How Serious Are The Twins About 2015?

The most obvious opportunity to improve the club is in the rotation, where Mike Pelfrey has been flat-out terrible and multiple talented young starters are in line to make an impact. In mid-June, Pelfrey was on top of the world following a run of match-ups against weak offenses (Pittsburgh, Boston, Milwaukee) that lowered his ERA to an eye-popping 2.28.

Since then, however, Pelfrey has looked much like the mediocre hurler that his unimpressive peripherals and lengthy track record would suggest. Over his past seven starts, he's 0-5 with a 6.87 ERA and 16-to-14 K/BB ratio in 38 innings. Opponents have mashed him to the tune of .365/.417/.528 during that span.

It's somewhat unfair to pile on a guy during his worst stretch of the season -- and in fairness his overall ERA is still below 4 -- but Pelfrey's latest outing in Anaheim was indicative of what you can expect from him on any given night. He wasn't necessarily terrible, and his defense didn't help him out much leading to two unearned runs, but he allowed too much contact, gave up hits in bunches, and wasn't saved by the double plays that he has grown so desperately dependent upon.

Pelf could have some value to a sub-.500 club that simply needs a guy to eat innings while treading water, but for a team like the Twins that is in the race and has blatantly superior options in the wings, he's a liability.

Sliding Trevor May, who was arguably the team's best starter before being demoted to the bullpen, back into a starting role would be the easy move. The bolder move would be promoting Jose Berrios, who fired seven scoreless innings in Rochester on Thursday. Either switch would signal that the Twins are ready to put their chips on the table and make a run.

There are several other areas where Ryan and Co. can make some quick fixes to improve the product on the field. One is installing Eduardo Escobar as full-time starter at shortstop. Another would be calling Oswaldo Arcia back up to the majors; the slugger has been crushing for weeks in Triple-A and Eddie Rosario is hitting .258/.269/.348 with 17 strikeouts and one walk in the month of July. How about bumping Blaine Boyer in favor of Michael Tonkin?

There are other steps the organization could take to set up potential reinforcements down the line. For instance, Nick Burdi has been lights out in Ft. Myers since being demoted at the beginning of the month, with 18 strikeouts and zero walks in 13 innings. Quickly getting him back up to Chattanooga would create an opportunity for the 22-year-old fireballer to put together a strong month at Double-A and join the big-league bullpen in September.

There are a lot of considerations in play, such as patiently developing young talent and in some cases (possibly Burdi and Arcia) sending a message. But how do the Twins balance that with trying to put the best possible team on the field over these final two months?

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out.