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The Twins’ front office wanted to follow a similar plan to last season regarding the starting rotation. In 2023, Bailey Ober got pushed to Triple-A to start the year after the team traded for Pablo López. It gave the team more depth and seemed to help in the long run. Louie Varland was supposed to serve a similar role this season. However, a season-ending injury to Anthony DeSclafani meant that Varland was vaulted into the rotation. His overall results have been poor, and after optioning Varland to Triple-A Monday, the Twins look poised to switch to one of the options below.
Option 1: Simeon Woods Richardson
Fans will have a recency bias with Woods Richardson, after he performed well in a spot start earlier this season. He allowed one earned run on two hits in six innings, with five strikeouts and one walk. It was the best start of his big-league career, against a Detroit team that has caused the Twins fits this season. At Triple-A, he’s made three total starts with one terrible appearance (7 ER in 3 1/3 IP) and two solid ones (10 IP with 2 ER in total). The Twins are starting to accumulate value from the José Berríos trade, with Austin Martin adding a dynamic element to the roster. Woods Richardson is the most likely option to replace Varland.
Option 2: Cole Sands
The Twins drafted Sands as a starting pitching prospect, and he spent most of his professional career in a starting role. Over the last two seasons, Minnesota has shifted him into a long relief role, with mixed results. However, he has been outstanding to start the 2024 campaign. In 9 2/3 innings, he's allowed one earned run (a homer) on five hits, with a 15-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He isn’t stretched out to fill a starter role, but the Twins could get him there over the course of a couple of shorter starts that build him up. This move would allow the team to bring up another reliever to replace Varland on the active roster. Sands could go through the lineup once, then turn the game over to the bullpen until he is more built up.
Option 3: David Festa
Multiple outlets consider Festa the Twins' top pitching prospect. We at Twins Daily rank him as the team’s second-best, behind Marco Raya. Last season, Festa posted a 4.19 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP and 119-to-42 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 92 1/3 innings. He ended last year at Triple-A, where the Twins sent him to begin 2024. He has allowed two earned runs on ten hits in four starts this season, but his walk rate is significantly higher than previous seasons (20.0 BB%). His 3.91 FIP is much higher than his ERA, and he has one of the highest BABIPs of his career, so luck might be a factor in some of his early season totals. Unlike SWR and Sands, Festa has yet to be added to the 40-man roster, so the Twins will likely let him continue to develop in St. Paul before a call-up later this season.
Option 4: Randy Dobnak
Fans may have forgotten that Dobnak is still part of the organization. The right-handed pitcher signed a five-year, $9.25 million deal that covers the 2021-25 seasons. He has dealt with finger injuries in recent seasons, and Minnesota removed him from the 40-man roster. Dobnak is near the top of the International League in strikeouts this season, but that’s more of a result of his innings pitched than of a dazzling strikeout rate. He has seen a jump in his groundball rate from 46.1% last season to 67.2% in 2024. As a sinkerballer, increasing ground balls is critical for returning to more consistent success for Dobnak. The Twins would like to get value from the Dobnak contract, but it looks like a sunk cost at this point.
Which option is most likely for the Twins? Would the Twins consider using Sands as an opener? Leave a comment and start the discussion.
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