Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox series preview
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Twins travel to Chicago as an important road trip kicks off against A.L. Central foes.
Six weeks into the season, the Minnesota Twins have reached a crossroads, a bookmark to look back on after this season is complete. They will be going back to a stadium for a second series for the first time all year (Twins won two of three April 14-16), and play six games on the road within the A.L. Central this week.
How they fare against their two closest division rivals, the White Sox and the Indians, will determine quite possibly the fates of some of their teammates and the front office's outlook on their minor leaguers.
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Surely, if they run the table this week, look for reinforcements to arrive quickly. Jose Berrios would most assuredly see his first action Saturday, and a player as productive as Daniel Palka won't be long for the minors if he can help the big club instead.
If Minnesota treads water, or falls back, Derek Falvey may take a more conservative approach. Instead, he may look to audition current veterans on the team to use as trade bait to make a run next year, when most "experts" expect the young Twins to begin to contend.
After this week's intra-divisional contests, the Twins will finish out the month of May with series against three of the top five teams currently in baseball: Colorado, Baltimore and Houston.
If Minnesota has continued to surprise, they could be buyers, but at what cost? If it is to pick up an expensive reliever on a floundering team (Blue Jays, Giants, Royals) with little in means of prospects in return, then most Twins fans would be fine with just spending money.
But if the front office were to "give away" prospects hoping to catch magic this season, Minnesota's faithful is jaded to the cost of what we've given away to do so lately. Remember Aaron Hicks, J.J. Hardy, Carlos Gomez or Matt Capps?
What the Twins need to decide is whether their bullpen of the future in AA Chattanooga or closer, or are the pitchers currently playing for other organizations? The Twins' defensive eight is good enough and young enough (outside of Joe Mauer) to keep them together – they just need a bullpen.
Not every game on the schedule is going to be closely played, but in those types of games, Minnesota has fared well (9-9 in games decided by four runs or fewer).
But they've let too many games get away from them at the end, which can lead to heads hanging, and feet kicking. A manager hopes that doesn't continue over a long season and begin to carry over to the next day.
Tuesday Night Game
Hector Santiago (3-1, 2.78 ERA) vs Mike Pelfrey (0-2, 5.02 ERA)
7:10 PM Guaranteed Rate Field
TV: Fox Sports North
Wednesday Night Game
Phil Hughes (4-1, 4.32 ERA) vs Derek Holland (3-2, 2.02 ERA)
7:10 PM Guaranteed Rate Field
TV: Fox Sports North / WGN
Thursday Night Game
Nick Tepesch (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs Miguel Gonzalez (3-2, 3.18 ERA)
7:10 PM Guaranteed Rate Field
TV: Fox Sports North
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago: The White Sox are coming off a weekend series sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, including getting shut out 4-0 on Sunday – the 10th time this season Chicago has scored one run or fewer in a loss, including four shutouts.
Pitcher Jose Quintana, one of the brightest young pitchers in the American League – who was expected to step into the role of ace for the White Sox after Chris Sale was traded away – has been the victim of three shutouts thrown against him.
The Sox are just a game and a half behind Cleveland in the standings, yet are near the bottom in the league in hitting, outside of one of the season's biggest surprises in Avisail Garcia – currently third in the A.L. with a .349 batting average.
They rank just one better than Boston does in home runs, though that stat came back to bite the Twins this past weekend. They lack serious punch throughout the lineup, collecting just 75 extra base hits this season, better only than the lowly Royals' 65.
What they do well, however, is pitch. Chicago's team ERA of 3.35 is just above the L.A. Dodgers, and is tops in the American League, with the closest division rival (K.C.) a half run worse per game.
Hitting: It's the lack of it killing the White Sox right now. Lack of run support is failing a pitching staff that has more than recovered from the loss of Chris Sale. The biggest disappointment is the third baseman, Todd Frazier.
A year after hitting 40 homers and driving in 98 runs, Frazier has actually cut down on his strike outs, but is struggling to make solid contact of any kind. Currently hitting .195, with just three home runs on a $12 million salary – a bump from last year's $7.5 million.
