Tom Froemming

LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP MIN 3, STL 0: Hill Pitches 5 Shutout Innings in Twins Debut TODAY Twins vs. Cleveland, 6:07 pm CT Betting Lines: CLE -1.5, -106, 8.5 O/U Twins: José Berríos, RHP Berríos had a disappointing 2020 debut, giving up five runs over four innings while striking out just one batter against the White Sox. On a positive note, he did hit 97 mph, a mark he didn’t reach all of 2019. Current Cleveland hitters have a combined .207/.286/.345 line (.631 OPS) against Berríos, and José has held fellow Puerto Rico product Francisco Lindor to a .231/.286/.346 line (.632 OPS). Berríos surrendered just seven earned runs over 24 2/3 innings pitched against Cleveland last year, a 2.55 ERA, and had 26 strikeouts. Cleveland: Shane Bieber, RHP Bieber ascended from relative unknown to finishing fourth in AL CY Young voting last season. The 25-year-old threw six shutout innings and struckout 14 Royals hitters in his first start of 2020. https://twitter.com/AlexFast8/status/1286830370781003777 Despite his success, current Twins hitters have an impressive .315/.364/.531 batting line (.895 OPS) against Bieber. Eddie Rosario has hit three bombas off him in 18 career plate appearances. Josh Donaldson is 2-for-2 with a pair of homers against Bieber. LINEUP https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1288908589533483010 NEWS & NOTES — Here are some highlights from the two-game Cardinals series, in case you missed it: — Cleveland will likely be unable to turn to two of their backend bullpen pieces today, as both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber have pitched the previous two days. Hand has given up five runs (four earned) in his 2 1/3 innings of work so far this season. Last season, Hand didn’t give up his fourth earned run until his 33rd appearance. — Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly was suspended eight games for throwing at multiple members of the Houston Astros Wednesday night. LA manager Dave Roberts was also suspended for a game. https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1288436799363317768 — The MLB and MLBPA agreed to new sign stealing rules that grant the commissioner's office authority to impose suspensions against players and personnel. — Last night, the Dodgers beat the Astros thanks to a leadoff … two-run home run(?) Sure, why not? At this point, any kind of normalcy would actually be weird in 2020. In the top of the 13th inning, Edwin Rios cracked a homer with the “bonus” runner on second base. The Dodgers went on to win. — Speaking of home runs, here’s what a walk off looks and sounds like in 2020, courtesy of Mike Yazstremski and the Giants: https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1288708488818880514 — Nick Markakis, who originally opted out of this season, has decided to rejoin the Braves at some point. https://twitter.com/DOBrienATL/status/1288550492302462983 AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CHW 4, CLE 0 DET 5, KCR 4 1. MIN 4-1 (+16) 2. CLE 4-2 (+7) 2. DET 4-2 (-9) 4. CHW 2-4 (-9) 5. KCR 2-4 (-2) SEE ALSO Trevor May and the Next Adjustment Breaking Down the 2020 Twins Walk-Up Songs First Impressions From Each AL Central Team

LAST GAME RECAP MIN 14, CHW 2: Lineup Flexes Early to Aid Maeda in Victorious Twins Debut QUESTION OF THE DAY Do you have any home opener traditions you’re going to maintain? TODAY Cardinals at Twins, 7:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -127, 10.0 O/U Twins: Homer Bailey, RHP (info below via Baseball Savant) Bailey had one of the weirder seasons I can remember last year. He started out as one of the worst players in baseball, lucky the Royals gave him the opportunity to continue his career. By the end of the year, he was about as good as anybody in baseball. Seriously! From July 23 forward, which just so happens to be the same date the 2020 season started, Bailey was tied with Zack Greinke for 11th in fWAR. He had a 3.31 ERA (3.17 FIP) over 65 1/3 innings with Oakland and walked just 4.5% of the batters he faced over that stretch (league average BB% for starting pitchers was 7.7 last season). Which Homer Bailey are we going to see in 2020? That’s probably anybody’s best guess, but he’s coming off a great stretch. Perhaps it's fitting that at the very least it appears Bailey will be filling in for the suspended Michael Pineda. According to Baseball Savant's affinity scores, Bailey was the most similar pitcher in baseball to Big Mike last season. Cardinals: Carlos Martinez, RHP (info below via Baseball Savant) Martinez will be making his first start since July 30, 2018. The two-time All-Star served as St. Louis’ closer last season, racking up 24 saves. Martinez has been around awhile now, he debuted during the Cardinals’ 2013 World Series run, but he’s still only 28-years-old. Funny enough, the current Twin who