13 Pitchers????

[stringer bell]

I've seen references to the Twins carrying 13 pitchers in print. While I don't doubt the sources, I hope the Twins are trying to keep the market for their out-of-options guys warm. The top returning starter is Correia, who threw 185 innings last year and has a solid record of durability. They added three starters, all of whom are viewed as durable innings-eaters--Pelfrey in his second year after TJ, who is 30 and has four seasons with more than 180 innings, Hughes, and Nolasco, who has exceeded 180 innings in four of the last five years. They figure to have at least Swarzak in a long reliever role. I just don't see the necessity of having eight guys in the bullpen.

 

The rationale, of course, is to keep Deduno, Diamond, and Worley on the 25-man roster. If two of these guys are in the bullpen, the Twins would have essentially three long relievers. That is all ridiculous if the goal is to bring the best possible roster north with the tools to win the most games.

 

Of course, a lot could happen in the meantime. People could get hurt, guys can implode and pitch their way off the roster, or trades can be made. However, if nothing really changes, there will be too many pitchers (out-of-options) for too few spots. A fourth bench player would be much more beneficial that an eighth bullpen arm.

[howieramone1406390264]

If our favorite team needs to bring up 13 pitchers for a week here and there, in order to showcase one to make a trade etc., I don't think it's any big deal. I'm hoping some of our vets show well early so we can deal them off. If this was a win now situation, we could have easily dealt our top prospects and been the talk of the baseball world. I'm much more concerned with what the team looks like in September than coming out of ST.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I suspect someone will start out on the DL... That's pretty normal unfortunately, but also the nature of baseball. That would solve a lot of issues. If not, my guess is Deduno is in the pen, Worley starts, Gibson is in AAA, and Diamond gets a DFA.

[thetank]

I suspect someone will start out on the DL... That's pretty normal unfortunately, but also the nature of baseball. That would solve a lot of issues. If not, my guess is Deduno is in the pen, Worley starts, Gibson is in AAA, and Diamond gets a DFA.

Any of the pitchers can play LF in case a game goes to 20 innings? I've seen in the NL when pitchers are pinch hit for

[Thrylos]

Any of the pitchers can play LF in case a game goes to 20 innings?

 

I suspect some of them can play LF at least as well as Willingham

[Shane Wahl]

That makes for an alarming bench. Escobar, Herrmann, Presley (if Hicks is up with Twins)?

[nicksaviking]

That makes for an alarming bench. Escobar, Herrmann, Presley (if Hicks is up with Twins)?

 

You may be giving the bench too much credit. You may have to substitute Herrmann for Fryer.

[Shane Wahl]

You may be giving the bench too much credit. You may have to substitute Herrmann for Fryer.

 

Well, Herrmann is opposite-hitting from Suzuki and can play the OF corners pretty well. Suzuki is the "defensive" catcher, so it would seem odd to have Fryer involved instead of Herrmann.

[nicksaviking]

Well, Herrmann is opposite-hitting from Suzuki and can play the OF corners pretty well. Suzuki is the "defensive" catcher, so it would seem odd to have Fryer involved instead of Herrmann.

 

I guess from my perspective, "odd" seems to be the key descriptive term to the catching configuration around here most years.

 

Not that I'm endorssing the move.

[Otto von Ballpark]

The top returning starter is Correia, who threw 185 innings last year and has a solid record of durability. They added three starters, all of whom are viewed as durable innings-eaters--Pelfrey in his second year after TJ, who is 30 and has four seasons with more than 180 innings, Hughes, and Nolasco, who has exceeded 180 innings in four of the last five years.

 

I prefer 12 pitchers max too, but remember, Correia's 185 IP basically matched his career high rate, and Hughes and Pelfrey had historically low IP/GS figures last year. And there's still the wide open 5th starter spot. They may become rotation of durable innings-eaters, but they're not there yet.

 

Besides, the bullpen is probably the best and deepest part of the team right now. The 8th guy in this bullpen might indeed provide more MLB value than the likely options for 13th position player.

[twinsfan34]

Which area was worse for the Twins: Hitting or Pitching?

 

Which will be the weakest when they break: our hitting or our pitching?

 

Might decide who gets the "extra" player...

[JB_Iowa]

So much bad to decide among.

 

But it does seem like they did something to improve the pitching .... and not much (if anything) to improve the hitting.

 

I think this may well be decided by the option situation, etc. but if all of those things are disregarded, I'd say 12 pitchers only.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Which area was worse for the Twins: Hitting or Pitching?

 

Which will be the weakest when they break: our hitting or our pitching?

 

Might decide who gets the "extra" player...

 

I think you can make a case for the hitting improving on its own with young guys improving and some regression to the mean with the vets... the pitching on the other hand needed fixing outside the org.

 

Personally, I don't see there hardly ever being a good reason to have a pitching staff of 13 guys, especially at the beginning of the year when there are more breaks in the schedule. I'd take the bat.

[JB_Iowa]

This is kind of irrelevant to this thread but I couldn't figure out where else to put it and it is some of the best news I've read :

 

 

• Rhett Bollinger ‏@RhettBollinger 13m
  Pelfrey said improving his tempo is a focus of his this year. Took 24.6 seconds between pitches last year while his career average is 21.7
  

 

And more on the same theme:

 

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 7m
  Video: Mike Pelfrey's top goal was to improve his tempo in spring opener. "Thought I did a good job." #MNTwins http://www.tout.com/m/tztmit?ref=twz7ea4p …