Does Simeon Woods Richardson Deserve the Twins' Final Starting Rotation Spot?

[arby58]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Paddack is going to be difficult to trade while Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and Andrew Heaney are still looking for work.

They all come with varying forms of 'ick.' The first three are 36-37 years old, and while each threw some innings last year (although Lynn barely averaged 5 innings a start and comes with his own special 'don't want to be here' baggage), there is a reason they are still looking for work. Heaney is 'younger' at 33 but was 5-14 last year. Why pay more when you have several younger arms who likely can replicate those levels of 'performance?'

[Danchat]

While SWR did run out of gas at the end of the year and I am leery of his stuff holding up... well, you can say the same and worse about Paddack, who has only been healthy enough to cross enough 100 innings twice in his career, and he has very hittable (10.4 hits/9, 1.4 HR/9). What would there be to gain to start SWR in AAA? He should be locked in the rotation to start the year.

[DocBauer]

In regard to Paddack and trade value, it was reported in various sources that various teams had interest, but Falvey didn't like the returns being offered. Perhaps teams suspected a salary dump opportunity that wasn't reality? But there was reported interest.

I would have moved him as part of a deal, or as a dump to make another deal, and added a bat via trade. I've offered up ideas in previous articles, and there's no sense rehashing those. It would have meant less depth, and more pressure on SWR and Festa as well as Matthews and the other young arms at AAA, but it's the move I would have made and just put my trust in the young arms.

That being said, having Paddack does provide some hope of upside at the moment. It's why other teams had interest, especially at only $7.5M for 1yr. His presence provides depth to begin the year in case someone is hurt early on, or SWR suddenly shows regression, which I don't believe is going to happen for Sim. And I repeat that what happened with Ober wasn't fair, but it quickly worked itself out. The depth and options...no pun intended...is nice to have to begin the season. And even if Paddack does break down, you've bought a little more time for your AAA staff to get their legs under them.

Again, it's not what I would have done. IMO, the FO has become almost paranoid in regards to a "depth" issue to the point where they are almost afraid or rolling with the talent on hand at times. One thing I'll give Cleveland and Milwaukee credit for is they are willing to roll with their younger talent and let them endure growing pains and let them grow. I think our FO needs to adopt that philosophy more and trust in the ceiling more than a solid floor at times.

If I were in charge, Paddack would be gone, a decent prospect or two might be gone, but we'd have a proven ML 1B instead of France. But I CAN appreciate having Paddack around still as a viable ML SP to begin the season.

Who knows, maybe he does well enough he could be moved in a deal for help elsewhere with Festa and others knocking down the door.

[bean5302]

15 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

In regard to Paddack and trade value, it was reported in various sources that various teams had interest, but Falvey didn't like the returns being offered. Perhaps teams suspected a salary dump opportunity that wasn't reality? But there was reported interest.

Might have been Twins eat $5MM and get back a PTBNL. I could see Falvey holding out for more in that instance... or watching the pitching market skyrocket and overplaying his hand. Prices fell back down to Earth after an initial run up.

[jmlease1]

at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if Paddack or SWR is the 4th or 5th slot. Early on, I wouldn't expect anyone to get skipped, and later on it'll be more about injuries and effectiveness for who gets a turn off in the rotation. There's good arguments for both SWR and Paddack to get skipped occasionally in the rotation if there are enough days off (SWR because of how he wore down last season, Paddack because of his injury history and limited innings in recent years).

I will say, I much prefer having this kind of conversation about the rotation than what we dealt with a few years ago, wondering if we'd actually have enough quality guys to fill out a rotation. Now we're actually talking about whether or not we have the best guys filling the back end...

[h2oface]

For those calling for a "meritocracy" for ST performance, Baldelli totally shoots that down as stupid in the first video clip at the top of this article: "It's not about the performance, it's about a lot of the other things. Don't pay atentention to the performance as the carrying factor here......."

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/derek-falvey-discusses-key-topics-for-twins-2025-season

[tarheeltwinsfan]

On 2/19/2025 at 7:51 AM, Fatbat said:

 Starts in July/Aug/Sept mean more than April/May

I understand what you are saying here as far as "what has the individual starting pitcher done for me lately". However, as far as the team is concerned, the Twins had better hit the ground running in April. I know, I know, as Gardy used to say, "It's a long season." I look at it differently. I  contend that it is an extremely  short season because the only game that truly matters it the next one, starting in St. Louis on Opening Day.

[tony&rodney]

10 hours ago, h2oface said:

For those calling for a "meritocracy" for ST performance, Baldelli totally shoots that down as stupid in the first video clip at the top of this article: "It's not about the performance, it's about a lot of the other things. Don't pay atentention to the performance as the carrying factor here......."

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/derek-falvey-discusses-key-topics-for-twins-2025-season

Of course it is stupid when Baldelli has guys like Bundy, Archer, Paddack, Gallo, Margot, France and others who can lead the team. 

Then again different strokes for different folks .... Cleveland has had players receive votes for ROY every year from 2019-2024, but were too stacked in 2017-2018 with All Star players. The Twins have had only Luis Arraez and Edouard Julien receive any votes since Falvey took over the team. The teams have different philosophies, it's just the way it is. Meanwhile, all of Twins fans continue to hope for the best and think positive each year. One of my nephews, now in his fifties, asked me if I have ever not predicted the Twins to win the World Series. Hope.