Should the Twins Shift Griffin Jax Back to Starting Pitcher?

23 hours ago, Bodie said:

Moving a short reliever into the rotation seldom works. 

There are a lot of examples of it working extremely well just in the last couple seasons. And not just elite stuff guys like Hicks, but from non-dominant relievers too, like Seth Lugo. If he wants to give it a go the Twins should 100% encourage him to stretch out and worst case scenario, we're one year from today and he's sitting on a 5.50 ERA and they decide to throw him back in the pen. 

There's obviously no way they would ever consider doing this right now in the middle of the season. 

As the article clearly states this proposed move would be in the off-season to be ready for next season. There are many things to consider. 

First, Jax has stated he would like to make the move. This obviously has something to do with starters being paid better. There might be other factors since the work regimen is so different. He might miss the routine of a starter. 

The days of the Twins scrounging the dumpster for starters seems to have passed. They have young talent coming. Considering they don't like to pay retail for relievers, the bullpen will present more of a need next year. 

Will his stuff play? If he keeps his stuff up, will his health continue? Jax has been very reliable, arguably the most reliable reliever during his tenure. How his stuff and health react to a move are unknown. 

Who moves to open a spot? SWR may never let go of his place. Pablo, Ryan and Ober are entrenched. That leaves Paddack. At 7.5 million next year he may have priced himself out of a role in the Twins meagre bullpen budget. 

With Jax's work ethic it is intriguing to see what he could become. He is the Twins best candidate for this move ( I wouldn't trust Duran to hold up). If the Twins were willing to spend on the pen then maybe. As things stand I would take a hard pass on this. 

As a side note it is curious that Driveline's brass would promote something like this. They have a relationship with the ballclub to maintain. Are they over stepping their bounds here?

Not only no, but........I'm starting to think he should be the closer.

6 hours ago, SwainZag said:

Lots?  There are very few actually.  

Jax is 29 years old.  He has over the last 4 years transitioned from a back end starter to one of the more elite relief pitchers in baseball.  Why would you want to change that?  

 

There are plenty. 

And the reason is straight forward. A mediocre starting pitcher is still way more valuable than a set up man. The twins are quite fortunate SWR has worked out as well as he has. There was no indication he was going to come up and be a decent starter and if it failed we'd have a massive hole. 

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Disagree. 

Mediocre starters are only more valuable on a spreadsheet. 

In truth, they're pretty easy to find. Every team has several. Interchangeable, unremarkable, putting up similar results to many others.

Impact relievers are way more impactful. They're harder to find, as well.

We've got one in Jax. Leave it alone. 

We'll agree to disagree then, but what's the harm in trying? 

A) If Jax actually wants to do it, allowing him to try helps build the relationship with the player

B) If he succeeds, he could be Seth Lugo, a good #2 or #3 starter

C) If he fails, we can throw him back into the bullpen and he's still Griffin Jax

There's only upside and no visible downside to it unless you're concerned about injury. I don't know if there's any evidence of increased injury risk from someone going to bullpen to starting in the offseason.