Tom Froemming

UPDATE We have a roster move: LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP Twins 3, Cleveland 0: Miguel Sanó Hits Pair of Bombas, Kenta Maeda Pitches 6 Shutout Innings TODAY Twins vs. Cleveland, 1:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -115, 9.0 O/U Twins: Tyler Clippard, RHP 2020: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Taking a look at the bullpen chart, I have to suspect Devin Smeltzer will be the “primary pitcher” for the Twins today. He gave up 13 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings pitched against Cleveland last season. Cleveland: Aaron Civale, RHP Last outing: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 100 pitches Info via Baseball Savant Civale has made quite the early impression in his career, pitching to a 2.40 ERA and 1.07 WHIP over his first 63 2/3 innings. A decent chunk of that success has come against the Twins, who he held to two earned runs over 11 innings pitched last year, a 1.64 ERA. LINEUP https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1289941678552281088 NEWS & NOTES — Check out this fun Cody Stashak fact: https://twitter.com/SlangsOnSports/status/1289756333109948422 — Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain announced yesterday he was opting out of the remainder of the 2020 season. The Brewers were supposed to be hosting St. Louis this weekend before the Cardinals had multiple COVID-19 cases. — Marlins received approval to resume play on Tuesday. They’ll face the Orioles in Baltimore, though Miami will be designated as the home team for two games of the four-game series. The Phillies will be returning to action Monday against the Yankees in New York. Both the Marlins and Phillies last played a week ago, July 26. — White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was placed on the Injured List due to a strained groin. — Craig Kimbrel, who has a 7.77 ERA in 25 total games pitched since signing with the Cubs, may be removed from the closer role, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. — Old friend and former 2020 Twins Summer Camp great Jhoulys Chacin was DFA’d by the Braves. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CHW 11, KCR 5 DET: Postponed, rain 1. MIN 6-2 (+20) 2. DET 5-3 (-6) 3. CLE 5-4 (+3) 4. CHW 4-4 (-2) 5. KCR 3-6 (-7) SEE ALSO Twins Bullpen: Ready When Needed Which 3 Twins Have Started the Strongest? Reviewing a Week of Twins Quotes Getting to Starters Early Will Be Imperative for the Minnesota Twins

ROSTER MOVE Zack Littell has been placed on the 10-day Injured List and Jorge Alcala will take his place. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1289657762683576320 LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP Twins 4, Cleveland 1: Dobnak Delivers 5 Shutout Innings TODAY Twins vs. Cleveland, 6:10 pm CT Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, -125, 8.5 O/U Twins: Kenta Maeda, RHP Last outing: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 84 pitches Info via Baseball Savant Maeda has noteworthy platoon splits — he’s given up a .592 OPS to right-handed hitters and a .765 mark to lefties over his career. Cleveland has a quartet of switch hitters in its infield and left-handed hitter Bradley Zimmer in the outfield, so Maeda will likely face a lefty-heavy lineup tonight. Cesar Hernandez, who spent his entire career with the Phillies up to this point, has a .286/.444/.643 (1.087 OPS) batting line against Maeda in 18 plate appearances. He and both Franmil Reyes and Domingo Santana have hit home runs off Maeda. Cleveland: Carlos Carrasco, RHP Last outing: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 87 pitches Info via Baseball Savant Carrasco missed time last season after being diagnosed with leukemia. He was able to return to the team in September to pitch out of the bullpen. Wednesday, his first start since the diagnosis, Carrasco dominated. He needed just 87 pitches to complete six innings and struck out 10 batters. Nelson Cruz is 10-for-27 with four bombas vs. Carrasco over his career. LINEUP https://twitter.com/dailyrotonews/status/1289643092874649600 NEWS & NOTES — Josh Donaldson was removed from last night’s game due to a calf injury, and is listed as day-to-day. — ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred informed MLBPA chief Tony Clark the season could be shutdown if COVID-19 isn’t managed better. Scott Miller of Bleacher Report added that a four-pate memo was sent to all clubs, and among the items covered was that each team must identify a compliance officer to help ensure players are following protocols. — Today's St. Louis-Milwaukee game has been postponed after more Cardinals players tested positive for coronavirus. — The Twins are averaging 5.71 runs per game, the fifth-most in baseball, and are tied for second in home runs. Who leads the league? We’ll get to that in a second. The Twins pitching staff has a 3.34 ERA, good enough for sixth in the league. — Over the past four games the Twins bullpen has combined to give up just two earned runs over 20 innings pitched, a 0.90 ERA. — The Twins rank in the bottom half of baseball in terms of future salary obligations, slotting in at No. 18 per MLB Trade Rumors. This seems like a good time to remind everyone that both Derek Falvey and Thad Levine signed contract extensions to stay in Minnesota through 2024. Those extensions were reported in mid-November, and I totally forgot about them until just now. — Mookie Betts made a great throw last night: https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1289381897517367307 — Yankee reliever Tommy Kahnle has been placed on the IL and will likely need Tommy John surgery. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CHW 3, KCR 2 DET 7, CIN 2 1. MIN 5-2 (+17) 2. CLE 5-3 (+6) 2. DET 5-3 (-6) 4. CHW 3-4 (-8) 5. KCR 3-5 (-1) How ‘bout them Tigers!? Detroit leads all of baseball with 15 home runs, with Miguel Cabrera, JaCoby Jones and former Twin Jonathan Schoop leading the way with three a piece. SEE ALSO Getting to Starters Early Will Be Imperative for the Minnesota Twins Early Report on Eddie Rosario's Plate Discipline Trevor May and the Next Adjustment

