The Minnesota Twins Finally Have Their Ace in Pablo Lopez

Hopefully Baldelli doesn’t screw this up with his dogmatic adherence to analytics. Show some trust in your starters to get through 6 innings or more. I don’t know if the team with offer Sonny Gray a contract, but why would Sonny stay when Rocco doesn’t trust him to pitch more than five innings? 

He is on his way to becoming an 'ACE' but he's got demonstrate consistent excellence over next year and into the playoffs before I can give him that designation. 

He IS the Twins #1 and opening day starter and has all the promise in the world though! 

I am definitely on board with Pablo Lopez leading this rotation. He had an excellent year, healthy and consistent. He's got the arsenal to shut down any lineup, and showed he can be a big-game pitcher. He's shown he has the drive to improve and he's super-smart about his craft. And from everything we've heard, he sounds like a fantastic teammate too.

Taking a shot at Baldelli related to Pablo Lopez is pretty wild: he just had his best season as a pro under Rocco. They worked with him on several things and made changes with him on his pitches and he finished the season strong and healthy (not hearing anyone knock him for a weak shoulder now are you?). He didn't have the same success with the breaking ball before he came here. So why exactly should anyone be worrying about the manager screwing him up? He didn't come here and do the same thing or worse: he actually got better.

1 hour ago, Otaknam said:

Hopefully Baldelli doesn’t screw this up with his dogmatic adherence to analytics. Show some trust in your starters to get through 6 innings or more. I don’t know if the team with offer Sonny Gray a contract, but why would Sonny stay when Rocco doesn’t trust him to pitch more than five innings? 

You would have thought the Rocco's handling of the SP this year would have eliminated this line of thought.  He got the absolute best out of Lopez and Gray basically all year and the team had a top 3 pitching staff for the entire year.

Gray should consider a pay cut to come back here.  He has had his best seasons here.

Complaining about Rocco's usage of the rotation needs to go the way of the dodo...

I think it is cool that it seems that Pablo loves being here. He doesn't seem like a guy who is just pitching for a baseball team just because he has to or because it is his job - I think this year he genuinely enjoyed Minnesota and the Twins family. Him growing up looking up to Johan is another very cool/full circle moment with him. Overall I am very excited to watch him continue to grow and continue to get better in the TC uniform. 

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning of the year that he was another #3 guy we seem to stockpile, but his 2nd half was strong and more importantly he was outstanding in the playoffs.  Twins have not had an ace for a long time (despite what many would like to believe) but Lopez fits the bill.  Probably the most promising thing to emerge from the disappointing playoffs.  

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning of the year that he was another #3 guy we seem to stockpile, but his 2nd half was strong and more importantly he was outstanding in the playoffs.  Twins have not had an ace for a long time (despite what many would like to believe) but Lopez fits the bill.  Probably the most promising thing to emerge from the disappointing playoffs.  

That is exactly what I thought. I am glad Lopez proved me wrong. He should be leading this rotation for several years to come.

The best news for me is we won’t have all those posts all winter telling us which older former ace the Twins must sign for hundreds of millions dollars.  Or what good starter the Twins should trade most of their top prospects for.  As long as Lopez stays healthy, the Twins have their ACE.

Now they need a #2.  Will Sonny sign an extension?  If not, will he accept a one year QO which I assume will be offered?  
 

Yes, they have Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack and Varland.  I would really like to see Varland as #6, so they do need one more if it isn’t Gray.  As for #2, could it be Paddack?  Sure liked what I saw this past week.

Sure looking forward to several decisions they will be making three weeks from now.

9 hours ago, Otaknam said:

Hopefully Baldelli doesn’t screw this up with his dogmatic adherence to analytics. Show some trust in your starters to get through 6 innings or more. I don’t know if the team with offer Sonny Gray a contract, but why would Sonny stay when Rocco doesn’t trust him to pitch more than five innings? 

Maybe he hasn't earned Rocco's trust, in Rocco's mind.