You never know the future.....like holding Strasburg out to rest him his rookie year! You take the chance to win when you have it, because the M&M boys might get injured and your long term plans can be shot.
That said.....he won't be, and they shouldn't make decisions on ST stats, IMO.
My feeling is that this board vastly undervalues Lee (not the rankers, clearly) and he will be much better in AAA than most here expect. He'll also waste most of the year there, and unless they move Lewis to the OF or Julien to first/in a trade, he'll never give the Twins all the value he can because others will be blocking him.