Wetmore: Starting Rotation Battle Candidates

[John Bonnes]

Derek Wetmore does a thorough job of looking at the 11(?!?) candidates for the Twins starting rotation this year:

 

http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2017/02/will-emerge-competition-twins-starting-rotation-meet-candidates/

 

If that's more than you thought were competing - I agree. But I can't find any fault with including at least the first 10. 

[ashbury]

For me, Hughes is the key. If he's not healthy, he's a non-factor of course, and that has been my assumption since he went onto the DL. You can have a rotation of ESan, May, Berrios, Gibson and Santiago, and then all the other candidates slot into the major league bullpen or else the rotation at Rochester.

 

But if healthy, there's a logjam and he's the cause. Someone like Berrios will be doing time at Rochester, and that means an old guy is blocking a young guy who needs to be up, despite all the protests that it would never come to that.

 

A trade can eventually fix the logjam, if it pans out that way - and I certainly don't wish Hughes ill - but it will be an uncomfortable couple of months while Hughes demonstrates his health well enough that someone will trade for him. And worst case (a middle scenario), Hughes guts it out for a couple of months but is never quite right, and the time invested in him instead of a youngster is wasted.