Baker Out for Season; What's Next for Him, Rotation?

(NOTE: Jon wrote something about this, too. Read it below, since he said the same things I did, but better.)

As you've no doubt heard by now, Scott Baker is done for the season. He will be having surgery on the flexor pronator tendon in his pitching elbow, with a slated recovery time of six months. So, no, he will not be able to "go out there and push through" this particular issue. Oy.

Three things to discuss:

1. The Twins have a club option of $9.25 million on Baker for 2013. There is no way in hell they will pick that option up. We may have seen the last of Scott Baker in a Twins uniform unless he comes back at a significantly reduced price.
2. The rotation going forward, as best we can tell, has LIam Hendriks taking Baker's spot in the rotation on Sunday and into the future. Multiple sources indicate that Jason Marquis will join the team after another minor-league start on Thursday, meaning in all likelihood that Anthony Swarzak moves back to the bullpen after his start this Friday. As for 2013, well, there's another place to put Kyle Gibson now.
3. The Twins seemed to go out of their way to publicly goad Baker into throwing through this latest setback. This leaves them with a not insignificant amount of egg on the face.