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1.) Who will become bullpen help?

It looks like the Louie Varland bullpen arc has begun -- and boy, could it be a sight to behold.

The Twins previously suggested they could begin to shorten up their young top pitching prospect to handle shorter stints down the stretch, and on Thursday, he emerged from an eight-day break with a four-inning relief appearance of 54 pitches. As part of that, he let his stuff fly -- and his fastball topped out at an eye-popping 100.2 mph.

Not too bad for a kid who was throwing a fastball in the mid-80s when he got to college and averaged 94.9 mph with the pitch as a starter in the Majors earlier this season. Now, imagine that over perhaps an inning or two, and that might unlock even more.

And at some point, Varland should get a chance to show that off in the Majors, because these last few weeks have made clearer that the Twins’ bullpen could use some fortification -- and, at this point, any help will need to come from within.

Here’s the essence of the situation: Between Varland, Brock Stewart, Chris Paddack and Jorge Alcala, the Twins have four pitchers with varying degrees of opportunity to potentially help this bullpen down the stretch (some slimmer than others).

Varland is healthy and pitching, so he could probably be ready whenever the Twins deem him an option to make a big-league impact in his new role. Paddack (Tommy John surgery) is slated to begin a rehab assignment this coming week, and he cryptically hinted at the idea that his stuff was playing way up as he built back up into the possibility of a shorter stint.

Stewart has been hopeful to return in September, and he was arguably the club’s best reliever before his right elbow injury, which has led to a much longer absence than anticipated. And Alcala (right radial stress fracture) has essentially had consecutive totally lost seasons, which makes him the biggest wild card of the bunch as he, too, eyes a potential rehab assignment.

Even one moderately successful reliever emerging from those four would be helpful -- and anything beyond that would be a big boost.

2.) What (if anything) can the Twins expect out of Byron Buxton?

As reported by Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Byron Buxton was pulled from his second rehab game with Triple-A St. Paul on Friday with soreness in the patellar tendon of his right knee.

This sort of thing is what the Twins were hoping to glean from this rehab assignment: How much can Buxton’s knee handle after he’s had considerable time off his feet to recover both his hamstring and his knee? And how much center field could that possibly involve?

It remains to be seen what the next steps will be in how the Twins handle Buxton’s recovery, but this could be a potentially critical question to the club’s roster-building and lineup construction down the stretch and, perhaps, into the postseason.

Michael A. Taylor had given them Gold Glove defense with 20 homers from center field before going on the 10-day injured list on Sunday, and as a DH-only hitter, Buxton’s value was limited by his .731 OPS with lengthy slumps throughout the season. What gives them the chance to field their best team on a per-game basis, and where does that put Buxton? They’re running short on time to find out.

3.) Who’s the third starter in the postseason?

One encouraging development has been in Joe Ryan’s return from the groin injury that hampered his performance for much of the summer with a pair of one-run outings against a potent Rangers offense in which he looked much more like himself than the version that was allowing far too many homers to balloon his ERA.

Can Ryan show enough to establish himself in a possible playoff rotation? It seems clear that Pablo López and Sonny Gray will lead the Twins’ starting staff, with Kenta Maeda having pitched well for much of the second half -- but he has faltered a bit of late, and has the bullpen experience in October that, as mentioned earlier, the Twins might be able to use.

Can Ryan continue pitching well enough to force himself back into that conversation? That would be quite a significant development for the Twins.