The Twins starting rotation has been a thorn in their side for the past 3 seasons and if they can't figure a way to bolster this rotation this via the waiver deal deadline or offseason the Twins could be bad for a few years. Let's look at the rotation:
Deduno has been our best starter this season but that isn't saying much. He still struggles to strike batters out and still has a higher K/BB ratio. He has a good ERA of 3.18 and a solid WHIP of 1.27, but remember he is already 30 years old. Can he truly be a long term solution? Has he really turned a corner?
Gibson has not done much thus far at the major league level. I understand that he is only 6 starts in but has an ERA of 6.21 and a WHIP of 1.53 and only striking out 18 batters in 33 innings. He is still an unknown commodity.
Correia got off to a great start in April, but since is giving up almost 5 ER per start. He has always had an ERA right around 4.50 and is right there again this season and should not be a part of the long term future of this team.
Pelfrey has pitched better of late and could offer some value before the August 31 waiver deadline. He still is sitting at 5.31 for his ERA and a WHIP of 1.59 both of which are still way too high. Move him for whatever you can before August 31st because he also should not be a long term solution.
Diamond is looking worse and worse with just about every start except for his last. The time are truly come to decide if he should become the next Duensing or if he still has any potential to be a starter what so ever.
The Twins have a ton of high ceiling position player prospects coming up as early as this September, and if they don't fix this rotation soon we could waste some of their better years. If the Twins don't make a trade for a very good pitcher or two or sign one or two they should slow these prospects down and not rush them just because fans want to see them.
Our only high ceiling starting pitching prospect who will make his debut before 2016 is Alex Meyer. He has had shoulder issues this season and hopefully shoulder surgery isn't in his future or that could throw a wrench into the Twins' plans. The Twins do have 5 starting pitching prospects in their top 20 who project to debut in 2016 or later, but they need to figure out the rotation from here until these guys start to come up if they plan to start winning again in 2014.
If the Twins think a rotation of Meyer, May, Gibson, Worley, and Diamond/Deduno in 2015 will be good enough to contend then they are wrong. May still walks way too many guys, Meyer's health is now a concern, Gibson is still an unknown, Worley hasn't been near himself, Diamond has done a 180 in the wrong direction, and Deduno keeps aging.
Three pitchers they should target who they could realistically add are Ervin Santana of the Royals, Phil Hughes of the Yankees, and Ricky Nolasco of the Dodgers. Pitching is expensive on the market, but the Twins are going to have to open their checkbook or move some prospects because they need to add at least 1 starter who can go out and give them a consistent good outing every time.
If the Twins aren't going to spend or trade for a pitcher and hope that Meyer is healthy and May can turn a corner 2014, 2015 and maybe even 2016 could be just as bad as the past few seasons. If this is the case, they shouldn't move top prospects Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Pinto, etc too fast and maybe even slow them down just a tad. Why bring them up next season if you don't have the pitching to contend? Why not bring them up at some point in 2015 so that they come up with the good starting pitching prospects? Wouldn't that make the most sense? To bring them up with the other top prospects and let them mold together and start to win right away, instead of having a ton of good position players and no pitching what so ever for 2 to 3 years.
Unless May and Meyer become an absolute dynamic 1-2 punch from the get go in 2014, the Twins need to add a very good starting pitcher somehow someway this offseason. If they don't, I'd rather not see the Buxton and Sano's of the world until mid 2015, because why bring them up when you have no pitching to win?
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987