Should the Twins Shut Down Fernando Romero?

I think the Twins should stick with whatever their original plan was.  If it was a pitch count limit or an IP limit.  You aren't going to do Romero any favors if he can't pitch deeper into the season.  As long as he isn't feeling pain in his arm, stick with whatever the plan originally was.  He has to be getting close to whatever cap the Twins have in mind.

I don't believe IP or pitch counts mean much.

If a guy is strong and maintaining form, let him pitch.

If he's fatigued to the point that it affects his form or mechanics in a way that is inviting injury, that's when you shut him down.

I don't believe IP or pitch counts mean much.
If a guy is strong and maintaining form, let him pitch.
If he's fatigued to the point that it affects his form or mechanics in a way that is inviting injury, that's when you shut him down.

I'm with you.  I have never understood how not pitching for the next 6 or 7 months is doing him any good.    He is just as likely to tear a tendon in the first two weeks of ST as he is now IMO.    Ask him how he is feeling.   If it is simple fatigue then skip a start or two.  If there is stress or pain then rest or maybe shut him down.   I don't believe there is much evidence that innings or pitch limits is a good thing.   I think most on here would agree that the Twins have done as much as possible and more than most teams to protect their pitchers with both innings limits and pitch counts.    I also think most on here would agree that it hasn't done much good.   Gibson, May, Thorpe, Pelfrey, Liriano, Burdi, Wimmers,  Perkins.    I am sure I am missing plenty.

If he's "just" fatigued or they are concerned about too many innings, skip every other start and turn those into bullpen games for the rest of the year, so you don't tax the arms of the other starters.

If he's hurt, put him on the DL, and rehab him as appropriate.

Well, then some other enterprising Twins fan would just disguise themselves as the bounty hunter Bombo Fett and free him.

Bombo Fett?????   Are you sure you aren't a Trekkie?

How much does he weigh? Get Souhan on it.

I was trying to combine a Twins and Star Wars reference... perhaps unsuccessfully, 

 

RiveraBombo.jpg

 

In retrospect, I should have gone with "Bombo Yett":

 

yett.jpg

Ahh, I see... well played then Good Sir.

One more start-- limit to 4 or 5 innings, then one (unlimited) start in their playoffs.  Isn't that what major league teams do when they are coasting into the playoffs?

I'd be fine with them shutting him down at this point. 

Romero, Twins Daily's No. 1 prospect heading into this season

 

It probably says a lot about the top end of the 2017 prospect pool that TD had Romero No.1.  At the time that declaration was made, Romero was a 22-year-old 6'-0" right-handed starting pitcher with a grand total of 31 starts over 4 professional seasons...none beyond single-A...and with elbow surgery thrown into the mix for good measure.  Ouch.

The title of the article could be "Is it time to slow the roll on Fernando Romero?".   He really hasn't been great this year.   He started slow, then was very good for a while, then has been downright poor recently.  Aside from a couple of instances (one referenced in the article) where he was removed early with a decent pitch count, more often than not, he has been very inefficient.  Even when he was rolling, his pitch counts were usually getting away from him early.  The numbers speak for themselves.  He's barely averaged over 5 innings per start and his walk and hit rates have been significantly higher than in seasons past.  Of course this can be considered SSS, but then, so can the combined total of his 'good' seasons.

I'd be careful with him.  I'd try to balance wanting him to experience the reality of a long professional season, while avoiding him trying to force results by changing his mechanics, etc.  One thing I'm certain of having listened to the Chattanooga games this year...ceiling aside, Romero is significantly further away than is Gonsalves...at least as a starter.  And yes, Romero is younger...by about 5 1/2 months.  I'm guessing that we'll hear soon that Romero is shut down, and I'd be very surprised if we see him up for anything more than a relief inning or two...and only after the games don't matter.

...I don't think his average IP is the number we should be looking at.

Fair enough.  It was an anecdotal comment based on my perceptions having listened to most of Chattanooga's games on the internet.  I went back and looked at Romero's game logs and it wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be.  Some short outings with bad-to-very bad pitch counts; some short outings with pitch counts that really weren't horrible.  All in all, not efficient, but not really out of line with what you see from many prospects.  This year he's been averaging about 16.6 pitches per inning and his strike percentage is about 65%.  The trend is not our friend, though.  Last year, just about every number was significantly better than this year.  Last year Romero dominated, and maybe it's just me, but it seems like a lot of posters have the perception that that he's dominating again this year.  He's hasn't.  He's had dominant or borderline-dominant starts here and there, mixed in with a whole bunch of mediocre, ok starts and a handful of clunkers.  The AA level has challenged him.  Happily, the one number that's held up is his strike out rate (although, it's taken a bit of a hit lately to 8.6 per 9).  So, here's to hoping that this is a temporary plateau on his otherwise rapid ascent to the big club.  But I'm not sure that, at this particular point in time, the Twins see him as 'almost' ready.  We'll see.

Since he is one of the top pitching prospects and getting so close to the MLB I'd just shut him down for the season.  It would be great for him to get some playoff experience but I'd rather they not risk him getting injured.

Shut him down and start him at AA next season with the chance to move up to AAA really quick if he has a good 5 + starts.

Hope it is nothing. Much rather shut him

down than have him pitch in the minor league playoffs and risk serious injury.