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The news that Ricky Nolasco will be activated in time to start on Friday night puts the starting rotation back into flux. Without a roster move, the Twins are looking at a rotation of Phil Hughes, Tommy Milone, Trevor May, Yohan Pino, Kyle Gibson, and...yes, Nolasco makes six.
Thursday is an off-day, allowing the team to re-set the rotation a little bit. Nolasco is Friday's probable pitcher, with Hughes and Milone slated to go Saturday and Sunday. After that we'd normally see May and Milone before finally coming around to Pino again. It's not a coincidence that on the sixth day, when Nolasco would be ready to go again, would be the game where Pino would start.
Have to wonder if #mntwins might be looking to flip Pino to a pitching starved contender in light of logjam they're about to have.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) August 12, 2014
Even if Terry Ryan can't find a way to flip Pino (thereby creating yet another open spot on the 40-man roster, by the way), he's unlikely to stay with the Major League team. Minnesota only needs five starters, with Alex Meyer still knocking on the door, and with eight relievers still active it doesn't seem likely that there would be a spot in the bullpen, either.
It's only two-and-a-half weeks until rosters expand for September, but at some juncture before that happens we're going to see more changes to the roster. Finding a way to get Meyer up is one, but more pressing is the addition of Nolasco and what it means for Pino.