Devon Young

Why are Philip Humber and Jason Jones pitching in the IL? Humber and Jones are literally the worst two starters in the entire league thru June 29. Yeah. Feel free to check the list of pitchers qualifying for the IL’s ERA title. You’ll find Humber and Jones at the very bottom.

At the moment, the two pitchers are a combined 4-13 (.235), 10 no decisions, with a 6.20 ERA. Essentially that means that the Red Wings are a good 33-27 (.550) when Humber or Jones don’t factor into the decision. Sounds crazy enough already, but let me put that into some perspective — the 2nd place Pawtucket Red Sox have a .539 winning percentage& are only 3 games behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

I think you can put together what that says.

It should be noted though that Rochester’s 8-2 in Humber -n- Jones’s no decisions. Personally, I think that says Stan Cliburn made the right pitching moves there, but I haven’t looked too closely at the stats for those 10 games so I could be wrong. Either way, it still means Rochester’s 25-25 (.500) when any other pitcher starts a game, and the team is just 12-15 (.444) when Humber or Jones gets the start (decision or not).

So, if Rochester’s winning games after these two are removed from a game (no dec’s)…but losing a lot when they’re in the game (dec’s)…. do you see where this is going?

But maybe I’m just a frustrated fan who’s not being patient enough with these guys having a bad first half? MMmmmm, no.

Each year Philip Humber’s in AAA, his ERA has risen and it’s never been lower than 4.27. Jason Jones only stint in AAA before this year was last season in Scranton, but the Yankees must’ve noticed something not-quite-right about him because they sent him down to AA after posting a 2.38 ERA in just 2 starts in AAA. Then they kept him in AA Trenton for the rest of the year (25 starts). I don’t know why that wasn’t a red flag to Twins management.

These guys simply don’t even have histories that scream “I’m a prospect that will get better”! What are they doing here? Why are the Red Wings putting up with this? The numbers suggest it would be better for the team, for these pitchers, and for the Twins organization, if they were sent to AA New Britain to work out whatever they need to develop.