3 Buy-Low Starting Pitchers for the Twins to Consider

[Brandon]

On 10/27/2021 at 7:00 AM, nicksaviking said:

Completely agree about Pineda, you do know what he will give you, and it's overall decent pitching, but being safe is not how this team is going to go from 73 wins to 100 wins.

The Twins lack high end pitching. The odds of the other three guys working out are obviously lower, but they are high velocity guys with upside. Even if slim, they have a chance to be a top of the rotation arm; Pineda basically has no chance at that.

I've felt the most likely way to success is for this team is to take a step back and develop the young arms, so I'm not against playing it safe with Pineda. I just don't want to hear about them pretending to be "contenders" if they do. If they want to make a big, bold attempt at a quick turn-around, they need to sign arms who all have the potential to end up at the front of the rotation. Because they have none of those, and a contender would have three or four of those kinds of pitchers.

If the Twins offense us healthy, they won't need high end pitching to make the playoffs.  An Average or slightly betternthan average rotation will work.  With that offense and a slightly better than average pitching, the Twins should score in the + 120 - 160 rins range which is on the 90 + wins range.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

If the Twins offense us healthy, they won't need high end pitching to make the playoffs.  An Average or slightly betternthan average rotation will work.  With that offense and a slightly better than average pitching, the Twins should score in the + 120 - 160 rins range which is on the 90 + wins range.

Counter-point: as we've seen since the 2019 HR barrage, you can't necessarily count on the offense clicking when you want it to.  Have the pitching on hand in case the offense clicks; have the offense on hand in case the pitching comes together.  A sequential build-up year after year depends on too many variables staying put.

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

Counter-point: as we've seen since the 2019 HR barrage, you can't necessarily count on the offense clicking when you want it to.  Have the pitching on hand in case the offense clicks; have the offense on hand in case the pitching comes together.  A sequential build-up year after year depends on too many variables staying put.

I agree. I just think the Twins busget is more Pineda, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Matz, Hearney.... I don't see us getting a top tier arm unless there is a trade and even then pitching is horded more than other assets.  We do have a promising pipeline of starters on the way.  This tells me short term contracts of 2 years for the above type of pitchers makes sense.  With all of the prospects coming up, I feel like we will have a better cash flow as these starters come off the books and are replaced by minimum earning pitchers, Sano and Donaldson will also be off the books and we have the ability to sign an ace then.