Today, the Minnesota Twins designated former closer Kevin Jepsen for assignment or release. This move comes one year after trading two prospects for the reliever, who was to have been closer Glen Perkins‘ setup man.
Those two prospects, Chih-Wei Hu and Alex Tapia, were sent to Tampa in exchange for Jepsen. It seemed like a lot to give for a setup man at the time, but when Perkins went down, Jepsen stepped in and performed admirably down the stretch as Minnesota’s closer.
The Twins fell out of the playoff race during the last weekend of the year, and Jepsen was a major reason for their success.