Three in battle for final spot in Twins rotation

FORT MYERS, Fla. – One is pretty tall, one is relatively short, and one is in between. One throws hard, one's about average, and one gets by with soft stuff. One still is a rookie, one has kicked around for nearly a decade, and one splits the difference. One is 31, one is 28 and one is 25.

There are a lot of differences between Mike Pelfrey, Tommy Milone and Trevor May. But the three pitchers have one thing in common: They very much want to be in the Twins starting rotation next month.

"I came to camp with a goal, and I'm working hard to help the team," said Pelfrey, the tall (6-7), hard-throwing (94-mph fastball), 31-year-old veteran. "But a lot of guys are throwing good, so their decision is going to be tough."

It is, which is probably something of a relief to manager Paul Molitor and General Manager Terry Ryan. Spring camp opened with five plausible candidates for the lone vacancy in the Twins rotation, but the newcomer (Tim Stauffer) and the prodigy (Alex Meyer) dropped out last week. That leaves a trio of contenders and two weeks to separate them, with each spring training start ratcheting up the pressure.

"It's a good problem to have," said Ryan, who refuses to handicap the remaining field. "We haven't had a surplus of starting pitching lately, so it's good to have too many guys pitching well."

They have jockeyed back and forth all spring, too. As the lone lefthander in a rotation bereft of them, Milone, 28, was the early front-runner, and he didn't walk a batter nor allow a run in either of his first two starts. But Pelfrey quietly ramped up his velocity, didn't walk a batter in his first nine innings, and began looking like the pitcher the Twins invested $11 million in two winters ago. And May, discounted by many observers for his rough, 7.88-ERA six-week audition last season, suddenly burst forward Saturday in Port Charlotte, Fla., looking ready to seize the job for himself.

"His first three innings were clean. Nice variety [and] commanded well," Molitor said after May didn't allow a hit over four innings against the Rays, striking out three. Only two balls even left the infield as the 25-year-old righthander made quick work of Tampa Bay's lineup. "He had a good day. He came out of the game feeling good."

Milone did, too, at roughly the same time in Fort Myers, but his day wasn't nearly so quiet. The 6-foot lefty issued a one-out walk in the second inning against the Orioles to Jonathan Schoop after getting ahead 0-2. Two of the next three batters recorded hits, and Steve Pearce jumped on a 72-mph curveball for a three-run homer.

"I think I was trying to do too much, trying to nibble on the corners and get ahead that way, instead of just attacking the zone and getting ahead," said Milone, whose ERA jumped to 4.00 with the loss. "Just a hanging curveball, and he was on top of it. But I felt good that I was able to settle down and finish strong."

He did, retiring the next seven hitters in order, with a fastball that never topped 88 mph, to remind the Twins that he is an experienced pitcher who never has had a losing record in four big-league seasons. "He's always very poised," bench coach Joe Vavra said. Added Milone, "You just take that one inning out, and [my spring] looks pretty good."

The third finalist gets his next start Monday against the Phillies, and Pelfrey knows he'll have to try to match what his competitors have accomplished. "I have belief in my ability when I'm healthy," said Pelfrey, whose 2014 season was ruined by elbow surgery. "I feel like maybe I've shown them [that he's recovered]. If they feel like they're better off with somebody else, what am I going to do?"

Nobody knows what the Twins are going to do, including the Twins themselves. Molitor has insisted that a starting role is their only option, but Ryan hinted last week that the runner-up in this race might wind up in the bullpen. Milone seems the most likely candidate for that role, given Pelfrey's need for a long warm-up after 2012 Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. "I've said before, if a guy doesn't make it as a starter and he can pitch in that pen, then we have to give it consideration," Ryan said.

All three pitchers claim not to be affected by the pressure of pitching for a job, and Molitor hopes that's true. "I don't think it would be that motivating" to put any added pressure on them. "I think they all know where they're at. I hope they can block that stuff out, and just go pitch."

They have two weeks to do it, in a competition that Molitor said he expects might come down to the final game, practically the final pitch. Can he picture any of the three winning the job?

"I really can. You hate to say it's do-or-die or anything, but we're watching fairly closely now," Molitor said. "We're a couple weeks away here, we still don't know who it's going to be."