Twins in the postseason: Five questions to spark some debate

Rocco Baldelli has done a good job of deferring discussion about what the Twins will do during the postseason, in part because he knows that once he answers that first question, he'd be opening the floodgates for 1,000 more.

But that doesn't mean we can't be pondering them from the outside.

We were sitting in the stands last week during one of the Twins-White Sox games (the really long one) trying to figure out what the Twins should do in terms of setting their pitching staff. Given the pitching problems that night, it was a grumpy discussion.

The lesson: Don't talk about a pitcher when he's getting knocked around or a batter when he's slumping. These things will pass, at least with the good ones, and what you really need to worry about is an unexpectedly bad performance by a player or four upon whom you're relying for an extender October run.

With those thoughts on the table, here are five things to consider about the Twins as they stand on the verge of clinching the AL Central title.

The starting rotation: That was an easier question before Michael Pineda's drug suspension and the drooping work on Kyle Gibson and Martin Perez. A cynic could argue that the latter two shouldn't have a spot on the roster. But that's not likely to happen. Here's one idea:

Game 1: Jake Odorizzi, Game 2: Jose Berrios, Game 3 Randy Dobnak, Game 4: Perez, Game 5: Odorizzi.

You can make the case for Odorizzi based on his back-to-back starts against the Astros and Yankees early in the season when he outdueled Justin Verlander at Target Field and then held the Yankees to two hits in six innings in New York. (He also got smacked around badly by the Yankees at Target Field in July.) Berrios brings a strong first four months of the season to the debate, followed by a 7.57 ERA in August and two weak starts out of four so far in September.

It's a close call and probably calls for a deeper data dive than we have time for right now. The one who doesn't start the opener gets Game 2.

Games 3 and 4 are the bigger riddles. The Twins could approach those as potential bullpen games, but with an eye toward getting as much as they can out of the starters. Are Perez and Dobnak the best options, or would go with one (or two) others who'd be on the roster? The game-definer will be that being the starting pitcher is no guarantee of being the pitcher who throws most of the game.

But wait. Do you take a risk and throw inexperienced Brusdar Graterol's 100 m.p.h. fastballs in the first inning of one of those games and then come back with Perez or Dobnak?

That leads to a bigger question: How many pitchers and who should they be?

Or is Cody Stashak the 12^th pitcher? Or Lewis Thorpe, if you want another lefty?

Or do you gamble by going with 11 pitchers, knowing there are off days after Game 2 and Game 4? If so, who misses the cut?

What about 13 pitchers? If you need 13 pitchers for a five-game series, you probably shouldn't be in the playoffs.

From there, let's go to non-pitching questions:

Let's start with the extra outfielder, with the assumption that Max Kepler will be healthy enough to return to center field. Would you take Jake Cave or LaMonte Wade Jr. as the fourth outfielder. Cave has been in that role for much of the last two seasons, shuttling between Minnesota and Rochester more often than desirable. Wade was a midseason call-up, hurt his wrist and has made a late-season surge to create the debate.

I did a "Twitter poll" on my feed and Cave won, getting 55% of the 117 votes cast.

Yeah, it's a close call.

What about the rest of the roster?

With 12 pitchers, you get 13 players:

That's Eddie Rosario, Kepler, Marwin Gonzalez and Cave/Wade Jr. in the outfield.

Mitch Garver and Jason Castro catching

Nelson Cruz at DH.

That's 12. Is your 13^th player Willians Astudillo or Ehire Adrianza, if he's healthy.

Or do you go with 11 pitcher and take them both?

Or do you have an even better idea?