Twins begin bullpen fix by signing former Indians closer Cody Allen
After being released by the Angels, the Twins have agreed to a minor-league deal with right-handed relief pitcher, Cody Allen.
The deal has been confirmed by multiple reporters, including the MLB.com beat writer embedded with the Twins, Do-Hyoung Park.
Allen was released by the Angels earlier in the week after he posted an ugly 6.26 ERA in 23 innings out of the bullpen. He's allowed nine homers and 20 walks to go along with 29 strikeouts.
Allen signed a one-year, $8.5 million deal with the Angels last offseason after spending the first seven years of his MLB career in Cleveland, where he was dominant from 2013 to 2017 before he began struggling in 2018.
If Allen, who struck out 449 batters in 341 1/3 innings between 2014 and 2018, can return to his dominant form, he could be a valuable asset in Minnesota's bullpen during the second half of the season and into the playoffs.
Minnesota's bullpen, which had its struggles again on Saturday, is eighth in the American League with a 4.45 ERA, but the likes of Ryne Harper, Blake Parker, Trevor May and even Taylor Rogers have been beaten up in June.
It's unclear if the Twins have plans to quickly bring Allen to the 25-man roster.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.