Minnesota Twins Trade For Reliever Kevin Jepsen
The Minnesota Twins were in desperate need for some relief pitching help and General Manager Terry Ryan got some for his squad. Coming to the Twins will be now former Tampa Bays Rays reliever Kevin Jepsen. The Twins will be sending a pair of minor leaguers to Florida in exchange.
The two prospects that the Twins will be sending to Tampa Bay are Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia.
Jepsen has appeared in eight major league seasons, but was a full-timer for seven. The right-hander debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 2008 and lasted with the team based in Anaheim up until this season. Jepsen was traded this last season from Los Angeles to Tampa Bay for Matthew Joyce.
Despite never being a full-time closer, Jepsen has accumulated 10 saves in his MLB career. His career currently sits at a decent 3.80 ERA and a WHIP of 1.350.
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Looking specifically at 2015 so far Jepsen has an ERA of 2.81 in 41.2 innings pitched with the Rays. Jepsen has struck out 34 while walking a total of 20. He has a WHIP of 1.296 this season. Jepsen has tallied five of his career saves this year alone.
It seems like Jepsen will slide into the eighth inning role for the Twins, hopefully being the main bridge between starters and Glen Perkins most nights.
1500ESPN notes that the Twins have designated Caleb Theilbar for assignment to get the new Twin onto the 40-man roster.
The Twins are so excited that the new arm already has a page in the media guide.
Kevin Jepsen already had his own media guide page. #mntwins pic.twitter.com/sbzN0B44uA
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) August 1, 2015
Jepsen just turned 31 on July 26. He is signed through the rest of this season.
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