I don't think Santana is as good as people are giving him credit on TD for. Of the Twins pitchers he had the second lowest BABIP (after Milone) last year. He had a xFIP and SIERA of 4.42 and 4.43, that's Mike Pelfrey level! He was super lucky to have a 4.00 ERA last year.

 

This year he's got xFIP of 4.23 and SIERA of 4.39 and career high walk rate leading to an awful 2:1 K:BB ratio. 

I don't believe him to be a world-beater, but he is solid. You can't have an entire rotation full of variables, its necessary to have a constant. He could be a trade asset at some point to. You don't put a guy like him in the pen. Bad for business. 

 

Not only that... but he is the one whom displaced May in the rotation. 

 

That alone should be a fireable offense. Anybody could look up their fangraph pages and make the correct call. 

 

Can you list the time he's missed with injury please?
I only ask because he was touted for his durability when we traded for him, and I don't recall any significant injuries since then.

Plus, I can't find any missing chunks in his yearly stats.

He missed about one month in 2014 with what I believe was a forearm strain. Can't remember the exact details, but that is why he missed the Futures Game.

 

He missed about one month in 2014 with what I believe was a forearm strain. Can't remember the exact details, but that is why he missed the Futures Game.

It was a calf strain. May has been healthy for basically his whole career other than that.

 

I don't believe him to be a world-beater, but he is solid. You can't have an entire rotation full of variables, its necessary to have a constant. He could be a trade asset at some point to. You don't put a guy like him in the pen. Bad for business. 

 

I'd hardly call him a constant, consistent, or any of those adjectives. in his 12 year major league career he has had an ERA- of 109 (x2), 114, 128, and 133. Also 86, 81, and 80. The other four years have been 95-99. He's had some pretty decent years and a couple of disasters. His performance has been incredibly inconsistent in his career. 

 

May has never had durability, and with his success in the bullpen there is no reason to move him out of it.

But he's only started 25 times. If they try him there and he fails, why can't he slide back into being an effective reliever?

 

I think it would be productive plan because if he fails then May himself knows he belongs as a reliever without wishing he had been used as a starter.

 

But he's only started 25 times. If they try him there and he fails, why can't he slide back into being an effective reliever?

 

I think it would be productive plan because if he fails then May himself knows he belongs as a reliever without wishing he had been used as a starter.

I would much rather see Duffey, Berrios, and Meyer starting, not to mention a healthy Gibson. The only way to justify using May as a starter is to have a 6 man rotation.

 

I would much rather see Duffey, Berrios, and Meyer starting, not to mention a healthy Gibson. The only way to justify using May as a starter is to have a 6 man rotation.

 

That's 4.  Who would be the 5th starter?

This topic scratches me right where I itch. May is AWESOME. If we keep him at reliever he's worth a 1 WAR per year. Now put him at starter...that could be a horse of a different color. This is the time to do it! Nothing to lose. Build for the future. 

 

This season takes me back to Notre Dame football in 2004. I'm a die hard Irish fan. But I knew Ty Willingham was an absolute ish coach. So rather than rooting for Irish wins against mediocre opponents and enduring 31 point blow outs by USC (3 years in a row), I started, just on the inside, hoping the Irish would lose so Ty would get fired. 

 

I think that's where we are at now. If the Twins rally and climb close to .500 we still have totally inept leadership and horrific decisionmakers. If we totally fail, clean house. Find people who actually look at all the data that is availible today rather than going on "the ball sounds different off his bat" logic. Plus as a bonus we'll get a top 3 pick. 

 

In the last decade has anybody felt that Minnesota may have some baseball intelligence that other teams have missed on? Hint: The answer is no. 

 

 

 

That's 4.  Who would be the 5th starter?

One of Nolasco/Hughes/Santana.

I don't get the dislike for putting May in the rotation.  I think this is a no-brainer in terms of a decision, especially given the pile of you know what that's been on the field this season. 

 

May didn't deserve his demotion last year, it was done more out of seniority and need than it was that he didn't cut it as a starter, and I think he deserves that chance to show it.  When he drafted, he had a top of the rotation ceiling, and that lust wore off on him due to a lack of control in the minors.  Like it or not, he fixed that and was down right excellent in AAA in 2014. Yeah, he struggled a bit in his call up that year, but he was pretty good in 2015 and showed some flashes of being that top of the rotation guy we all want.  It's a lost year, let him start. 

 

If he fails in a full season at the position, then by all means, put him in the pen. 

 

If we limited this discussion board to things the FO might actually do it would be pretty effing boring around here, no?

Front office to do list:

 

1) Sit on Hands

2) Make random transaction that makes no sense

3) Continue with Hand Sitting

 

The thing that I'm worried about is that if we send him down now we use up an option year, so if we do move him to a starter we need to first stretch him out as a long reliever.

 

This isn't hard.  Next blowout (which at the rate we're going will be some time this weekend), he gets 3 innings and gets inserted into the rotation at the appropriate time for a start.  It's a shortened start where he's expected to go 3-5 innings.  Hughes gets moved to long relief for that game and then moved to closer from there on out.   

 

Not only that... but he is the one whom displaced May in the rotation. 

If I recall, last year there was a debate about who was going to go to the pen, Pelfrey or May.  Then May had a really bad outing and was moved to the pen.  It's almost as if Molitor was waiting for a bad start from him to move him there no matter how good his other starts were or weren't.

What exactly is sad about Ryan getting fired (or rather re-retiring?)

nothing is sad about that. It's sad that it would take that to happen to actually put may back in the rotation (when nearly every GM not named Ryan would have already done it)

The thing that I'm worried about is that if we send him down now we use up an option year, so if we do move him to a starter we need to first stretch him out as a long reliever.

