Minnesota Twins Starting To Pencil In Starting Rotation
The Minnesota Twins acquired Tommy Milone from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline in 2014 in one of the better deals of the Terry Ryan era. Sure, it hasn’t come full circle yet, but the dealing of a waiver acquisition in Sam Fuld, back to his old team for a Major League quality starter was a great move. It now appears Milone will reclaim that role.
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Looking at the free agency period, and trying to decide what the Twins will be doing with their rotation next season, Mike Berardino is suggesting that Milone will most definitely be a part of it.
Although he posted poor numbers in his first season with the Twins, Milone has shown he has the stuff to be a quality back end starter.
Nor do rival teams expect #MNTwins to non-tender or deal LHP Tommy Milone (est. $2.8 arb number). He's penciled into 2015 rotation.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) November 7, 2014
Addressing the are of starting pitching further, Berardino looked at both Ricky Nolasco and Mike Pelfrey. The Twins signing Nolasco to the contract they did likely was overpaying for need. Regression was to be expected coming over from the National League, but not to the extent that Twins fans saw. In 2015, Nolasco will be back in the rotation, and Terry Ryan wants him to be a focus of the next pitching coach.
Instead, rival scouts say, Terry Ryan's first challenge to new PC will be, "Fix him." #MNTwins hoping Nolasco's 2014 was an aberration.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) November 7, 2014
Quite arguably the ugliest contract the Twins offered was to Mike Pelfrey. Giving him a two year deal after doing next to nothing to prove worthy of it, Pelfrey came back to haunt the Twins in 2014. His chances at the rotation are likely over, as they should be. However, as a reliever, Pelfrey actually owns some pretty good numbers and could be an asset to the Twins that way.
Mike Pelfrey's best chance to make 2015 staff would appear to be as long/middle reliever. Serious concerns about durability/innings load.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) November 7, 2014
At this point, I think it’s fair to assume that Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco, and Tommy Milone are locks for the Twins rotation. Alex Meyer should make his debut at some point, and Trevor May or Kyle Gibson could be bumped to long relief. Should the Twins sign Ervin Santana or someone in that realm, they would only have one rotation spot left.
Look for the Twins rotation to remain fluid until spring training.