Ober and Out: Time to Shut Down Bailey Ober for 2025

I guess it makes me wonder if they should shut down any pitcher of value. Why risk an injury to Joe or Pablo? Pablo is just back and Joe has had some rough outing recently. Maybe something is going on with the arm. Maybe shut  down some of the young arms too. No reason to risk Tommy John and losing next year.

I guess the only thing holding them back is a player needs to be injured to be put in IL. Should they shut down Ober? Sure. If there is an injury.

Good call. Unless they are pushing to display health players for the off-season trade market, a shut down makes perfect sense. 

Regarding the Twins starters in general, there are some interesting recent comments from Ryan about the Twins failure/refusal to sign Sonny Gray.  It's one of the biggest of the many mistakes they've made - which makes it a really huge, colossal mistake.  Gray brought a much needed edge to the starting staff.  He seemed to expect more not only from his teammates but also from his manager.  Even if his production was sure to drop off, IMO what he brought to the locker room more than made up for it.  But the Pohlads won't spend the money - or won't spend it on the right personnel.

Ryan said he just wants to win, which makes it almost a certainty that he'll be gone - because winning is not going to happen here.   So sure, put Ober on the shelf.  Why not?

Ober will continue to take his turn in the rotation unless there is an injury that requires Bailey to go on the IL. Ober is still pitching for a 2026 contract to be settled or go to arbitration (the Twins settle). The Twins will almost certainly float Ober to determine what interest other teams have in him. Ober would be a nice #4-5 starting pitcher for a number of teams. He is a big guy and often tall pitchers manage lengthy careers. So, there are a pile of unknowns with Ober but I expect he finishes out the year pitching every week. That only leaves 3 remaining starts, maybe 4 for Ober. Bailey will want to conquer his own personal nemesis today. The Royals have had his number at times.

6 months ago they were touting. Ober as a Cy Young candidate on these pages. 

Keep running him out there. Every time his ERA increases, his arbitration award decreases.

If he is not 100% healthy I would shut him down so he can heal up and have a regular off season of training. 

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I am beyond trying to figure out what is logical for this team.  Outman and Gaspar on the team makes no sense.  Half the BP makes no sense.  Continuing to hope Julien will hit is a waste of time. 

Forget the crap about service time.  A few games left - let some of the potential prospects get their feet wet in MLB.

Yes shut down Ober - what are we waiting for.  Let him start over in 2026.  

 

The just called up AAA catcher was fine Friday night.  So what do they do?  Sit him and start Gaspar.  Terrible management.  Just terrible.  Fire Rocco!

They should shut Ryan down too. He seems to have lost interest.  It's easy to understand with a minor league lineup behind him.

They should have put him on the IL to begin the season & let him heal then, instead of keeping throwing him out there. They kept throwing Polanco on the field when he injured his knee; they screwed up knee & career. So, if his hip is still sore. Yeah, pull him. Why jeopardize his career for nothing? 

Ober wouldn’t be pitching if he was hurt! If shutting down him and Ryan makes sense to many of you perhaps we should shut the whole team down. They are paid millions of dollars to play. Only thing that should be done is firing the Manager and if things don’t improve next year fire the GM.

Ober looks better today.    Has anyone considered moving him to the pen.  Maybe he could get his velocity up and stay a little healthier.  

1 hour ago, Doc Lenz said:

if things don’t improve next year fire the GM.

I'm sorry to say that I cannot wait any longer for the incompetent Falvey to learn.

Glad Ober pitched today.

To be fair, I would have said this regardless of Ober's start today.  For the group of us that are tired of watching 1-3 bullpen games per week, I don't care how good or bad Ober will be the rest of the season, provided he is healthy.  I would rather see Ober out there trying to get 4-6 innings an outing than watch a bullpen game that eventually blows up.  The current state of the bullpen has a hard enough time trying to do their job much less trying to cover an entire game.  The Twins sent down Abel because they have no confidence in him even getting through 4 innings.  We finally have five starters going (Lopez, Ryan, SWR, Ober, and Bradley).  Maybe we should give them the rest of the season to try and gel as a unit, so we have some hope for the offseason.

4 hours ago, ashbury said:

This Article Aged Well.™

Many articles and comments do not age well. 

Get what you can for Ober this winter. Throwing 89mph fastballs will get you no where. he will be out of mlb in 2 years unless he is used in relief only.

If Oner is healthy (and his game against the Royals seemed to show he was) then he needs to keep pitching thru the end of the season.  With the exception of Buxton and Keaschall no one is off the table when it comes to trades.  Let Ober rebuild his value to the point where he brings something good back in a trade, or he re-establishes his hold on the #3 spot in the rotation.  Yes, he may pitch poorly and tank his value, but the Twins need to determine what he will be in 2026.