Pelfrey: his days as a Minnesota starter should be over

[AlwaysinModeration]

At least a billion.

I need more clarification before I put in a bid. A billion what, exactly?

[TwinsCD]

We're just now coming to this conclusion?  You could have written this article in May...of LAST year.  That 6-0 start was more smoke & mirrors than Copperfield and Houdini.  He's terrible and is better off on the scrap heap.  

[Boom Boom]

I have a bad feeling that TR is on the phone with Scott Boras right now, haggling over a four year deal or three with an option for Pelf.

[twinsnorth49]

When is Hughes expected back anyway? Is there a date? Too lazy to look it up.

[ashbury]

I need more clarification before I put in a bid. A billion what, exactly?

http://www2.b3ta.com/host/creative/15798/1211409544/quatloo.jpg

[Rosterman]

Again, even at this point in the season with a couple of dozen games left and 5 starts predicted for msot starters and maybe12-15 innings left for most of the relief staff each...

 

Well, if a player is doing badly (Pelfrey, Hunter) you swap them out for the future, someone you need a good looksee at and who you expect to be a part of the organization if not jsut for 2016 but beyond.

 

If a veteran is doing horrible (Pelfrey, Hunter for example), a rookie would have to be doing pretty bad themselves to equal that...horribleness.

 

I would even rally to see prospects on the cusp (i.e. Rogers, Reynoldo Rodriguez,Darnell Logan, Arcia) get the chances than players who only goal is to increase their own value for next season, and they aren't doing a very good job with that.

 

The Wild Card hunt can make it an iffy siutaion to start a Nunez, say, over a Santana if push comes to shove, because you still want your best player out there. But at some point, you cut bait. 

 

Yes, there is no one NOT on the 40-man that really needs to be there right now (okay, there is one). And IF you make it to the wild card or beyond, it is probably good to have to make the choice between failing seasoned veteran and hot young prospect at that time.

 

Every series here on out will be a factor in the direction the Twins need to go. But one thing is clear, they need to give playing time to any of the guys who will be here in 2016, often at the expense of those that may not (Nunez, Hunter, Robinson, Pelfrey, Duensing).

 

[HitInAPinch]

 

Really good point. In the pen Pelfrey would have pitched about half the innings, so his heater, curve, fork mix might have lasted longer before he either stopped throwing the fork or hitters stopped swinging at it.

 

Today Pelfrey looks like he's reverted to his pre-fork days of being a two-pitch guy. Decent heater that he bends low around the zone, a "get me over" curve for an occasional alternate, and the fork ball, which is rare, and nobody swings at it anymore.

 

Before the All-Star game it seemed like Pelf was getting a lot of swinging strikes at the fork ball. Now that pitch is much more rare, and everybody is sitting on his fastball, which isn't dominant. He's getting shelled by fastball eaters like Houston.

 

With an average two-pitch mix, he's either middle relief, or I don't want to see him pitch. He needed that fork ball to be effective for more than a few innings.

I think the larger issue/difference between Pelfrey the RP and the SP is his fastball.  His fastball was much stronger as a RP and relied on it for a lot for outs.  As a starter, he started throw more breaking balls, which just isn't his strong suit.  Twins should have done the same thing they did to

Latroy Hawkins.  Leave him as a reliever and make him throw heat.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

I think the larger issue/difference between Pelfrey the RP and the SP is his fastball.  His fastball was much stronger as a RP and relied on it for a lot for outs.  As a starter, he started throw more breaking balls, which just isn't his strong suit.  Twins should have done the same thing they did to

Latroy Hawkins.  Leave him as a reliever and make him throw heat.

Not sure where you got some of this data.. though he did pitch in the middle of games in spring training you might be referring to... 

 

It was fun to look up Pelfrey's last official relief appearance. It was in April of 2010 as a Met, and he came in to pitch the bottom of the 20th inning (not a typo) of a game against the Cardinals. He recorded a save. Fangraphs says his average fastball velocity that day was only 90.9 MPH, however.

 

EDIT Oops that was the second to last time, not the last time. But still fun. He pitched once in relief in 2011, which my same sources say came after 2010. 

[70charger]

Probably, but anywhere that doesn't employ Mike Pelfrey already has a leg up. These better be the last few times we endure him.

Maybe it's the eternal optimist in me, but I think it will be.

[DocBauer]

Honestly, there are very few moves made by the Twins this season...or not made...that I can take much umbrage with. But May to the bullpen instead of Pelfrey is one move where I have a Paul Bunyan size axe to grind.

 

Every season, on just about every team...even losing ones...there is someone who steps up unexpectedly to help their club, maybe even carry them for a short time. But it's always for the short term. And everyone knows and expects this. To think Pelfrey was going to take a stretch, even one a couple months long, and suddenly transform it in to a full season was a fools wish.

 

For a rebuilding, rebounding team to have a top young SP like May and move him to the bullpen to accommodate and appease a poor to mediocre career veteran pitcher who doesn't fit into your future plans...including next season...is short-sighted and irresponsible.

 

Without being dramatic, even us armchair GM's new what to expect. How could the professionals not know as much?