The Minnesota Twins starting rotation doesn’t really need to be touched this offseason, with Pablo Lopez expected to make his return after missing the entirety of the 2026 campaign.

He’ll join the crowded mix of Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Dean Kremer, Bailey Ober, and Connor Prielipp, who are most likely to crack the 2027 rotation, along with the likes of Mick Abel, Zebby Mathews, Kendry Rojas, and David Festa.

However, the front office will likely be active in the free agent reliever market, as their current projected bullpen has some clear holes that need to be filled.

As things stand, the Twins have one left-handed reliever in the bullpen, Kody Funderburk. The only issue is that Funderburk is more of a middle reliever who’s struggled with walks and an unhealthy number of baserunners in the past.

That leaves the door open for the Twins' front office to go out and sign a left-handed reliever to handle some high-leverage relief situations.

Brock Burke’s Admirable Track Record

He wouldn’t be the flashiest free agent addition, but left-handed reliever Brock Burke would get the job done for a very reasonable price.

Burke, 30, is a veteran with six major-league seasons, spending time with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, and most recently the Cincinnati Reds this past season.

Last winter, Burke was involved in a three-team trade that sent him to the Reds, Josh Lowe to the Angels, and both Gavin Lux and minor league pitcher Chris Clark to the Rays.

Coming off his first season with the Reds, Burke pitched to an excellent 2.30 ERA and 1.27 WHIP across 74.1 innings of work. He appeared in 77 total games, which led all National League relief pitchers.

He features a solid 96.2 mph four-seam fastball, which he turns to 41% of the time, but as a result of an excellent 6.8 feet of extension, his fastball and other three offerings play a bit faster than they actually are.

The best part of Burke’s profile is his ability to limit hard-contact, which is always a perk.

Opponents managed only a 32.7% hard-hit clip against Burke’s offerings, ranking in the 89th percentile. Furthermore, Burke maintained a respectable 88 mph average exit velocity, placing him in the 66th percentile.

Burke did fetch a good amount of whiff, with 28.7% of his offerings resulting in swing and miss. Even though he didn’t generate much chase out of the strike zone, at only a 28.2% clip, he still managed an above-average 23.6% strikeout rate, ranking in the 59th percentile.

If you look at Burke’s career numbers as a whole, it proves that he’s been one of the more dependable relief pitchers since he debuted in 2019. He has a career 3.53 ERA and 1.25 WHIP, while being valued at 4.4 bWAR.

He’s been pretty durable as well, logging at-least 50 games of work in four of his six career seasons.

Burke’s track record is solid, and according to Spotrac, he’s projected to receive an annual average value of $4 million in his next contract, making him quite appealing to the Twins and any other teams in the market for bullpen help.