has the most plate appearances is the guy opposing Martinez on the hill. Homer Bailey has faced Martinez seven times, so maybe he can relay a bit of a scouting report to his teammates. LINEUP NEWS & NOTES — We always knew COVID-19 was going to be a dominant storyline of the 2020 season, but things have escalated early. The Miami Marlins have experienced an outbreak in which at players have now tested positive. The immediate concern is of course with the health of those players. Here’s a nearly 10-minute interview MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred did on MLB Network: https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1287893850833457152 The Marlins last played in Philadelphia, so this has now impacted the Phillies and Yankees, who were supposed to start a series at Citizens Bank Park yesterday. Also, the Marlis were supposed to host the Orioles, so this one incident has already disrupted four clubs. Thankfully, no Phillies players have tested positive at this time, but their scheduled game against the Yankees tonight has been postponed. White Sox manager Rick Renteria self quarantined after experiencing symptoms consistent to those of coronavirus, but tested negative for COVID-19. UPDATE: The Nationals, who are scheduled to visit the Marlins this coming weekend, just decided via team vote against going to Miami. — Nelson Cruz is off to a tremendous start, much to the dismay of one former Twins reliever ... https://twitter.com/CaseyFien/status/1287864165453897728 Cruz was 0-for-9 with three strikeouts over his career against Fien, who hasn't pitched since 2017. They were teammates very briefly on the 2017 Seattle Mariners. — There are only five active pitchers with multiple Cy Young Awards to their credit, two of them got bad news this week. Justin Verlander and Corey Kluber have both been shutdown and face great uncertainty. Verlander is dealing with a forearm strain and won’t throw for two weeks. Kluber pitched just one inning in his debut with the Texas Rangers before suffering a shoulder injury. He’ll be shut down for a month. — Mike Foltynewicz, 28, was an All-Star in 2018 and finished eighth in NL Cy Young voting that year. He posted a 4.54 ERA with the Braves last year and was designated for assignment last night after giving up six runs over 3 1/3 innings pitched. That escalated quickly. Foltynewicz’s velo was way down, but he’ll surely garner trade interest. He’s under team control through next season. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL KC 14, DET 6 CWS at CLE Postponed (rain) Standings 1. MIN 2-1 (+10) 2. CLE 2-1 (+8) 3. KCR 2-2 (0) 4. DET 2-2 (-11) 5. CHW 1-2 (-10) SEE ALSO 5 Overreactions from Opening Weekend 3 Bench Players Demonstrate Minnesota’s Depth Luis Arraez Shows Some Slug We Should Be More Worried About Jake Odorizzi

YESTERDAY’S GAME RECAP CHW 10, MIN 3: White Sox Hit 5 Homers Off Twins Bullpen QUESTION OF THE DAY What’s your favorite part about baseball being back? TODAY Twins at White Sox | 1:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, .140, 10.5 O/U Twins: Kenta Maeda, RHP Maeda threw 84 pitches in his final tuneup outing of Summer Camp, so he should be close to full stretched out. It’s going to be interesting to see how he performs away from Dodger Stadium. He has a career 3.23 ERA at Chavez Ravine and 4.54 mark everywhere else. In his only previous outing at Guaranteed Rate Field, Maeda delivered five innings of one-run ball back in 2017. Madea has been death to right-handed hitters over his career, holding them to a .199/.251/.339 batting line (.589 OPS). That bodes well, as this is a very right-handed White Sox lineup, but switch hitters Yasmani Grandal (.799 OPS) and Yoan Moncada (.839 OPS) have been better against righties over their careers. White Sox: Reynaldo Lopez, RHP Lopez boasts a fastball that averaged an impressive 95.4 mph last season. The 26-year-old took a big step back last year, however, seeing his ERA jump from 3.91 all the way up to 5.38. In three starts against the Twins last season, Lopez gave up 20 runs — 16 earned — over 15 innings pitched. Current Twins hitters have combined to post a .270/.323/.550 line over 125 plate appearances against Lopez. TWINS LINEUP 1. Max Kepler, RF 2. Josh Donaldson, 3B 3. Jorge Polanco, SS 4. Nelson Cruz, DH 5. Eddie Rosario, LF 6. Jake Cave, CF 7. Luis Arraez, 2B 8. Marin Gonzalez, 1B 9. Alex Avila, C *left switch Rocco's going with a lefty-heavy lineup today. Lopez has fairly even platoon splits for his career, but it's worth noting that Chicago's lefty bullpen ace Aaron Bummer is highly unlikely to be available after pitching in back-to-back games. That leaves Jace Fry (4.75 ERA last year) and Ross Detwiler (6.59 ERA last year) as the left-handers in the pen. NEWS & NOTES The Twins announced Homer Bailey will start their home opener on Tuesday against the Cardinals and