A couple of questions

[stringer bell]

Both concerning pitching:  1)  If the Twins had fired Rick Anderson after the 2013 season and hired Neil Allen, would Ron Gardenhire still be the Twins manager?  I think so.  Perhaps Allen could have made Worley an okay starter (as he was with the Pirates) and maybe Nolasco would have been a total bust.  With less pressure, the bullpen would have been better and I think the Twins would have won quite a few more games.

 

2) In light of Tommy Milone looming in AAA, how much rope does each of the current starters have before a change would be made?  Pelfrey has been mostly good, and coming off a real good start, Nolasco has won five straight decisions and actually pitched into the eighth today, and May had his career long outing last time out.  I imagine they all would be allowed a clunker, but two? maybe three?

[brvama]

Those are certainly fun questions.. However, I'm choosing to avoid the speculation on the what ifs and just continue to enjoy this ride. Every once in a while life gives us a scenario that is beyond explanation - similar to 1987. Time will tells us how long a leash some have. Until that time I'm staying in the here and now and all of its splendor. I'll let others speculate.

[jimmer]

I'm not sure it would have mattered and I'm not sure, when the season is all said and done, that our pitching is going to be revealed as much better or even significantly better than our pitching staffs of the recent seasons.  They are 11th in FIP in the AL, which is, at present a good improvement and we should enjoy it, but it's early still. Let's not jump the gun and think Allen, or Molitor for that matter, have been miracle workers.  I'm going to enjoy the ride and stop trying to use 1/4 of a season to justify or confirm beliefs of the old staff. 

[jokin]

 

Both concerning pitching:  1)  If the Twins had fired Rick Anderson after the 2013 season and hired Neil Allen, would Ron Gardenhire still be the Twins manager?  I think so.  Perhaps Allen could have made Worley an okay starter (as he was with the Pirates) and maybe Nolasco would have been a total bust.  With less pressure, the bullpen would have been better and I think the Twins would have won quite a few more games.

 

 

 

I think this point is moot, as Gardy had previously demonstrated strong loyalty, in that he would not allow his inner circle of coaches/bowling buddies to be fired, unless he was first let go.  After much discussion during today's game (and while noting that Nolasco's off-speed stuff is now dancing for the second game in a row, as it once did before 2014), the consensus was that the Twins should have raided the Rays a second time and gotten Neal Allen,  after Glynn's first year with the organization in 2012, and then subsequently gone full-rebuild, they brought Bruno up in 2013, he probably should have been joined on the coaching staff by  Glynn and Allen, with Molitor as the manager.

 

 

 

[Old Twins Cap]

Gardy had gone stale, dating back to 2010.  There is such a thing as letting some light and air into a clubhouse, not to mention a new voice.

 

And the Twins have that now.

 

The interesting speculation is about how and why the Twins are turning things around in 2015, and, if they had elected to replace Gardy earlier, what last year might have been like.

 

We will never know, and thus, we will never know what Molitor has meant to this resurgence.  But, the facts are the facts and the Twins are looking as good now as they have at any time since pre-September of 2010.

[blairpaul715]

Well , Hughes , Nolasco, and Gibson are in the rotation longterm, barring trade........so Mays and Pelphrey in my opinion will have a rope of 2 bad starts, but 3 in a row would and probably should require a change, if it is Pelphrey, I wouldnt mind him in the bullpen. And if May is strong for another 3 or 4 starts he is in the rotation for the year......so again barring trade, Milone might be the odd man out when Santana comes back even if Pelphrey struggles, IMO

[DaveW]

I hope Pelf obviously keeps pitching great as a starter, but I hope if he struggles a bit later they don't hesitate to toss him in the pen especially if Berrios is knocking on the door, I think Pelf could be a wade Davis lite type bullpen guy for this club.

 

With all of the said, everyone in the rotation has mostly earned a rather long leash, whether for career track record (Hughes, Nolasco-ugh) young arms looking good (Gibson, May) and current 2015 production (Pelf) to this point IMHO.

 

I don't mind Milone, but he shouldn't be pushing out any productive member of the rotation.

 

Maybe this allows the twins to more aggressively shop Nolasco? Even picking up a chunk of his salary?

[twinsnorth49]

 I'm hoping Nolasco continues to pitch well through June so he increases his trade value to somewhere close to a warm body return. After that it's going to be between Pelf and Milone, Pelf has more value in the pen than Milone so I can see Milone being  the back end guy. I think May sticks this year.

 

All in all a pretty good problem to have.

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

I hope they keep pitching well, and they deal prospects to close holes and they make the playoffs. I'm tired of being sellers.

[nicksaviking]

Perhaps Allen could have made Worley an okay starter (as he was with the Pirates) and maybe Nolasco would have been a total bust.

I think there's a reasonable chance that had someone gotten out of Worley what Pittsburgh did, the Twins may not have signed Nolasco at all.

