Solving the mystery of how Addison Reed ended up with the Twins

Reed's wife is from Akron, Ohio, so the well-traveled right-hander from San Diego State gave veteran agent Adam Katz a short list of teams that would interest him. The Cleveland Indians were high on that list, but the two-time reigning American League Central champions were watching their pennies after already shedding setup men Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith via free agency.

The Twins, coming off their first postseason appearance in seven years and eager to close a 17-game gap with the Indians, had expressed interest in Reed early in the winter but didn't appear to be a match after signing 40-year-old closer Fernando Rodney. When Reed remained unsigned into the middle of January, however, his name resurfaced at the recent Twins organization meetings in Fort Myers, Fla.

"Our scouts and analytics guys really liked what Addison Reed could bring to the table for a variety of reasons," Twins general manager Thad Levine said. "His stuff is exceptional. He's had success both as a closer and a setup man, and we thought that versatility could lend itself extremely well to the back end of our bullpen."

Then came an impassioned speech by Twins special assistant Michael Cuddyer, who spent part of his final season in the majors with Reed on 2015 New York Mets. That included nine postseason outings for Reed, seven of them scoreless.

"What put us over the top was Michael Cuddyer," Levine said. "He was very bullish in terms of describing his makeup and what he was like as a teammate. I think that really (encouraged us) to make that last leap to aggressively try to acquire Reed, and we were fortunate to do just that."

Sitting with a projected eight-man bullpen for a total of less than $11 million in 2018, even after the signings of Rodney and lefty Zach Duke, the Twins nearly doubled that amount with the signing of Reed at $16.75 million over two years. Reed reportedly had at least one three-year offer elsewhere, but at 29 he was eager to get back to the Midwest, where he started his career with the Chicago White Sox from 2011-13.

"His agent negotiated with a quality-of-life focus rather than necessarily getting the best deal," Levine aid. "I think he addressed his player's desires and needs expressly in this negotiation. Adam Katz did a masterful job in this."

Reed's willingness to work any part of the back third of a game will give Twins manager Paul Molitor great flexibility to deploy him as needed in high-leverage situations.

"He's all about, 'I want to pitch at big times in the game,' not necessarily the end of the game," Molitor said. "I think he has that kind of confidence. I don't know if it will be the sixth (inning), but I think it's fair to say that you're going to look for big spots for him."

On the down side, Reed has allowed 43 percent of his inherited runners to score and he's converted just 82 percent of his save chances. Still, in a market that saw Brandon Morrow and Anthony Swarzak go from minor-league deals to multiyear security off one big season, Reed seems a smart value play.

"I think you have to be flexible and nimble to the market, and the relievers were moving a lot faster than the starters," Levine said. "In Addison's case specifically, we did weigh that investment juxtaposed against starters who could be at that level and we just thought he ultimately could make a bigger impact for us relative to the starter we were going to jump on at that juncture and so we shifted a little bit. We shifted from a focus of starter first, reliever second to trying to build the best back end of the bullpen we possibly could."