Twins Say Now Is Not The Time For Trevor May

I think Meyer and May could have made this team, but 200 ip across aa and aaa is averaging about 15 starts a league. If you saw him in spring training he needs to work out some links. No doubt.

For those saying May and Meyer should have come up last May, I guess we have different standards.  Both of these guys had some issues.  May has always had control issues and came off two consecutive years at AA that was not the least bit impressive.  So 4-5 good starts at AAA is not enough time for me.

Meyer would have had exactly 70 IP at AA, then shut down with shoulder issues.  Then 4-5 OK starts at AAA. He has mechanics issues, which has been present from the scouting reports and what I saw this spring.  So as upset as I was, in hindsight I don't think he was ready and needed more time.

 

'Two of the biggest success stores on our team right now are Dozier and Plouffe. I looked at minor league baseballs top prospects from 2009 to 2011 and neither was listed as a top 20 prospect. Both came up around 25.'

 

Yeah, but then again Plouffe was a first round pick who spent the max time he could in the minors before finally sticking by beating out Hughes.  He's finally figured it out and that's great.  I'm not a basher of him, but we shouldn't be like, 'Wow, out of nowhere came Plouffe, what a pleasant surprise' either :-)

I didn't mean to be look at this great surprise.  But players have different trajectories.  Had we brought him up at 21 when he was a struggling AA and AAA SS....I don't think we would have the player we have today.

.262/.301/.415     9 HR.

But I could care less if Plouffe and Dozier start losing velocity due to the natural decline that comes with a build up of innings and age.

At a very minimum, a pitcher needs to show some level of command with his fastball. Meyer was auditioning for a spot in the rotation and walked seven batters in 5.2 innings. He was routinely missing the glove by a foot.  It does not matter if he throws 98-99 in that case.  So I think the Twins did what they had to do

Meyer was auditioning for a spot in the rotation the same way Pridie and Span were auditioning for the CF job in ST 2008 :-) That being, there's no way in heck you're getting this spot.

I think the Twins could do a better job communicating that not all races are starting at the same point.  Case and point would be Mike Pelfrey this year.  He would have needed a lot of things to break his way, including likely injuries to make the team.

But nobody outside of ChiTownTwinsFan thought Gibson had a shot last year and he proved to them that he was ready.  I think the Twins want Alex Meyer in the rotation.  I think they had serious reservations last year given he was on a pitch count and they would have had to waste a year of service time, but I think he could have forced the issue had been as dominant as he was but more efficient with his pitches. This spring,   I think had he shown he was head and shoulders ahead of Milone and May and had command of the heater I think he would have made the team.

We will never know now.   But that is my opinion.

Actually, not to get way off topic and pat myself in the back, but I called it on Gibson last year. I had a nice discussion with stringer about it while at a ST game, as a matter of fact.

I have made the appropriate edit. As my grandma used to say, I stand corrected!

I think that was just our natural pessimism.  The three guys Gibson had to beat had all been demoted to AAA themselves within the previous 12 months.  And the guy with the least recent AAA demotion (Deduno) was coming off September shoulder surgery and had been outrighted off the 40-man roster the previous offseason too.

 

This spring there was similar natural pessimism about the chances of May and Meyer, but at least it was backed up by at least ~$8 million (the salaries guaranteed Pelfrey and Milone).

$8M sounds high, but IMO $5.5M of that was not really a threat.  I think they had Pelf in the pen the whole time. Milone still has an option left....so I think Meyer had a shot. Not an even-steven chance...but his play did determine the outcome to an extent.

I don't think they were going to option a guy in spring training making $2.8 mil like Milone.  They traded Slowey at that price even though he had an option left.  And I think Pelfrey was the likeliest to go to the pen only because they weren't going to put any of the other competitors there (Milone because he's a bad fit, and May/Meyer because they want them starting).  Which could be part of why Pelfrey was upset -- perhaps he gets the 5th starter job if Milone's repertoire was better suited for relief work.

 

I assume Pelfrey will start again for the Twins this season.  (If I was being Gibson 2014 level pessimistic, I'd assume Stauffer makes a start too. )

I can't rule out a spot start where a guy is a late scratch or a double header.

But I think Milone had a head start for the reasons you mentioned.  But I think they want Meyer in the rotation and had he showed he was clearly the bettter pitcher it was his job.  I don't think you trade for Alex Meyer just to keep him in AAA (I know you are not saying that).  But it is up to him now. He needs to show some fastball control.