I don't really care why they moved May to the pen. Whatever the reason, they should have move him back to the rotation for this year. His back trouble and inability to get loose in a relief role was known at the end of the 2015 season.

 

This.  And then the team doubled down on it's stupidity by teasing May with having a shot at the rotation that never really existed.  

 

You teach pitchers for years to be creatures of habit and then you give them little to no transition to a totally different set of habits and you expect it to just work out?  I know it does sometimes, but this team always seems to go 0 to 60 with these pitcher conversions and that's just unwise.  

I think the decision to move May to the pen was made based on a need for bullpen help.

The team needed help in all parts of the pitching staff. A starter is more valuable than a reliever, and IMO May had not pitched himself out of a starting job, and had earned a chance to continue to develop in that role.

 

It's true that a five-inning starter is not ideal, if that's indeed how he was viewed at the time. Five innings from a starter is still more valuable than four innings from your long man, or one inning if you tell him to go max effort. And there's still the chance to grow into the job and complete six or seven eventually.

 

There's always time to convert him to a max-effort guy later, if the starting role becomes closed.

 

Trevor May bullpen vs. starting is catching up to Joe Mauer as far as posts on this site.

And the organization STILL hasn't gotten it right.

 

And the organization STILL hasn't gotten it right.

yeah, it really hasn't come close to Mauer posts actually :-)