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Terry Ryan said what you'd expect after adding Ervin Santana last week:
"This isn’t exactly the blueprint we had in mind, going out and signing a guy for $55 million,” Ryan said. “Jim Pohlad gave us the ability to do that, and hopefully it’ll pay off, but the ideal is to keep [prospects] coming through the system, through player development.”
Who could argue with that? Compared to veterans signed on the open market, young homegrown starters are far less expensive and generally less liable to break down. The teams that reign over MLB are the ones that can consistently develop and produce those arms, like St. Louis and San Francisco.
But the four-year deal for Santana, one offseason after four-year and three-year pacts with Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes, inhibits the ability of Minnesota's system to pay dividends.
One internally developed piece, Kyle Gibson, has already staked his claim with a solid first full season. But the Twins are evidently skeptical of either him, or the prospects behind him in the pipeline, because they're leaving little flexibility to build around him in the rotation from within.
Three rotation spots other than Gibson's are now essentially locked up for both 2015 and 2016. That leaves only one clear opening over the next two years for a trio of quality prospects who are all pretty close, if not beyond ready, for the big leagues.
Trevor May logged 45 innings in the majors this year, and while his overall results were not good, he showed enough positive signs -- and dominated enough at Triple-A beforehand -- to deserve at least a long look next spring.
Alex Meyer, the prize of the Denard Span trade, will turn 25 in January and he has already made 27 starts at Triple-A, where he led his league in strikeouts this year. It's hard to justify keeping him in the minors much longer.
J.O. Berrios is not a credible contender to break camp with the Twins next year, but he'll likely start at Double-A and if his performance is anything like it was in 2014, he could be angling for a big-league promotion in the second half.
Injuries and other things happen, so in reality a lot of this might take care of itself. That's why overall I'm a fan of the decision to bring in Santana. But I hope that when situations arise where it comes down to either giving a chance to a young guy who's ready, or stalling in favor of veteran mediocrity, the Twins will make the right choice.
I'd like to think they will, because Ryan knows as well as anyone the value of going with your own prospects rather than splurging on free agents.
But now, that money is already spent.
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