Twins Land Kremer, Catch a Defensive Tailwind, and Hope It's Enough

Minnesota added Dean Kremer from Baltimore on Friday, giving the rotation a fifth arm after a deadline week spent patching a staff that has been shredded by injuries all summer. Kremer is 30, has a 6.50 ERA in seven starts this season, and was traded for a minor league outfielder — so nobody is pretending this is a difference-maker. But with Pablo Lopez, David Festa, and several others buried on the 60-day IL, the Twins needed a body who could eat innings, and Kremer is that.

The timing is at least decent. Minnesota has allowed 3.7 runs per game over the last 10, down noticeably from where the staff was running before that stretch, and Yoendrys Gómez has been the engine of it — the closer leads the team with a 1.30 ERA across 26 games, which is a remarkable number at any level. Taj Bradley is 10-4 with a 3.56 ERA and Joe Ryan, the team's lone All-Star, has been solid. The rotation around those two is the problem, and Kremer slots into the uncertain back end alongside Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp.

The Twins sit 54-56, one game out of the last wild card with 53 to play. That's a real margin, thin but real. Buxton is on the IL again — I wrote about the hip flare-up last week — so the offense is running without its most dangerous bat for now. The next 10 days will tell a lot about whether this group has the floor to stay in the hunt or whether the injury list finally catches up with them.