Minnesota Twins Option RHP Kyle Gibson
The Minnesota Twins sent down one of their rotation members on Tuesday to make room for new acquisition Jaime Garcia
The Minnesota Twins acquired Jaime Garcia on Monday, which led to an abundance in the rotation with Ervin Santana, Jose Berrios, Adalberto Mejia, Kyle Gibson, and Bartolo Colon in the current rotation. The Twins made their decision on Tuesday to send down Gibson to open a space for Garcia.
Why this makes sense
When acquiring Garcia and Anthony Recker, the Twins brought in two guys who were going to be on the 40-man, but not necessarily on the big league roster, in the case of Recker. Recker may fit at as the 3rd catcher, or he could be insurance at AAA.
That meant the team needed to send out a rotation member. Both Adalberto Mejia and Kyle Gibson had options remaining, but to keep a left-handed starter in the rotation, the Twins chose to keep Mejia.
There are also off days on Thursday and Monday, so the team is able to start Garcia on Friday, Mejia on Saturday, and Colon on Sunday and have everyone on regular rest in the rest of the rotation.
Why this is confusing
Gibson is coming off his best start of the season, throwing 7 shutout innings against the Tigers this past week before giving up a few runs in the 8th inning. More accurately, he allowed one run, and he had the bullpen allow in two runs for him. That led many to think he would keep his rotation spot.
More from Puckett's Pond
- Minnesota Twins: 2022 Year in Review for Twins Baseball
- Minnesota Twins: Making the Case for the Current 2023 Rotation
- Minnesota Twins: Does the MLB or the Twins have a Spending Problem?
- Minnesota Twins: 2 Possible Free Agent Reunions for 2023
- Minnesota Twins: Holiday Wish List for the rest of the Offseason
Even though he is left-handed, Mejia is a guy who has struggled to give the Twins consistent innings this season. He’s completed the 7th inning just twice this season and pitched into the 7th inning just two more games. He has had a very good month of pitching in July thus far with a 3.47 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 4 starts and 23 1/3 innings.
The other candidate to send down or even release would have been Bartolo Colon, and it seems the Twins want to see at least one more start out of him after he was able to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard for the first 4 innings on Monday night.
Next: Twins Acquire Garcia, Recker
Gibson has to stay in the minor leagues for ten days now that he has been optioned, so the soonest he could return on August 4th, which is actually the next time that he was scheduled to start, so it could be interesting to see if he is immediately brought up, or if Colon gets the start on that Friday.