Good-bye, Addison Reed

The Twins wrote off the rest of Addison Reed's two-year deal Thursday and designated the veteran reliever for assignment. The move opened a spot on the 40-man roster for Austin Adams, who inherited the berth on the active roster vacated by Wednesday's demotion of Trevor Hildenberger.

Reed had been on a rehab assignment at Triple A Rochester, and it was not going well. Reports said he showed good movement on his pitches, but his velocity remained well down from his accustomed levels, and he was getting hit hard.

Somebody may pick Reed up; he's only 30 and has a good resume as a late-inning reliever, with 125 career saves. But getting him back to that level is, clearly, going to take more patience than the Twins can afford. The Twins could have waited to make the move until his rehab period was up, but they needed the roster space immediately.

So Reed, who signed a two-year deal with the Twins during the 2017-18 offseason for $16.75 million, is not going to be part of the solution to Minnesota's bullpen depth issues.

That, of course, was the intent when he was signed. And Reed was effective for basically the first half of 2018. But he had a couple of disasterous outings in June, went on the disabled list in July and was obviously not the same pitcher after his return from the DL.

Reed is a cautionary tale of the risks involved in signing veteran free agent relievers. There are, without question, Twins fans who believe that Craig Kimbrel is the solution to the bullpen depth problem -- and it is a problem. But Kimbrel is not a low-cost solution. He figures to be an expense on the multiples of Reed, and the Kimbrel we saw last postseason was ... not effective.

The Twins need bullpen help. There have to be viable alternatives that don't carry the risk Kimbrel poses. Unfortunately for the Twins and for Addison Reed, he's not one of them.