Well I don't want to sound like a jerk, but having that many candidates for what probably amounts to one starting spot is not really an enviable position to be in, since most of them are bottom of the rotation or just inning eater type pitchers. To see Mike Maroth mentioned scares me since when he left the Detroit Tigers years ago he was having trouble getting his fast even to the mid-80s. I mean, he's a nice guy and all that, but no longer a major league pitcher on even an average staff. The way it is now, it looks like the top three are Nelson Liriano, Carl Pavano and Scott Baker as the Minnesota Twins top three. It will probably be that way for the year. To fill the four and five slots I figure the Twins will keep looking until they find a replacement for Blackburn and whoever that decide is their number 5. Anyway, I am going to answer the question in reverse by saying that I think only Liriano will stay in the rotation for most of the season.

Well, it appears that quite a few of the guys who asked about turned out to be the odd man out concerning the rotation. Neither Anthony Swarzak, Mike Maroth or Glen Perkins is even sniffing the rotation now that we’re into May, even though Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn are both sporting E.R.A.’s well over 5.00 and not exactly mowing people down. That of course has to be helped by the fact that the team is winning the AL Central despite the fact that their top two starters aren’t doing all that great.

The back end of the Twins rotation has actually been much better than the top, especially Francisco Liriano appears to be all the way back from Tommy John Surgery. Brian Duensing (who is a former Husker and therefore has gotten my attention) is doing really well out of the pen, and I think he should stay there. He got some starts last season, but he’s clearly better when coming in for short periods of time.

So far this season there have been six pitchers who have made starts for the Twins.
Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn and Jeff Manship had made starts this season. All of them have made at least five starts except for Manship, who has one. Brian Duensing has made eleven relief appearances, while Glen Perkins, Mike Maroth and Anthony Swarzak are not even on the 25 man roster and Maroth isn't on the 40 man roster.

So far this season, Carl Pavano is 3-3 with a 3.43 era. Francisco Liriano is 4-0 with a 1.50 era. Scott Baker is 3-2 with a 5.35 era. Kevin Slowey is 4-2 with a 3.79 era and Nick Blackburn is 2-1 with a 5.79 era. Jeff Manship pitched 6 innings in his only start and gave up 2 runs. Unless the team makes some drastic moves in their bullpen, it appears only Blackburn has a shot at making it into the rotation sometime this season, depending on who might struggle. Blackburn and Baker probably will have to bring their era down below 5 to keep their starting spot.

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/04/medium_blackburn.jpg