Is The Rotation Already Full?

I agree, if we are just going to sign a middling of the road pitcher, we already have a plethora of them. It would be like using the word redundant twice in the same sentence!

Not mentioned was what caliber or level of pitcher would come here at this time? The outfield is going to be weak in the corners, and totally unknown in CF. The SS is untested, or back in CF, where he did not remind me of Torii Hunter! And the catcher is lowly rated both defensively and in pitch framing metrics. This is not going to be an ERA saving defense. Throw in a new coaching staff, and as a FA pitcher, there have to be better destinations.

Jon Lester was a potential centerpiece from the Johan trade, as was Hughes.

It would be nice if the Twins were ever even remotely a contender for one of the top free agents. Instead, they hand out small-to-medium contracts each year to good-to-mediocre players that add up to the cost of a marquee players. Nolasco-Pelfrey-Milone=$20MM (not to mention Hunter and Suzuki). Aim for mediocrity, and you have a high chance at success.

Lester would cost $20MM+ per year. But he doesn't cost a draft pick, and he is someone the Twins have wanted in the past.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could have some hope of being a mystery team in on Lester?

Back to the premise of the article...there would be room in the rotation for an ace. There isn't as much room for another mediocre option.

Probably no room with the way the Twins are putting this thing together.....which is depressing.  At least another year, and probably two (going on 5 strong) of non-contending baseball.

I tend to agree, which makes the move for Hunter more baffling.  The best way for this team to improve it's run prevention was to A) Sign an Ace or Make the OF defense not abysmal.

 

They likely won't do A and they may have found a way to make B even worse than it was.  That's impressive in a disheartening sort of way.

Not to mention Hunter pushes payroll to $90M, which limits the pitcher we will go after.

I think the move was to get clear upgrades.  The guys that improve our OF defense and starting pitching, yet were also in our price range were Colby Rasmus and Ervin Santana.  Obviously not going after Rasmus now and I don't think we are going to really spend on a pitcher.  Maybe we could have signed an OF for $3M that is a good defender and platoon your way to decent offense to go with it, then had money fro Ervin or to take on salary via trade.

I would also note that the 2012 and 2013 Twins were more of a destination for the reclamation project like Brett Anderson.  A guy like that needs innings and he is probably going to come by them easier somewhere else (I think that is why Boras wanted Pelfrey to sign here initially and why Harden chose MN).   We have three guys locked in, Nolasco, Hughes, and Gibson.  Two other guys we really want to see succeed, Pelfrey and Milone, and two youngs guys we want to get innings (May and Meyer).

I tend to agree with the article and many of the previous comments. Is there room to take a risk on a guy who could bounce back from injury? Sure there is. Is there room for an impact arm? Sure there is. Is there room for a seasoned veteran who will mainly be an innings eater? Here is where I say no. If we are not going to gamble on a guy who may or may not bounce back from injury or sign an arm that will push the rest of the rotation to be better, then why bother? At some point, we need to get a good look at what May, Meyer, Milone, Darnell, and possibly depending on how the first part of his season goes, Barrios. Voglsong and Volquez and who ever else falls into the retread section really does not provide the roster any value. Like the article states, we don't know how serious they are in these guys but lets hope it isn't very serious.

Ryan has been saying in pretty much every interview that the Twins need more starting pitching. The rotation may be full, but I get the sense that it could get a lot more crowded by Spring Training.

I think Ryan's highest cost target is probably Ervin Santana. I think the chances that Ryan signs a bigger name will depend on how long it takes for Lester and Scherzer to sign, because he's pretty much stated that he's "waiting for the market to develop"... I don't really understand the logic there, but I'm not a GM.

Brett Anderson, Justin Masterson, Brandon McCarthy, Edinson Volquez, Frankie, Ervin Santana are probably the best Twins fans can hope for this offseason.

Ryan has been saying in pretty much every interview that the Twins need more starting pitching. The rotation may be full, but I get the sense that it could get a lot more crowded by Spring Training.

 

I think Ryan's highest cost target is probably Ervin Santana. I think the chances that Ryan signs a bigger name will depend on how long it takes for Lester and Scherzer to sign, because he's pretty much stated that he's "waiting for the market to develop"... I don't really understand the logic there, but I'm not a GM.

