Pitching Talent

[Pius Jefferson]

The biggest talent weakness was starting pitching. What's everyone's opinion on the pitching talent so far? Are you more optimistic than the start of season or even more pessimistic? Is you're overall opinion not changed.

[edavis0308]

More or less positive than what? Can you elaborate a bit?

[diehardtwinsfan]

Not much that looks to be of help soon. Some nice high ceiling guys down in the low systems... Not much has changed. They took an interesting gamble with the draft and went after a bunch of hard throwing college relievers who have a feel for a 3rd pitch... If they can get one of them to learn a 3rd pitch, they might have found a nice diamond in the rough.

[drjim]

Not much has changed. Nice to see Hermsen do OK, but realistically no one has really broken out.

[Badsmerf]

Changed? How has it changed? Pat Dean looks like he might be a back-end of the rotation starter, but thats it.

[Top Gun]

I think the rotation is much better with the young guys in there.

[Twins GFP]

Anybody who says they are more optomistic now lies like a <analogy removed due to PG rated website>. Outside of Diamond, every starter has massively underperformed. To say we are better off with PJ Walters in the rotation is, well, just wrong.

[Pius Jefferson]

More or less positive than what? Can you elaborate a bit?

Has your opinion from the start of the season changed about the minor league pitching?

[Rosterman]

The tough part is the effect taking lumps could have on young guys. Liam Hendriks was glad to pitch in the majors, but his stats suck. Others can advance before-their-time and they will take lumps, but all could develop into first-line pitchers. You can have a starting staff of back-of-the-rotation starters, but it would be nice to have one big gun.

[Craig in MN]

All of the pitchers have managed to age 3 months since the start of the season. Not much else has changed.

[Top Gun]

What do you mean the 3 D's are far better, Diamond, De Vies, Deduno than Pavano, Blackburn and Marquis and Lariano is much better too. Baker was hurt then and Walters is hurt now.

[glunn]

What do you mean the 3 D's are far better, Diamond, De Vies, Deduno than Pavano, Blackburn and Marquis and Lariano is much better too. Baker was hurt then and Walters is hurt now.

Good point,TG. And it seems at least possible that Pavano or Blackburn will come back and be decent.

[Top Gun]

I hope so, and Pavano or Blackburn are trade able and we can get Duensing back to the bullpen where he belongs.

[Vervehound]

there are a few interesting sp's in e-town in boyd, robb and mata but the twins gcl club has more arms with upside than i've ever seen in 20+ years of following the minors. that's the right formula - you need numbers in order to get guys to the finish line. the twins dsl club also has a nice group of seventeen olds.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I hope so, and Pavano or Blackburn are trade able and we can get Duensing back to the bullpen where he belongs.

 

Blackburn is not tradable... Pavano, if he was healthy, might be, but for very very little.

[Fanatic Jack]

The truth is fans need something to be positive about regarding their favorite team. However, the Twins pitching in the minors is a complete disaster. We have seen their best prospect Liam Hendriks fall apart 7-8 times between 2011-2012. We keep hearing all the hype about Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers. There are no guarantees Gibson will ever be the same after T.J. surgery. Two examples would be Joe Mays and Francisco Liriano. Mays career ended prematurely and Liriano is not even close to the pitcher we saw in 2006. Wimmers is rehabbing and might not recover. The trainers are making a huge mistake by not letting him have surgery now.

[MWLFan]

I have been disappointed in the starting pitching as a whole in the minors. Some bright spots has appeared, Hermsen and Hendricks have done very well in their respective leagues. (Liam is still working on that whole translating it to the Majors thing.) The Snappers have run some good arms out there in Wheeler, Hurlbut, Summers and Shibuya. And they have not been helped be the shaky Defense behind them, but I am under no delusions that any of them should be clearing space for mutliple CY Youngs on the mantle. I think we are looking to Beloit and lower for the quality and quantitiy of pitching prospects in the system and that may actually work out well. Young bats in Arcia, Sano, Rosario, Goodrum appearing in the Majors about time these college arms start to establish them selves in the big stage. Could be a nice confluence of talent if it plays out right. However as I always say, a lot can happen between Elizabethton and Target Field. Not all of it good.

[twinswon1991]

No change for me. Outside of the very low minors I'm not sure the Twins have a minor league pitcher with upside higher than a #5 starter. It will take several years of astute drafting and trades to fix this black hole.

[stringer bell]

Diamond has been a nice revelation. The jury is out on the other guys called up from the minors, but De Vries was very impressive against Texas and Walters has had a couple of moments. I didn't see Deduno's first start and since he is 29 and in his third organization in two years, I have to be skeptical, but it appears he has enough stuff to get big leaguers out. Hendriks has been a disappointment.

 

The five guys slated to be the rotation are probably history to the Twins by Opening Day 2013 (Blackburn might be around because he's under contract), so the task is to basically rebuild a whole rotation to be ready by the opener in 2013.