Not necessarily. If he starts the season on the DL as soon as he is game ready, he will probably make some rehab starts likely with the Miracle and then with Chattanooga or Rochester.

 

One important point: May has another option left, which can be useful to eg. help him build endurance in Rochester, even if he is not crisp with his pitches and would be a liability if in the majors (where it counts.)

i forgot he still has an option. Hate to burn it in a recovery effort. It’d be nice to keep it in your pocket in case he’s still not 100% next year, worst case scenario, though he’s apparently throwing 100 so good sign.

 

Good stuff Thrylos

 

Like Gibson got the memo about his pitching in 2015, and Hughes got the memo about his pitching in 2014, and how Suzuki got the memo about his hitting in 2014? Remember Suzuki's mechanics fix, and Hughes fix cause of different pitch selection/grip and new home park?

 

Considering the past front office lived and died by pitch-to-contact methods and made little attempt to intentionally increase MLB strikeout numbers, I seriously doubt they sent out any memos telling Gibson to lessen his sinker usage.

I've resigned myself to the fact that Gibson will pitch for the Twins in 2018. It's far from ideal, but he's going to start games; they just don't have enough proven arms to toss him out, and I get that. What I don't understand is the optimism surrounding his spot in the rotation. We heard before 17' that he had made mechanical changes and he was turning a corner. We heard before the 16' that the 2015 version of Gibson was real and he was going to build off of that. Clearly I have Gibson fatigue, but at what point can we just call him inconsistent/below average rotational filler and move on.

 

I've resigned myself to the fact that Gibson will pitch for the Twins in 2018. It's far from ideal, but he's going to start games; they just don't have enough proven arms to toss him out, and I get that. What I don't understand is the optimism surrounding his spot in the rotation. We heard before 17' that he had made mechanical changes and he was turning a corner. We heard before the 16' that the 2015 version of Gibson was real and he was going to build off of that. Clearly I have Gibson fatigue, but at what point can we just call him inconsistent/below average rotational filler and move on.

 

I personally expect him to pitch pretty close to what he has the last couple of years. But considering the state of the rotation and the dearth of readily available options to acquire, I think if he makes 30 starts at 160 innings of similar performance that is easily worth what he is about to get in arbitration.

 

I personally expect him to pitch pretty close to what he has the last couple of years. But considering the state of the rotation and the dearth of readily available options to acquire, I think if he makes 30 starts at 160 innings of similar performance that is easily worth what he is about to get in arbitration.

Fair enough, I wouldn't be shocked to see him fall somewhere around where he was the past two seasons. Arbitration obviously would reflect that so it certainly wouldn't be wasted money. Honestly, I'm not concerned about the money at all, or even the fact he's still with the team. When I said "move on," I meant distance ourselves from the idea a light has suddenly turned on for him. 

None of these guys are #1s/#2s, or probably even #3s. They Twins still need to pick someone up. The Santana train could derail, leaving the team with Berrios and....?

 

The minor league depth helps for restocking the #4/#5 guys, but the team doesn't have enough top of the rotation guys who are ready to play ball.

The only problem that counts is when we  have too many quality starting pitchers for the five major league slots. 

Because I'm such a deep guy.

 

It's easy for me to say: "Depth... I love it". 

 

Because I'm such a deep guy.

 

It's easy for me to say: "Depth... I love it". 

I love all the depth we have at the 5th spot in the rotation.  Three guys on the MLB roster all deserving of the title with lots of depth in the minors that can fill the same spot. :-)

 

Lest we forget the multiple pitchers that the excuse, 'Well for a #5 guy he's not bad'(or variations of the same theme) was used.  That excuse SHOULD only be able to be used on one guy in a rotation at a time, but our depth makes it possible to use that excuse for bad performance by multiple pitchers.  For years.

Edited December 8, 20178 yr by jimmer

 

I love all the depth we have at the 5th spot in the rotation.  Three guys on the MLB roster all deserving of the title with lots of depth in the minors that can fill the same spot. :-)

 

They have to fill the same spot over and over again. Pitchers get hurt... sometimes in bunches.

 

I don't do the #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 thing like some do.  

 

I'm simply looking for arms who can hang a zero on occasion and give the offense a chance to win a game and a team with depth has about 10 of those guys and use all of them during the course of a season.

 

Doing the number thing... The past decade... we have been trotting 7's and 8's to fill in the gaps. 

 

I remember throwing Blackburn over and over again because we had nobody else. I remember PJ Walters, Pedro Hernandez. 

 

I remember having nobody to perform better than Vance Worley. I remember Yohan Pino and Logan Darnell. 

 

Call them 5th spot guys... it's OK with me as long as they are not 8th spot guys.  Having potential guys who can actually get outs with Aaron Slegers, Felix Jorge, Dietrich Enns, Stephen Gonsalves, Zack Littell and Fernando Romero in Rochester... allows us to choose from whoever is doing best when they are needed and allows us to ignore who is struggling. 

 

Pat Dean won't be coming up because we have nobody else. 

 

Depth... I love It... I've been waiting for it. 

 

 

Well, we only had 3 SPs who threw in triple digit innings for us last year, one of them had an FIP of 4.85 (ERA over 5.00 for the people who call that the results).

 

We only had 5 SPs who threw more than 70 innings for us, one of them being a 44 year old pitcher who gave us a FIP of 5.31 and an ERA of 5.13.

 

Of the 16 SPs who started for us, 11 had FIPs over 5.30.  Of the five who were below a 5.30 FIP, three of them were above 4.45.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=8&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=16,d

 

Edited December 8, 20178 yr by jimmer

 

Well, we only had 3 SPs who threw in triple digit innings for us last year, one of them had an FIP of 4.85 (ERA over 5.00 for the people who call that the results).

 

We only had 5 SPs who threw more than 70 innings for us, one of them being a 44 year old pitcher who gave us a FIP of 5.31 and an ERA of 5.13.

 

Of the 16 SPs who started for us, 11 had FIPs over 5.30.  Of the five who were below a 5.30 FIP, three of them were above 4.45.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=8&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=16,d

 

Yep... We need some Major League Arms. 

 

But... I'm happy that we got a log jam of choices in Rochester to audition and choose from when the starters in Minnesota fail, struggle or get hurt. 

 

Depth!!! I love it!!! 

I think Enns could or should be the long man in the bulllen. I suspect they will not get someone that is good enough to stash from the Rule 5 draft. Enns can have the role Dillon Gee had last year. Couple of spot starts. Coming in during blow outs and short starts. He’s cheap, and has some upside. No need to waste the long arm spot on a 30 something journeyman.