 

Brett Anderson, Justin Masterson, Brandon McCarthy, Edinson Volquez, Frankie, Ervin Santana are probably the best Twins fans can hope for this offseason.

I agree, but I don't think Ervin is in that group.  I think we want a one year deal and my gut says he gets more. I could be wrong though, would have thought that last off-season.

I agree, but I don't think Ervin is in that group.  I think we want a one year deal and my gut says he gets more. I could be wrong though, would have thought that last off-season.

The only reason I think Santana would still be in play is that Ryan allegedly offered him a 3yr deal last Jan/Feb after the Twins had already signed Nolasco and Hughes and re-signed Pelfrey. This year Milone is an addition, but otherwise, it's essentially all the same guys one year older. One would hope that a year later May and Meyer would have cemented a place in the rotation but I think Ryan would rather have them force the issue by beating out the competition in Spring Training.

Meyer and May would appear to be more likely to give top end pitching than Milone or Pelfrey so I guess I would want Hughes, Gibson, Noalsco, Meyer and May with Milone and Pelfrey in long relief ready to replace whoever falters with hopefully Berrios forcing the issue by late summer.   What I have brought up before but never been explained to me is why, money aside, Nolasco has a spot sewn up and Milone does not.    Milone actually has the best career resume on the entire staff.   Sub 4 ERA in the American League while Nolasco has a career 4.48 ERA in the NL.  Nolasco has better strikeout rate but isn't that trumped by Milone's better WHIP?   Milone even had a better 2014 when all was said and done.     .    

 

The only reason I think Santana would still be in play is that Ryan allegedly offered him a 3yr deal last Jan/Feb after the Twins had already signed Nolasco and Hughes and re-signed Pelfrey. This year Milone is an addition, but otherwise, it's essentially all the same guys one year older. One would hope that a year later May and Meyer would have cemented a place in the rotation but I think Ryan would rather have them force the issue by beating out the competition in Spring Training.

But I would contend they kind of did.   May had a fantastic minor league year and got his feet wet in 2014 where admittedly he did poorly but to me he has earned his shot in 2015.   I also believe Meyer has earned his shot.     Not his fault he was on innings and pitch limits.   He had a few duds but I will happily accept a guy that I think can throw shutouts when he is on even if it means a bad start every 4 or 5 outings.    Quality start average for a major leaguer is about 50%.    Meyer had 10 quality starts out of 27 but would have likely had 7 more but for the pitch limits.   Another thing is that most of those starts were really high quality with only 0 or 1 run given up.   I agree the Twins should take off the kid gloves with regards to these guys.    I do believe they have earned their shot though.

It's up to Molitor and Neil Allen to say that now. Terry Ryan is going most likely sign one or two more starters this offseason. It'll be up to the pitching coach and the Manager to determine playing time.

maybe they'll go with a six-man rotation? Wouldn't that be bonkers?

You can never have too much pitching, especially quality starting pitching.  If you do, there is always a market for it.  I have no problem bringing in more arms and making every guy who shows up at Fort Meyers fight for a job. 

You can never have too much pitching, especially quality starting pitching.  If you do, there is always a market for it.  I have no problem bringing in more arms and making every guy who shows up at Fort Meyers fight for a job. 

I agree in concept. But the Twins are not going to owe a guy $38M over three years and give Trevor May his job if he has a better spring training.

I don't think there is room for both Pelfrey and Milone on 25-man roster.  There isn't room for either of them in the rotation unless someone breaks.

I would start Meyer in AAA to delay his service time -- not for arbitration purposes but for free agency purposes.  I would rather have almost 7 years of team control than just 6, especially with a Boras client.

I like the idea of signing McCarthy and Anderson.  May and Meyer will work their way into the rotation eventually.  Hopefully Nolasco regains his value and can be flipped.

The one-year-make-good-deal looked promising before the Twins crippled their outfield defense - If I were Brett Anderson, I'd be looking to get someone with a better defense to sign me. Also, Target Field was originally thought to be a pitcher's park, but it seems to have normalized a bit. It's not really that appealing on a one year deal, unless a guy thinks he can be Phil Hughes 2.0 . . .