MINNEAPOLIS – Jeremy Zoll’s title is the same today as it was a week ago. His responsibilities, on the other hand, look a little different.
Zoll, the Twins’ general manager, is now in charge of baseball operations after former president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey parted ways with the organization on Friday. Zoll now reports directly to new primary owner Tom Pohlad.
Zoll made his first public comments since that seismic change in a video call with area reporters on Tuesday. He said that there’s still quite a bit to be sorted out structurally, but he believes in the team he has in place, headed by assistant general managers Daniel Adler, Alex Hassan and Josh Kalk.
“We’re going to take a team approach at this,” Zoll said. “Obviously everyone was geared up for the season with a certain delineation of responsibilities, and I think as we look at what’s ahead and working through this transition, we’re all just going to roll up our sleeves and lean in a little bit further together. So we have daily check-in with the AGM group, plus a few of our other team leaders that work across the pro personnel space, and [we're] in constant communication in so many different methods.”
One of the tasks for that group is finishing out the roster, even as Spring Training looms in a week. The Twins need at least one right-handed reliever, ideally one with late-inning experience or ability. They claimed Jackson Kowar off waivers from the Mariners on Tuesday, but such marginal moves are not what the club has in mind when it looks at the right side of its bullpen.
“We’re looking to add,” Zoll said. “Trying a number of different avenues to add. I know we talked about this [recently]. We’re desirous to add to the bullpen and also be opportunistic in other areas. So continuing to just canvass all areas there. It’s always hard to say exactly how many moves may come together or not in any defined period of time. And also we along the way have sometimes made moves that were at the beginning of Spring Training or as Spring Training went on, so it’s always unique in that there’s not something official like the Trade Deadline that is a demarcation point of sorts.”
The club has indicated that there is still some payroll room in the budget to add, but the supply of available free-agent righty relievers has dwindled quite a bit. That likely means that Minnesota will need to look to the trade market to supplement its bullpen.
Either way, though, there remains a clear need. And Zoll, like Falvey did before he left, acknowledges that it’s an important area for an add.
“The [late-innings] opportunity feels like one that would create one of the bigger impacts or help us bolster the roster the most,” he said. “Also, we know good bullpens are built in a wide variety of ways. You can look at successful teams and some build it through spending a lot of money in free agency. Some do an awesome job of developing relievers or converting guys from starters to relievers. Some teams do a great job whether it's Minor League free-agent signings or DFA, trades, waiver claims, etc.
“We're hopeful to pull together from all those avenues and build the best bullpen we can. I feel like we've been successful along the way doing that in a variety of different methods and want to try to push forward in that regard.”