It’s possible tonight’s game gets postponed. These positive tests, just like in the real world, can have a domino effect. Multiple Miami Marlins players testing positive after leaving Philadelphia caused the Phillies-Yankees series to be postponed. Even the Phillies-Blue Jays series that was scheduled for this weekend has now been postponed after a Philadelphia coach and clubhouse staff member tested positive. We'll just have to wait and see how MLB decides to handle this situation. LAST NIGHT’S GAME RECAP CLE 2, MIN 0: Shane Bieber is a Cheat Code TODAY Twins vs. Cleveland, 7:10 pm CT Twins: Randy Dobnak, RHP Last outing: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 73 pitches Info via Baseball Savant Shane Bieber? Mike Clevinger? What about Randy Dobnak and his 1.67 career ERA!?!?!? It’s a small sample, but Dobnak has done a great job in the limited opportunities he’s had with the Twins so far in his career. He stepped in on short notices and held the White Sox to one run over four innings his last start. Dobnak faced Cleveland three times last season, and gave up just three earned runs over 11 innings pitched (2.45 ERA), though the rest of the numbers aren’t as pretty. Cleveland: Mike Clevinger, RHP Last outing: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 90 pitches Info via Baseball Savant Bieber was essentially the Terminator last night, dominating the Bomba Squad over eight shutout innings. At least that guy’s outta the way, right? Well, the top of Cleveland’s rotation delivers another machine-powered pitcher in Clevinger tonight. Clevinger was excellent in four starts against the Twins last season, posting a 2.39 ERA while striking out 32 batters over 26 1/3 innings. Luis Arráez is 6-for-11 with a pair of doubles against Clevinger, but as a whole current Twins have hit .206/.287/.377 (.664 OPS) off him. It’s been feast or famine for Miguel Sanó against Clevinger. In 27 career plate appearances, Clevinger has struck out Sanó 11 times, but he’s also drawn six walks and hit a bomba. His career batting line against him is .200/.407/.500. LINEUP NEWS & NOTES — Jake Odorizzi threw a bullpen session yesterday, meaning he won’t be pitching in this four-game series against Cleveland. The positive news is Odorizzi, who is recovering from a back injury, felt good. His next item on the agenda is facing live hitters Monday in St. Paul. — MLB and the MLBPA agreed to play any doubleheaders necessary this season as seven-inning games. This is yet another new rule change the MLB is adopting that’s been in place in the minor leagues. — Mandy Bell of MLB.com did a nice writeup on the T-2000, er, Shane Bieber. — White Sox prospect Nick Madrigal is getting close to joining the big club, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times. The second baseman was the No. 4 pick of the 2018 draft. He hit .311/.377/.414 (.792 OPS) over three levels of the minor leagues last season. — Mike Trout has been placed on the paternity list. Congrats to him and his wife, Jessica. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL KCR 5, DET 3 CHW OFF 1. CLE 5-2 (+9) 2. MIN 4-2 (+14) 3. DET 4-3 (-11) 4. KC 3-4 (0) 5. CHW 2-4 (-9) SEE ALSO Early Report on Eddie Rosario's Plate Discipline Twins Fans Welcomed Back to Target Field? Trevor May and the Next Adjustment

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