[stringer bell]

I think there's a reasonable chance that had someone gotten out of Worley what Pittsburgh did, the Twins may not have signed Nolasco at all.

I was thinking the same thing. That would mean an arb eligible player in exchange for a comparable $12M per year four year contract. A good thing, no?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Best case scenario is the Pelfrey continues to pitch well and the Twins are able to shuffle him out of town for a position of need during a stretch run. I don't see Nolasco getting traded any sooner than this offseason and that's probably a stretch, too.

 

It'd also be nice if they could get something for Milone. The Twins have a glut of mediocre starters and some of them need to be sent out of town so we can start thinking about getting Santana and Berrios (and maybe even Meyer) into the rotation later this year or in 2016.

[Mike Sixel]

Not to mention that they might actually have 40+ good players to protect next year, if they don't deal some guys.....

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Not to mention that they might actually have 40+ good players to protect next year, if they don't deal some guys.....

Yeah, I haven't looked at the guys who need protection next season but the Twins have to be approaching crunch time on the 40 man roster. It's something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

[drivlikejehu]

 

Best case scenario is the Pelfrey continues to pitch well and the Twins are able to shuffle him out of town for a position of need during a stretch run. I don't see Nolasco getting traded any sooner than this offseason and that's probably a stretch, too.

 

It'd also be nice if they could get something for Milone. The Twins have a glut of mediocre starters and some of them need to be sent out of town so we can start thinking about getting Santana and Berrios (and maybe even Meyer) into the rotation later this year or in 2016.

 

Pelfrey is not going to fetch a return of any significance, certainly not one that would help the Twins in 2015.

 

If they can get anything for Milone, they should definitely trade him, but I think a C+ prospect is probably the max they would receive.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Pelfrey is not going to fetch a return of any significance, certainly not one that would help the Twins in 2015.

 

If they can get anything for Milone, they should definitely trade him, but I think a C+ prospect is probably the max they would receive.

In the case of Pelfrey, I'm thinking there might be a team willing to swap rentals in a mutually beneficial move.

 

Milone's return won't be much. I don't have high expectations for either player netting a great return but the Twins should be able to ship them out of town for a nice rental piece (or a low minors piece with moderate upside) if they keep it up.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

What is the prevailing thought on Ervin Santana? When he's re-instated, who is the odd man out? Is it Pelfrey, just because he was originally going to be in the bullpen?

 

It would be hard to make the case for any of the guys in the current rotation to lose their job at this point.

 

I agree with others that Nolasco and Pelfrey are not worth much on the trade market. Those two plus Milone are probably worth more to the Twins as depth than they are to anyone else at the moment.

 

If the Twins can get an offer for any of their current pitchers, I hope the return outweighs the value of just keeping all of them.

 

My preference as of today is to have Ervin Santana start, Pelfrey to the bullpen, and Tim Stauffer DFA'd when Ervin is back.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I think Stauffer gets the boot when Fein returns.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

Oh yeah... Fien is coming back soon too. Welp - the Twins have too many pitchers!

 

13 pitchers on the staff as of today, with Fien and Santana coming soon...

 

I did hear on the radio from Rob Antony that they might be reducing that back to 12 pitchers "as soon as things settle down." Might be very soon, given the number of long starts lately. Antony noted that Molitor preferred having 12 pitchers and another bench guy instead of 13. 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I did hear on the radio from Rob Antony that they might be reducing that back to 12 pitchers "as soon as things settle down." Might be very soon, given the number of long starts lately. Antony noted that Molitor preferred having 12 pitchers and another bench guy instead of 13. 

Yeah, Molitor just talked about how he wants to return to seven bullpen arms soon. I think it was in yesterday's game notes on MLB.com.

[Linus]

If it is Pelfrey, I would say he doesn't have much rope.  The rest of them are pretty much locks for a variety of reasons.

 

I also think Pelfrey could help the bullpen so we kind of address two problems at once.

 

I am wholly unconcerned about the whole "what to do when so and so comes back" or "how do we get prospects a spot" issues.  When we actually have too much quality MLB caliber pitching, I will worry about it then. 

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

How about this hypothetical - are people confident that Santana will pitch better than Pelfrey and Nolasco have to this point?  I think he probably will be able to meet or exceed that standard.

 

The Twins should be pretty excited at the prospect of the rotation getting even better in the coming months.

 

Pelfrey in the pen should make the pen better, I agree with that for sure.

[Jerr]

Got to love all the "what if's", but as was said before, I am enjoying and hope the winning continues!

No "if's or what's " about that

[formerly33]

I'm not sure if this is right, but I think I remember hearing before that Gardy said that if we fired Rick Anderson, he'd go too. So it was kind of an all or nothing situation...and I'm enjoying nothing.

[stringer bell]

It's not unusual for the manager and his pitching coach to be a partnership. I think Gardy would have been better off with a better best friend.