I love Dozier as a player, but signing him to a 4-5 year 90-120 million extension is not a smart move for this club.

This. Big time.

 

If we're going to be spending that sort of money on a contract it needs to be on a pitcher. Sure, there will be a lot of risk, but Brian Dozier's best season didn't help us contend last year with our horrible pitching, and its not going to help us contend in the future if our pitching stays horrible. We don't need another Mauer situation on our hands.

 

How do you propose they go from zero SP under contract for 2019, to five, if not thru trades?

 

I have no idea what Polanco would net, people asked why others would be willing to trade him. I answered. i also never said MBL ready this year, or even next year....If you won't trade Dozier or ESan, and you can't trade any other player, is the plan FA?

First of all, Hughes and technically Santana ARE under contract through 2019.  Ervin has a vesting option.  By no means is he certain to throw 400 IP this year and next combined however.He was well short of 200 last year, through mostly no fault of his own.  He had at least two starts interrupted by rain.  Paul Molitor, like his predecessor, inexplicably refused to skip over his 5th starter on off days to allow his best ones to stay on normal rest.  Molitor has done that so far THIS year.  I thought it was funny Dick saying that Santana "might" get another start this month.  IMO it is a foregone conclusion that Hughes will start Saturday and Santana Sunday.  That is NORMAL rest.  Why else after the rain out would they have pushed Mejia back to Saturday if not to skip him and ultimately send him down?  Frankly, I don't think TR and Gardy would have been quick enough to figure that out.  I'm guessing Falvey or Levine made that call.

 

Anyway, on the other end, between Gonsalves, Romero and Berrios, if at least 2 of those guys aren't in the MLB rotation by 2019, the Twins won't be contending anyway. So, it won't really matter who is. Who knows, Nik Turley might be a diamond in the rough.  

 

My ultimate point is that 2019 is too far away to say these 5 guys are going to be my starters. You might have a group of 8-10 guys that you hope will be candidates and that is literally the best you can do.  My secondary point is that Polanco won't return value.  He's more valuable to the Twins now than he would be to any other team in a trade.

 

Paul Molitor, like his predecessor, inexplicably refused to skip over his 5th starter on off days to allow his best ones to stay on normal rest.

I think that is pretty standard now.  Last year, David Price was the first to reach 35 starts since 2010.

 

I think that is pretty standard now.  Last year, David Price was the first to reach 35 starts since 2010.

Sure, 35 is a lot.  But Hector Santiago had 33 AND Ricky Nolasco had 32 last year.  Ervin missed only two starts to the DL, but still only made 30. It wasn't an issue last year because the Twins didn't come close to contending.  But on a contending team, you have to give your team the best chance to win.  If that means skipping the 5 now and again, that's what you do.  Not saying you do it every time.  You have to know when to do it.  Santana pitched on 5 days rest 8 times last year and 6 once, plus the time he came off the DL and the start he made in which the game was eventually wiped out.  That's almost 1/3 of his starts on extra rest.  That's too many IMO.  That number should be like 5 or 6.

 

Sure, 35 is a lot.  But Hector Santiago had 33 AND Ricky Nolasco had 32 last year.  Ervin missed only two starts to the DL, but still only made 30. It wasn't an issue last year because the Twins didn't come close to contending.  But on a contending team, you have to give your team the best chance to win.  If that means skipping the 5 now and again, that's what you do.  Not saying you do it every time.  You have to know when to do it.  Santana pitched on 5 days rest 8 times last year and 6 once, plus the time he came off the DL and the start he made in which the game was eventually wiped out.  That's almost 1/3 of his starts on extra rest.  That's too many IMO.  That number should be like 5 or 6.

Ervin had 17 starts over 80 team games in 2015, when the Twins had incentive to do so.  That's a 34 start full season pace, which would have tied him for the league lead that year.

 

Ervin had 30 starts last year, plus one lost to rain, plus two more missed when he was on the DL.  That's 33, only one less that every non-Price pitcher in the league.  I am sure if the Twins had any incentive to do so, Ervin could have had 34 starting opportunities last year.

 

And now the Twins are apparently skipping the 5th starter this turn.

 

I'm really not sure of your basis for this line of criticism.