Rich Hill will start Wednesday. Former Twin Stephen Gonsalves was claimed by the Red Sox yesterday. Speaking of Boston, Martin Perez gave up five runs (four earned) over five innings in his debut for them yesterday. In other news of former Twins greats, Ryne Harper held the Yankees scoreless over two innings while striking out four batters in his debut with the Nationals. How’s this for a weird highlight? Braves outfielder Adam Duvall crushed a home run at Citi Field that hit a cardboard cutout of Mets player Jeff McNeil’s dog. https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1287122652985950214 AROUND THE AL CENTRAL DET 6, CIN 4 KCR 3, CLE 2 (10 innings) Here's a fun fact from Jayson Stark on how the Royals won in extras: https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/1287192096655515650 Standings (run differential) 1. CHW 1-1 (+2) 1. CLE 1-1 (+1) 1. KCR 1-1 (-1) 1. MIN 1-1 (-2) 1. DET 1-1 (-4) SEE ALSO We Should Be More Worried About Jake Odorizzi MLB Provides Refreshment and Peculiarity in Return Swinging Sixty: Minnesota Twins 2020 Season Preview 20 Twins Predictions for the 2020 Season The 2020 Preseason All-AL Central Team

LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP MIN 10, CHW 5: Kepler Blasts 2 Bombas, Twins Outlast White Sox QUESTION OF THE DAY Do you like the cardboard cutouts in the stands, or would you rather they just be completely empty? TODAY Twins at White Sox, 1:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -118, 9.5 O/U Twins: Randy Dobnak, RHP Dobnak basically gained instant notoriety due to both his performance and incredible back story. It’s amazing to think he’s developed such an identity across Twins Territory despite logging just 30 1/3 innings with the Twins (including the postseason). Dobnak faced the White Sox in his second MLB game. He gave up two unearned runs on five hits over three innings out of the bullpen. With Odorizzi on the IL and now Hill being pushed back, the team’s rotation depth is already being tested. Good thing this club has as good of backup options. Here’s an update on Odorizzi and Hill from Dan Hayes of The Athletic: https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1286892658745540608 As , Dobnak may be a better matchup against the White Sox anyway. There are a lot of dangerous right-handed bats in that lineup, and Hill is a lefty.Opponent: Dallas Keuchel, LHP Info above via Baseball Savant. Keuchel will be making his debut for the White Sox after signing a three-year, $55.5 million contract. The 2015 AL Cy Young winner, Keuchel had a 3.75 ERA in 19 starts with Atlanta last year, though his FIP was a more robust 4.72. The Twins destroyed left-handed pitching to the tune of a .285/.351/.521 batting line (.872 OPS) last season. Nelson Cruz has five bombas off Keuchel in 53 career plate appearances. LINEUP NEWS & NOTES History was made when Shohei Ohtani became the first "bonus" runner to start an extra inning at second base. He actually ran himself into an out and the Angels failed to score in the top of the 10th inning. Ohtani attempted to advance to third on a ground ball to first base and was eventually tagged out in a rundown. Oakland's Matt Olsen ended the game with a walk-off grand slam. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CLE 2, KCR 0 CIN 7, DET 1 Is it too early to scoreboard watch? Yes. On the other hand, it is almost August … 1. MIN 1-0 1. CLE 1-0 3. CHW 0-1 3. DET 0-1 3. KCR 0-1 SEE ALSO MLB Provides Refreshment and Peculiarity in Return Looking for the Best: Twins Hitters and 60-game Stretches 20 Twins Predictions for the 2020 Season Swinging Sixty: Minnesota Twins 2020 Season Preview The Next Minnesota Twins - 2020

TODAY Twins at White Sox | Friday, July 24 7:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -114, 8.5 O/U Twins: José Berríos, RHP Berríos is 11-2 with a 2.40 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 9.6 K/9 in 93 2/3 career innings against the White Sox. Players currently on Chicago’s roster have combined to hit just .237/.262/.429 (.691 OPS) against Berríos, with a bulk of the damage done by James McCann, who has four home runs in 24 plate appearances against José. White Sox: Lucas Giolito, RHP Giolito’s best start last season came at Target Field against the Twins. On Aug. 21, Giolito pitched a three-hit complete game shutout while striking out 12 batters without issuing a walk. On the flip side, Nelson Cruz hit three bombas off Giolito in Chicago nearly a year ago today. Before the game, Seth asked the Twins manager about facing a talented starter like Lucas Giolito. https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/1286792545545191434 LINEUP https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1286742175875825668 QUESTION OF THE DAY Who do you think will hit the first Twins bomba of 2020? YESTERDAY’S RESULTS NYY 4, WAS 1 LAD 8, SFG 1 