Twins skipper Paul Molitor announced today that the club would promote top pitching prospect Fernando Romero to join the rotation, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN was among those to tweet. He’ll take the ball on Wednesday night.
Romero, 23, has steadily moved up the ladder since entering the Twins’ system in 2012. He cracked the top-100 prospect lists of MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus entering the current season, following a year in which he threw 125 innings of 3.53 ERA ball, with 8.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 along with a 52.0% groundball rate, at the Double-A level.
The results have continued into the 2018 season, as Romero has now held opposing teams to a 2.57 earned run average through 21 frames in his first few outings at the Triple-A level. He’s continuing to get plenty of groundballs with his high-velocity sinker, though his 20:10 K/BB ratio isn’t exactly scintillating and may hint at the need for further refinement of his slider and change.
Some prospect hounds see some risk in Romero’s profile, particularly as to whether he’ll have long-term health issues and/or whether he’ll stick in the rotation. For now, though, they’ll bet on his talent with the organization badly in need of a shot in the arm after a 9-14 start to the season.
Fellow righty Phil Hughes will be bumped into a relief role to accommodate Romero’s move into the rotation, though a roster move has yet to be announced. Hughes was knocked around in two poor starts to open the year, and is coming off of two consecutive poor and injury-plagued seasons, so he’ll look to get back on track in the bullpen.
I almost read that as Fernando Rodney
Feels like a rushed desperate decision to me. I just don’t think he’s ready yet. Hope I’m wrong.
I was hoping for Gonsalves or at the very least an almost complete teardown of the pitching staff
With Santana’s late surgery, Polanco’s suspension, Sano’s lack of conditioning and another Buxton injury, it’s a lost season anyway. Would have to go 81-58 just to get to 90 wins….and that likely won’t be enough.
Might as well get Romero and Gonsalves some MLB innings, and deal Lynn, Morrison, Duke, Rodney and maybe Dozier at the deadline….and get ready for 2019.
Let’s calm down a little with the notion we have to blow it up. We have time to rebound this thing here, although till acknowledge that time is dwindling. Give the guys until after May at least.
True that. They’ve had an obscene number of games postponed in April, and everyone underperforming – yet are only 3.5 back of CLE. Give it a few weeks.
Yeah, desperate to get Hughes out of the rotation. At worst, Romero figures out what he needs to work on and still provides an upgrade over what Hughes brought.
Correction there is no Wednesday night game
I’m excited to watch him pitch. I’m hoping he takes the role and runs with it.
Also as a twins fan, I’m praying Pineda is doing well. The team looks like they’ll need him by the end of the year
Pineda is highly highly unlikely to contribute this year.
Thanks captain obvious. No one prays for a sure thing.
Like how you pray to get laid by your greatly uninterested wife. It’s highly highly unlikely, but you can pray and we’re all pulling for ya dude. ;D
Who’s we, you and your adult protective services case worker
1 in a million times someone saying “praying” related to a player contributing to a game and literally meaning it. Pray for Buxton to learn how to hit consistently and stay healthy. You’ll have much better odds than praying for something that’s next to impossible. Also try not being such an A-hole sometime.
I personally am excited about this move…if for nothing else, it shows that the FO is willing to “eat” the Hughes money and not squeeze every possible (likely horrible) inning out of him.
TL;DR
Go Romero! Please limit the damage that Hughes can do.
Sentimentality doesn’t appear to be a major issue for Falvine at this point. In 2014 Hughes was undeniably great, but at this point that’s simply not the product the Twins have right now and the front office doesn’t seem to feel obligated to try and try to recoup their money.
Feels like if he can’t capture some value in the pen he’s being released.