Who cares about using an option year (I don't think it works that way anyways)

 

May should be in the majors from here on out anyways (once he gets stretched out)

I'm not convinced Hughes would make a good closer. I actually think May would be a much better closer. Jepsen has been terrible this year. It's only a matter of time before someone else gets the closing role. And with the staff currently compiled, I think May is it, until Perkins returns.

 

Jepsen needs to be the long man in the pen. Let him get his rhythm and confidence back.

Edited May 13, 201610 yr by Lee-The-Twins-Fan

 

This isn't hard.  Next blowout (which at the rate we're going will be some time this weekend), he gets 3 innings and gets inserted into the rotation at the appropriate time for a start.  It's a shortened start where he's expected to go 3-5 innings.  Hughes gets moved to long relief for that game and then moved to closer from there on out.   

Well Hughes has been averaging 3.2 innings his last 3 starts.  Just don't have May pitch in the few days prior to Hughes next start and then give him the 4th -7th and stretch him out that way.  There's a good way to get him started.

 

Well Hughes has been averaging 3.2 innings his last 3 starts.  Just don't have May pitch in the few days prior to Hughes next start and then give him the 4th -7th and stretch him out that way.  There's a good way to get him started.

 

That works too.  Of course, they will do that and then Hughes tosses a no hitter.

He missed about one month in 2014 with what I believe was a forearm strain. Can't remember the exact details, but that is why he missed the Futures Game.

It was 18 days, calf strain.

 

That's it in 8 years as a professional.

 

You are citing that as a lack of durability?

 

In that case, can you list the starting pitchers we have who ARE durable?

 

In that case, can you list the starting pitchers we have who ARE durable?

Sadly, no.

 

That works too.  Of course, they will do that and then Hughes tosses a no hitter.

That's almost a given. 

Not sure why you'd need to, but you could send May down for less than 20 days and he wouldn't burn an option year.

Put May back into the rotation and for the love of Dog try to find playing time for Polanco. Another night, another night on the bench. 

 

I've heard some people saying they'd like to see Trevor May get a shot at the closer position. I seriously have to ask, why? How many opportunities is he really going to get at the rate this team is playing? Why waste a guy who has the longevity to be a SP on one inning every few weeks? Coming into this season I was under the impression that his move to the pen was strictly due to the fact that the Twins thought they had a legitimate shot at being competitive. With that notion no longer existing is there really a reason to continue wasting his talents there? I understand something has to be done about the Hughes/Nolasco log jam for it to be feasible, bit surely the Twins will make the right move. Right? RIGHT!?

 

 

Couldn't agree more.  Given how badly Hughes and Gibson have pitched so far and if the trend continues I think Trevor will be given a shot again later this year.  There's no point in a shut down reliever when your already down by five or six runs by the time you reach the fifth or sixth inning.. 

 

The thing that I'm worried about is that if we send him down now we use up an option year, so if we do move him to a starter we need to first stretch him out as a long reliever.

That's one way and the way things have been going he would probably get ample opportunities because of the way this staff has been performing.

 

Another way would be to have him start and put him on a strict pitch count and only count on him pitching 3 innings the first start, 4-5 his second and so forth - sort of like spring training. Plus you would have the veteran starter that was banished to the bullpen to pitch after his day is complete. I know you don't see that very often or maybe ever during the regular season, but I believe it to be doable.

I would much rather see Duffey, Berrios, and Meyer starting, not to mention a healthy Gibson. The only way to justify using May as a starter is to have a 6 man rotation.

Two points here, figuring Nolasco gone and Hughes to the pen. (Or Nolasco also the pen???)

 

1} Various injuries could make a 6 man rotation option...Santana, Gibson, May, Duffey, Berrios and Meyer...a 5 man rotation very quickly.

 

2} Even if everyone is healthh, why not a 6 man rotation at this point? Look, it's pretty much a lost season at this point. The goaL should be trying to finish .500, if even remotely possible, by putting the best players in positions to succeed, and prepare for 2017, and the next year, and the years after that.

 

I'm not quite certain how the Twins run their 6 man rotations in A ball. But there are two ways to accomplish this. One is a straight 6 man rotation. No mystery there. The other is to stick with 6 guys forming a standard 5 man rotation, but each starter...in theory...skips every "6th start" by getting their bullpens in, a d being available for a few days, or a week depending on the schedule, to get their work out of the pen. Then they slide back in to the rotation for 5 starts, and the next man up slides down.

 

Milb is about development and the ML are supposed to be about production. But if you have a lost season, why not develop your future at the ML level?

Maybe May needs a chance to start a few games.  He is getting worse in the bullpen.  He is 4th from the bottom in BB with 9 in 19 innings plus leader in wild pitches with 5.  But he is 2nd on the team in K's.  The Twins have so many problems right now that putting May in the starting line-up won't save the season and it certainly won't kill it.

Six man rotation makes sense if you have six studs.  We don't have that.  We have 3 guys under long term contract, and that's why guys like May aren't starting.  All those years screaming for free agents, we get them, and then we wonder why we cannot just dump them when the kids are ready... not quite how it works.   

Six man rotation makes sense if you have six studs. We don't have that. We have 3 guys under long term contract, and that's why guys like May aren't starting. All those years screaming for free agents, we get them, and then we wonder why we cannot just dump them when the kids are ready... not quite how it works.

We were screaming for top of the rotation pitchers, not #4's and 5's.