NEWS & NOTES Byron Buxton did not travel down to Chicago with the team, but Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that Buck is driving down today to meet the team. He’ll be on the Opening Day roster, so it seems likely we’ll see Buxton at some point over the weekend, if not tonight. While the opening game was being played last night, Major League Baseball officially announced that the postseason was going to be expanded to 16 teams. The top two teams in each division will automatically qualify for the playoffs, with the final spots going to the remaining teams who have the best record, and each matchup in the first round will be a best of three series. I really don’t like this. To me, a big thing keeping some validity for this season was they were still going to play the postseason as if they would have under normal circumstances. Sure, some weird teams may have slipped in with the 60-game season, but you still have to perform and beat the best of the best in a five or seven-game series once you get there. This new setup both removes the potential thrill of a shorter, pressure-packed regular season and delegitimizes the playoffs. A single elimination game for the wild card was alright because it put more emphasis on winning the division. Reducing every first round matchup to a three-game series means there’s very little advantage gained by regular season success. Higher seeds get home field advantage, whatever that means in 2020, and there’s been some talk of the division winners being able to pick their opponents, but I don’t see that being reported as official anywhere as of yet. This new playoff format will be in place this season only. For now ... SEE ALSO Minnesota Twins Opening Day Roster 20 Twins Predictions for the 2020 Season Swinging Sixty: Minnesota Twins 2020 Season Preview The 2020 Preseason All-AL Central Team Who Are the Twins Best 60 Game Sprinters? Ranking Minnesota’s Top-5 Indispensable Players

LAST NIGHT CHC 4, MIN 3 (exhibition) Most of Twins Territory appears to be ready to pull the plug on Homer Bailey after he served up three dingers over his three innings of work. He was not sharp. There’s a wide range of potential outcomes with Bailey, but keep in mind that here’s how he pitched from this date forward last season: 11 starts, 65 1/3 IP, 8.27 K/9, 1.65 BB/9, 3.31 ERA, 1.07 WHIP. Bailey was worth 2.0 fWAR over that stretch, tied with Zack Greinke for 11th-best among all pitchers. In case you missed it, John, Seth and Nick did a live stream after the game ended. TODAY Twins OFF NYY (Gerrit Cole) at WAS (Max Scherzer), 6:08 pm CT Betting Lines: NYY -1.5, -141, 7.5 O/U How about this for a pitching matchup to start the season? This is a pitching rematch of Game 1 of the 2019 World Series in which Scherzer and the Nats were victorious 5-4. This will be Cole’s debut with the Yankees after signing a nine-year, $324 million deal with New York back in December. SFG (Johnny Cueto) at LAD (Clayton Kershaw), 9:08 pm CT Betting Lines: LAD -1.5, -295, O/U 8.5 And we get another big debut in the night cap, as Brusdar Graterol suits up as a Dodger for the first time. OK, I suppose fellow new Dodger Mookie Betts has a slightly higher profile, huh? This Los Angeles team is absolutely loaded, and widely regarded as the team to beat in the National League this season. NEWS & NOTES A significant takeaway from last night’s exhibition was that Byron Buxton and Luis Arráez were not in the starting lineup. Arráez entered the game in the sixth inning as a defensive replacement. Marney Gellner reported during last night’s broadcast that Buxton is not expected to be available for Opening Day. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1286106661917274114 We also learned yesterday who will follow José Berríos in the rotation during the opening series. It’ll be Rich Hill in the encore and Kenta Maeda in the finale. Jake Odorizzi will start the season out on the IL due to back soreness. UPDATE: Here's the Opening Day roster below. Discuss the roster in the Twins Opening Day roster article here. https://twitter.com/tlschwerz/status/1286333654017376258 SEE ALSO Postgame Pint: Slow Bats, Sano's Glove & Odo's IL Trip The 3 Scariest Stretches on the 2020 Twins Schedule Breaking Records in a 60-Game Season Half-A-Step Better: How The Twins Are Reinventing Infield Play

