is to play the hand we're dealt and get people to their next best level, right? If a player has superstar talent, we want to try to continue to raise the bar for him and help him perform at his best," says Hallberg. And if a player is just developing and getting introduced to the big leagues in their first and second year, and usually there's an adjustment period between the minor leagues and the big leagues, and it's kind of a steep one. But our job is to help that player, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and get them to perform consistently at their best level."