The Minnesota Twins exercised their option on Carlos Silva today, hoping 2006 was an outlier for the pitcher:

Silva had a down year, going 11-15 with a 5.94 ERA last season and taking himself out of three games. But the free agent pitching market is thin, and the Twins need starters. They couldn't afford to go to arbitration with Silva, who had one such year left, or let him go and create a bigger hole in their rotation.

The Twins have starters Silva and Johan Santana under contract for next season. Brad Radke is expected to make his retirement official this month. That leaves Boof Bonser, Matt Garza, Scott Baker and Glen Perkins as candidates to fill out the remaining rotation. All four have less than three years of experience, making them under the club's control.

The Twins will hope next season that Silva will pitch more like he did in 2005, when he was 9-8, 3.44 and walked nine batters in 188 innings.

Minnesota feels they need another veteran in the rotation. If Silva returns to form, the $4.35 million salary is a bargain. If not, it's not that much money and Silva walks at the end of 2007. Although his walks were up in 2006, they're still very low. It's the home run increase that really killed Carlos, as he allowed nearly 2 per nine innings, the highest rate in the majors.