TODAY Twins at Cubs, 6:10 pm CT John, Seth and Nick will be co-hosting a live stream after this game ends. Just click on this link (or follow it from our Twitter or Facebook page) and you’ll be able to join Twins Daily’s writers as they immediately react to the game. Twins: Homer Bailey, RHP Bailey had surrendered just one earned run over five innings of work during Spring Training prior to the season being suspended. The 34-year-old had a 4.02 ERA over his final 20 starts of 2019. Cubs: Jon Lester, LHP Lester, on the other hand, posted a 5.06 ERA over his final 20 starts of last season. The veteran lefty has posted reverse platoon splits the past two seasons, surrendering an .838 OPS to southpaws in 2019 and an .878 mark in ‘18. NEWS & NOTES Unlike the Twins, the Cubs were able to take full advantage of the opportunity to play three exhibition games, playing the White Sox on Sunday and Monday. This will be the only exhibition game the Twins play against another organization, but they’ve been treating their intrasquad scrimmages like “real” games for the most part. They’ve even been shifting the infield and deploying outfield alignments based on scouting reports. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1284684609091964928 I wonder if any of the hitters requested to see their own card. It’ll be interesting to see how Rocco Baldelli fills out the lineup. He’s yet to tip his hand in regard to the batting order, but it seems like a safe assumption to expect tonight’s lineup to resemble the same one Rocco will roll with on Opening Day. The Twins don’t have any major injuries or illnesses at this time, fortunately, but some question marks surround Jake Odorizzi, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sanó. We know José Berríos will be starting the opener Friday against the White Sox, but it’s not clear at this time how the rotation shakes out from there. Odo was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday due to back stiffness. He’s expected to be fine, though not fully stretched out. Buxton, who suffered a foot injury, has said he’ll be ready for the opener. While he worked out with the team Monday, Byron did not participate in the intrasquad scrimmage. Sanó is playing catchup after missing time due to a positive COVID test, but unlike Buxton, he was able to play in Monday’s scrimmage. With expanded rosters, a shortened season and really no opportunities for guys to play in actual rehab games, I’m confident all three will be active based on the most recent updates. Still, it’s worth monitoring the situation with that trio LINEUPS Good luck in the first inning, Mr. Lester. SEE ALSO Join Twins Daily's Postgame Parley Wednesday Night Who Will Provide Length in the Twins' Bullpen? Now Is Not the Time to Doubt Byron Buxton How Much Would a Key Injury or Two Hurt the Twins Postseason Chances? Predicting Minnesota’s Final 30-Man Roster

Lineups https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1283453073046884352 As mentioned in the Tweet above, the game will be streamed online by both the Twins and FSN. Unlike previous streams of Summer Camp, this scrimmage will feature play-by-play from Dick Bremer and Justin Morneau. The pitching matchup will be new Twin Kenta Maeda vs. Devin Smeltzer. Cody Christie recently wrote an article on how the Twins are pairing up pitchers. Here’s a excerpt from that piece: RHP Kenta Maeda/LHP Devin Smeltzer Kenta Maeda, Minnesota’s big off-season trade acquisition, has something to prove as a starter after being used as a starter and reliever with the Dodgers. Like Maeda, Devin Smeltzer started his professional career in the Dodgers organization. Smeltzer found success last season even though his pitching repertoire would hardly be called overpowering. He relies on a fastball that ranks in the 6th percentile for velocity and in the 86th percentile for spin. As with Odorizzi and Thorpe, this pairing gives the Twins another righty-lefty pitching combo. Parker Hageman also recently wrote about Smeltzer's new slider, and featured Maeda in an article earlier this offseason. There are some interesting items to takeaway from these lineups. The Twins received good news about Byron Buxton’s left leg injury, but there’s still no guarantee he’ll be ready for Opening Day. The center fielders for tonight’s scrimmage are Jake Cave and LaMonte Wade Jr. We’ve seen plenty of Cave at the position, he’s started 78 games in center field over the past two seasons, but it’s especially intriguing to see Wade get the nod in center over Max Kepler, who’ll play usual right field. Wade made nine starts in center for the Twins last season, but 65 of his 80 outfield appearances in the minor leagues last year were in the corners. The Twins also got good news on Miguel Sanó, who was cleared to return to the team after two negative tests for COVID-19. Handling first base duties tonight will be Alex Kirilloff and Brent Rooker. Kirilloff started to play more first base toward the end of the last minor league season while Rooker exclusively played outfield for the first time in his professional career in 2019. One last notable item is that Travis Blankenhorn is handling third base. He has plenty of previous experience there, but in 2019 made just two appearances at the hot corner. Blankenhorn played 72 games at second base and 24 in left field last season. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email\