Thread: Article: Twins Send Gibson, 4 Others to Minor League Camp

Originally Posted by mike wants wins

He's 25. There is no compelling reason to worry about control for a 25 year old. They have control until he's 31 or 32 already.

You are right about Gibson. I am more agnostic about sending him down given his age and past medical history. If he is ready I would be fine with him in the opening day rotation. However, my post was primarily about my hopes that the Twins send HICKS down to control his service time. I think you would agree that is an entirely different discussion and, frankly, the one I thought we were engaged in.

In sum, Hicks down for control regardless of readiness on opening day. Gibson in rotation whenever he is ready.

Originally Posted by Jack Torse

I'm concerned about his cieling at this point. He's 25 already and has never been dominant at any level in the minors. I doubt this decision has anything to do with service time. Most alarming and is how quickly they cut him this spring.

Prior to Tommy John surgery, as a 22 year old, he dominated both High A and AA. You can hardly fault him for blowing out his elbow and effectively losing two years of his career. Now he just needs regain his consistency, which is not uncommon for someone less than two years removed from TJ surgery.

If Aaron Hicks wins the job it would be a travesty to send him to AAA. I get it if it were a toss up but it seems this kid has done everything he needed to do to win the position. If your thinking long term, having him in a good mental position going into the season with Great confidence is the way to go.

Originally Posted by Mchans24

If Aaron Hicks wins the job it would be a travesty.... If your thinking long term, having him in a good mental position going into the season with Great confidence is the way to go.

If you're truly thinking long-term, whether or not he doesn't play the first month is a triviality, not a travesty.

Originally Posted by cmathewson

Diamond will only miss a couple of starts. Gibson should be back when he can just calm down without trying to make the team. Meyer will not be far behind. By midseason, the rotation will look like this:

Worley
Diamond
Pelfry
Gibson
Meyers

I doubt it. Corriea is going to be starting for the team all of this season barring injury or a Blackburnesque collapse. They aren't going to just throw away the millions already committed for next year. While Corriea might not be good I don't think he's going to put up a 7 ERA either.

Originally Posted by Oxtung

I doubt it. Corriea is going to be starting for the team all of this season barring injury or a Blackburnesque collapse. They aren't going to just throw away the millions already committed for next year. While Corriea might not be good I don't think he's going to put up a 7 ERA either.

Agreed, but the rose-colored glasses set on Twins Daily are already optimistically enthusiastic about taking the battlingly effective Correia ERA "Under" at about 6.00.

So, is this the end of the "Free Slama" campaign?

Originally Posted by sbknudson

So, is this the end of the "Free Slama" campaign?

Nope.

It sucks.

Slama would be crazy to re-sign with the Twins once he's a free agent. They obviously have never believed in him. I predict he's signed by the A's, and I hope he does well there.

Originally Posted by cmathewson

Prior to Tommy John surgery, as a 22 year old, he dominated both High A and AA. You can hardly fault him for blowing out his elbow and effectively losing two years of his career. Now he just needs regain his consistency, which is not uncommon for someone less than two years removed from TJ surgery.

8.8 h/9 3.72 ERA in 275 IP career minor league. Not what i would call dominant, especially from an elite level college pitching prospect.

Originally Posted by Jack Torse

8.8 h/9 3.72 ERA in 275 IP career minor league. Not what i would call dominant, especially from an elite level college pitching prospect.

Yikes, talk about cherry-picking stats. What about Gibson's 8.2 K/9 or his 2.4 BB/9?

Gibson's ERA and H/9 are inflated thanks to his pre-injury stint at AAA, where he scuffled for quite some time before getting TJS (4.83 ERA, 10.3 H/9, 95 IP).

Gibson is not a #1 pitcher. He may not even be a #2 pitcher. But he is a guy that puts the ball on the ground a lot, strikes out his fair share of batters, and doesn't issue an abundance of free passes. That's a valuable guy in any rotation. He just needs to get his command back, it seems.

Originally Posted by by jiminy

Slama would be crazy to re-sign with the Twins once he's a free agent. They obviously have never believed in him. I predict he's signed by the A's, and I hope he does well there.

True, but obviously other teams are not high on him either as he could've been taken in the rule V draft several times.

Slama's not that good. He's funky, and that can play, but he's not a major league player.

I hope they let him close at Rochester again, and as soon as he establishes himself (again) they trade him to some team that will give him a chance for some other AAAA guy who was never appreciated by his organization. He should get a chance to prove his mediocrity to the world, and the Twins aren't going to let him.

Originally Posted by Cris E

Slama's not that good. He's funky, and that can play, but he's not a major league player.

I hope they let him close at Rochester again, and as soon as he establishes himself (again) they trade him to some team that will give him a chance for some other AAAA guy who was never appreciated by his organization. He should get a chance to prove his mediocrity to the world, and the Twins aren't going to let him.

How can you know that until/unless he gets a legit chance?
Just because he doesnt have nasty stuff doesnt mean he cant be a decent mlb reliever, his minor league numbers are consistently very good.

Originally Posted by Cris E

Slama's not that good. He's funky, and that can play, but he's not a major league player. .

and the likes of Hoey, Gray, Manship, Vasquez, Dumatrait, Hacker, et. al. were?

I'm not here to defend it, just report it: Slama is on the wrong side of the line that separates prospects and players from minor leaguers. The organization has had countless opportunities to play him and they've rarely done it. Other teams have had the chance to pluck him in Rule V and he's still here. He's at a point where he can choose his own path and I hope he gets a chance.

He will get a chance somewhere. I fail to see how a 90+ loss team that could use help in the pen, and happens to also have some nice hitting prospects coming along, cannot give him that chance. He should have been up here for at least half of this season when it was clear that the season was over with.

I don't know if he can make it at the ML level or not, and I don't think anyone does, but he's earned a chance... something that some guys on the roster had not done.

I get that he's non-traditional, but he's gotten some pretty good results up through AAA. He wouldn't be the first non-traditional guy to excel in the bigs, nor would he be the first to fail. Not giving him a shot however, is incredibly foolish of an organization that has a need at a position that he's played well.

Originally Posted by DJ Smith

It's good he's going down, he's really not ready yet for the bigs. Might as well let these other guys get slapped around, and we've got better options than Gibson now anyway. Hendriks, Deduno and DeVries are better, and heck Alex Myer might even be better right now. If Gibson can get hitters out at AAA, give him a chance, but I'd bet his first month there won't be anything to crow about either. And he'll probably be with a couple I just mentioned, so when the time comes, we'll see who's brought up first.

This is pure evidence of a man that knows baseball right here.