Thread: Neal: Who Pitchers On Opening Day?

Neal runs through the options for Opening Day starter, stating a case for each. If I had to guess right now, I'd go with the dark horse - this guy....

Righthander Mike Pelfrey, 29, has 896 1/3 career innings under his belt. And there are no restrictions on him as he comes back after missing most of last season and undergoing Tommy John surgery -- no restrictions for now.

Who pitches for the Twins on Opening Day? | StarTribune.com

With so many question marks, and the de facto ace Diamond probably not ready for opening day, the Twins will go with the veteran Correia.

I am hoping that Worley earns this honor. He seems to have the most upside of the likely candidates.

Correia may just be the most appropriate pick methinks. Very representative of what to expect.

Originally Posted by TheLeviathan

Correia may just be the most appropriate pick methinks. Very representative of what to expect.

Nowhere to go but up?


I see some potential here.

Originally Posted by snepp

Nowhere to go but up?


I see some potential here.

And could give the fans a chance to see most of the bullpen pitchers if he gets lit up and goes 2.2 before getting the hook.

Originally Posted by FrodaddyG

And could give the fans a chance to see most of the bullpen pitchers if he gets lit up and goes 2.2 before getting the hook.

There's an off-day between the first two games, perfect time to empty the pen.

Its not too late to give Pavano a call

I'm guessing Verlander gets the nod.

Originally Posted by glunn

I am hoping that Worley earns this honor. He seems to have the most upside of the likely candidates.

It makes more sense to line Worley up against a second or third starter. You want to try and get as many mismatches in your own favor. Let a guy like Correia deal with the Verlanders of the world. Last year, KC gave up 0-2 Runs in 50% of his starts. The others were 3-6. If we cut that to 3 runs, it's 22 starts. Verlander had 26 starts of his 33 result in 3 or fewer runs. Verlander often went deeper into many of these games and is head and shoulders a better pitcher. He will be better than every one of the Twins pitchers. Why waste the best outings the team's going to get from their younger pitchers, when you can let a vet take his lumps on days when the team was gonna lose anyway (so to speak)? Particularly, if when you do line it up right and JV has a bad day, and KC has a good one that's a win you weren't looking for?

I like the inverted rotation thing,LJ. Could be a Moneyball type innovation.

Originally Posted by LoganJones

It makes more sense to line Worley up against a second or third starter. You want to try and get as many mismatches in your own favor. Let a guy like Correia deal with the Verlanders of the world. Last year, KC gave up 0-2 Runs in 50% of his starts. The others were 3-6. If we cut that to 3 runs, it's 22 starts. Verlander had 26 starts of his 33 result in 3 or fewer runs. Verlander often went deeper into many of these games and is head and shoulders a better pitcher. He will be better than every one of the Twins pitchers. Why waste the best outings the team's going to get from their younger pitchers, when you can let a vet take his lumps on days when the team was gonna lose anyway (so to speak)? Particularly, if when you do line it up right and JV has a bad day, and KC has a good one that's a win you weren't looking for?

Kind of like matching lines in hockey. Get the diggers and bangers out there against the visiting teams top line.

I'd suggest giving this a try, couldn't hurt:



Just switch out Super Bowl teams, insert Twins pitchers, and success!

As long as the Pitchers last name ends with EY... I'm good.

I can't wait till someone poses Gardy a question about Correia in ST so we can thereafter start referring to the poor man as "Crazy."

Originally Posted by snepp

There's an off-day between the first two games, perfect time to empty the pen.

It would give Gardy a chance to get all his new pitchers involved

I'd go with Worley seeing as it is such a toss up. He's under team control until 2018, might as well go with the guy you have a chance to build some loyalty with as opposed to the short term guys. That being said, if Harden somehow manages to make the rotation, it's probably going to be him. He actually has the pedigree and I'd have to think he would need to look really good to make the opening day roster, and if he's looking really good, he will be the one generating all the spring traing buzz.

Originally Posted by Riverbrian

As long as the Pitchers last name ends with EY... I'm good.

Let's see if they can make the move to get Slowey back in the fold.

Afraid Slowey would insist on working out of the bullpen.

Originally Posted by roger

Kind of like matching lines in hockey. Get the diggers and bangers out there against the visiting teams top line.

Which usually only happens when one team is much less talented.