What to do with Miner?

I haven’t raised hypothetical questions on the blog before, and I usually don’t post the night before a day game, but Miner’s outing tonight raises an interesting one. His next turn is Tuesday, the series opener against the Yankees in The Bronx.

Because it’s right after an off day, you could theoretically skip Miner’s spot and move Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander up while still letting them pitch on their regular four days’ rest. Or, you can bring back Maroth for either Wednesday or Thursday of that series. If you do either of those, though, it’s basically a deflating move for Miner.

If you let Miner pitch Tuesday, it’s a solid vote of confidence, and he has shown more than once he can rebound from bad outings. But as the Yankees showed against the Red Sox last weekend, they make pitchers throw strikes. If Miner isn’t aggressive and gets knocked out early again, it taxes the bullpen at the start of a series where they could be going early and often.

When asked after the game about any possibility of skipping Miner’s turn, Jim Leyland said, "I don’t have any plans for that." It’s a tough decision either way. If you’re Leyland, what do you do?