Starting pitching is such a crap shoot - Gray, Giolito, Verlander

[Parfigliano]

Gray out of todays start with reported hamstring injury.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Gray out of todays start with reported hamstring injury.

Wish him well!!

[CRF]

He had some hammy issues with us back in 2022. I believe he went on the IL twice for it in 2022. 

[David HK]

5 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Gray out of todays start with reported hamstring injury.

Hammys get trickier as the years go by.  Come back too soon, and it's a long time out.

[Squirrel]

 

[TiberTwins]

Maybe the Twins training staff caught this one? This seems like the way things worked for us in the past.

[stringer bell]

The first three items in mlbtraderumors.com today were about the three starting pitchers in the title of this thread. It appears all three will miss time early in 2024 and the injury to Giolito sounds ominous.

Gray, of course, was the co-ace of the 2023 Twins staff. He signed a nice contract with the Cardinals early in free agency. Giolito also was a free agent and signed a one-year deal for good money with a mutual option and Verlander is one of the best of this era, winning multiple Cy Youngs and is a lock for Cooperstown.

My thought is that starting pitchers are a huge risk with huge investments. There are very few really durable and elite starters and Father Time eventually gets them too. I think it is wise for the Twins or any organization to be very discerning when pursuing starting pitchers. 
 

I picture Gray having a season much more similar to 2022 than 2023. Giolito’s season might be over before it starts and Verlander also won’t be the horse he’s been up to now. 

[CRF]

When I saw the news about Giolito, I thought to myself...how did we miss on this guy? It's not like us to miss out on a pitcher that needs a TJ job done right away. 

[Squirrel]

These threads were merged since stringer brought it all together in one

[FlyingFinn]

42 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

My thought is that starting pitchers are a huge risk with huge investments.

The Twins certainly agree. With every injury, the choice of not signing some of these guys (I wanted Giolito at the right price), the Twins off season decisions look better.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:21 AM, FlyingFinn said:

The Twins certainly agree. With every injury, the choice of not signing some of these guys (I wanted Giolito at the right price), the Twins off season decisions look better.

The Twins take on pitchers with questionable health, like a Desclafani, because they are getting them either for free, at a major discount.   Disco for $4 million even if he blows out his arm will not make or break our season.  For $4 million he could be a significant depth piece.  I am disappointed,  his spring has been slowed down, and he hasn't been able to work on his new pitches as much.   This pretty much guarantees that Red Sox will be signing one of the 2 remaining big pitchers remaining and throwing more money at the problem.  Damn Giolito went from guaranteed of a top dollar contract, to taking a 2 year prove it deal,  to likely looking like a Paddack type pitcher you are hoping can get healthy again.  

[Squirrel]

I’m not sure where to put this, nor did I search out and read the article on The Athletic, but this is something I think we all knew. All to gain an advantage.

 

[Linus]

I was going to post on this topic as well when I saw the Giolito news. It used to frustrate me that the Twins refuse to spend bigger money on starters. I was wrong and they are right. They take it one more level which is rarely using higher draft picks on pitchers. This concept I’m not so sure about. Their track record on drafting pitchers and getting them to the big leagues isn’t good yet they have put together really good starting staffs recently by trading prospects. I guess you could say a higher drafted position player used to get a pitcher may be the same as drafting that pitcher but with better info?