Meanwhile, the younger, cheaper Matt Davidson has been filling in at third base, DH, outfield, anywhere to try to get some at-bats, and is out-hitting Frazier (.262) and has even hit more home runs (5).
If Frazier continues to struggle, the White Sox are rumored to be looking for a trade partner, but Frazier would be an expensive rental player for any team, unless Chicago just pays for him to leave and open up a position for Davidson.
Player to Watch: Avisail Garcia. A career .258 hitter, Garcia has actually lifted that average by seven points with his hot start to the 2017 season. While the rest of the team cannot buy an extra base hit, Garcia is bettering his stats across the board.
The right fielder has averaged 12.5 HR / 17.5 2B / 55 RBI over his past two seasons with the White Sox. Initially installed as the seventh hitter in their lineup, Garcia hasn't hit below his current .349 at any point this season, and now bats cleanup for Chicago.
He's on pace for a .300+ season, 27 home runs and 130 RBI for a team that struggles to score around him. If any of his teammates get hot while he's still stroking well, he could reach those numbers.
Against the Twins already this year, he's collected 11 H / 2 HR / 6 RBI in six games. Against Hughes and Santiago, however, he's a combined 3-30 in his career.
Pitching: Strong throughout their rotation, Quintana has been the surprise disappointment this year, even with the shutouts thrown against him. He did put back-to-back good starts together, albeit versus the Royals, in getting his first two wins of the season before getting shut out Sunday.
Two pitchers that were to be counted on, Carlos Rodon and James Shields, are on the disabled list. Rodon began the season on it after discomfort in Spring Training, and has recently been moved to the 60-day DL with bursitis in his left (pitching) biceps. No timetable for his return.
Shields began the year with three starts, allowing one run in each of them – including Chicago's 3-1 win over the Twins on April 16. But like his fellow rotation compatriots, he only picked up one win over those three stellar starts.
After the game against the Twins, Shields went on the DL with a strained lat muscle in his pitching shoulder. Former Twin Mike Pelfrey was recalled to fill the rotational spot. In his three starts since, he's only pitched into the sixth inning once, but has allowed three runs or fewer in every start.
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Pitcher to Watch: Derek Holland. He fell out of favor with Texas, despite pitching eight seasons for them and improving steadily over time, including winning Game 4 of the 2011 Word Series by going 8.1 shutout innings.
But a fall while playing with his dog in the offseason injured his knee during 2014, and overcompensation led to arm injuries the next. A healthy 2016 produced his highest ERA (4.95) since his rookie season and forced the Rangers to decline an $11 million option for this season.
Instead, the Sox jumped at the chance to sign Holland for a mere $6 million – a pitcher and a salary many Twins fans hoped their own front office would have chosen. He has pitched like an ace for them so far, starting six games and not allowing more than two runs in any of them.
He's averaging six innings per start, five strikeouts versus two walks per game. In his only start against the Twins this season, Hughes out-dueled Holland 3-1 on April 7 in Chicago. He's owned Joe Mauer over his career, with Mauer hitting just .176 with five strikeouts versus three hits against the lefty.
Minnesota: I slotted Tepesch into Thursday's game, since Falvey or manager Paul Molitor hasn't hinted otherwise. While his first start wasn't anything to write home about, only one of the seven runs scored against him were earned.
However, after the error, he didn't bear down either. A walk, double, single, double finish wasn't necessarily encouraging to the Twins' manager, though it will probably be enough to earn him another look after strong starts at AAA Rochester.
Major League Baseball dealt a small blow to the Twins, at least for tonight's game, by deciding to uphold last week's decision to suspend Miguel Sano for one game for pushing catcher Brian McCann in the face.
While Minnesota seems set at 1B/DH with Mauer, Kennys Vargas and Robbie Grossman, don't be surprised if the Twins select ByungHo Park as the player to fill the void on the 40-man roster. While he may not be recalled immediately, he was activated from the DL at Rochester and may soon be available should a big bat falter or get injured.
Notes: Rochester's player of the week was none other than catcher John Ryan Murphy. Over his last 10 games, he's batting .370 / 5 R / 2 HR / 6 RBI to raise his batting average to .270 for the season. It appears the Twins finally have an option at catcher if one of theirs on the 25-man goes down for any reason.
