Kyle Gibson
Kyle Gibson is a name that hasn’t been thrown around much in trade talks. He has never put up All Star quality numbers. In fact, he’s been mediocre at best as a starter. A solid enough guy every fifth day and probably super nice judging by his picture, but not scary good. Except this season, he’s quietly putting together the best stuff he’s ever had.
His ERA is 3.42, which is a full point lower than it ever has been. He’s already struck out 126 batters which is more than he fanned all of last season. In 2015 he struck out 145 and he’s well on track to blow past that number. Last night, he went 8 beautiful innings against a very dangerous Boston Red Sox team. He allowed only 3 hits and one run leading to 4 wins in a row for the Minnesota Twins.
Gibson is one player that I can make an argument both for and against trading. On one hand, Gibson is having the best season of his career. He’s 30 years old, which means he still has some time left to improve even more.
His career has been, to this point at least, injury free. The Twins would no doubt get maximum return for him if they pulled the trigger and traded him now. Gibson also has one more year left on his contract which makes him more valuable than a short-term rental.
The case against trading Gibson also hinges on his contract. If he truly has turned a corner and is able to replicate his stuff next season, he could be a very valuable piece to the Twins’ rotation.
With Santana hopefully back to his old form, Gibson could suddenly find himself as a serviceable second day starter. It’s an intriguing question for Paul Molitor and the front office. We’ll see how much they want to gamble in the next few days.