Contemplating Jhoulys Chacin

In 2017, Jhoulys Chacin went 13-10, 3.89 for a bad San Diego Padres (71-91) team.

In 2018, he went 15-8, 3.50 for a good Milwaukee Brewers team.

In 2019, he collapsed -- 3-12, 6.10 for the Brewers and Red Sox.

The Twins recently signed the 32-year-old righty to a minor-league deal, and it's a reasonable assumption that he's Plan A for the back of the April rotation. Remember, Michael Pineda will be under suspension for the first 39 games of the season, and Rich Hill probably won't take the hill (see what I did there?) until sometime after the All-Star break.

So the initial rotation figures to be, in some order, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Homer Bailey, Chacin and a rookie.

The Chacin of 2019 is useless. The Chacin of the two previous years won't be easily dislodged from the rotation. He'll probably get about seven starts to prove that he's worth keeping.

I like this signing. No, he's not a Cy Young contender, but's that's not the point. He has a higher ceiling than most "disposable veteran" starters. Unless he establishes in training camp that he's truly cooked, he gives the Twins additional pitching inventory and sharpens the competition for the final rotation spot among prospects Randy Dobnak, Lewis Thorpe and Devin Smeltzer, and that's a positive too. He should help the Twins get to Pineda and Hill.