Collision of Chaos: 2 Frazzled Forces Are About to Converge at Target Field

[Nick Nelson]

This Twins season has offered more than its fair share of early frustration, and that has been felt throughout the fan base. 

The rancor might be even fiercer in the South Side of Chicago, where the White Sox are in a bad way in the face of much higher expectations. They're coming to Target Field for a weekend series.

Something's gotta give in this key early showdown.

Everyone reading this likely aware of the numerous issues plaguing the Twins. The offense has been a complete disaster so far, with three or fewer runs scored in nine of their 13 games amidst a historically cold start. The lineup just got done fumbling away a huge get-right opportunity, scoring four runs in three games against a sub par Kansas City pitching staff.

The bullpen has already sprung some worrisome leaks, with Tyler Duffey's immense struggles intensified by a longing for Taylor Rogers. Byron Buxton has already had an injury scare. Alex Kirilloff's wrist immediately resurfaced as a big problem.

Minnesota has yet to win a series and already finds itself in a 5-8 hole, which understandably is panicking a lot of fans more than it probably should given what we all went through last year. The Twins, and especially their much-hyped collection of bats, return home with much to prove this weekend.

They'll be facing a team that is itself completely out of sorts and driving a deep sense of discontent among its followers. 

Coming into the season, the White Sox were clear favorites in the AL Central, and sported some of the highest odds for a World Series title. They looked the part while jumping out to a 6-2 start. But Chicago has since dropped four straight and just got swept out of Cleveland in a series where they were pretty thoroughly dismantled.

Like the Twins, the White Sox are seeing their offense short-circuit. They've gone seven straight games without scoring more than three runs. Like the Twins, they've already had an injury scare with their superstar center fielder (Luis Robert exited Thursday's game with a groin strain, although it's said to be minor).

Like Twins fans, Sox fans are ruing the impactful loss of a pitcher who they let get away. Carlos Rodon, who departed as a free agent without receiving so much as a qualifying offer from Chicago, is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA and MLB-leading 15.4 K/9 rate through his first three starts. Meanwhile Dallas Keuchel's ERA sits at 16.50 after two turns.

And if you think Twins fans have been cranky about the recent performance of their team, you should just see some of the frustration flowing by White Sox faithful. Below you can find a small sampling of the tweets that came across my feed on Thursday from Sox fans:

There's no such thing as a "must-win series" in April and it's far too early for either team to be feeling a true sense of desperation. But these three games sure do feel like they carry an added level of weight, especially when you consider the stakes outside of all this chaos.

For the Twins, or any other team, the path to a Central division title goes through the White Sox. This will be the first match-up between the two, and the last until July. Can the Twins kick the division favorite while they're down, at home, while reinvigorating a fed-up fan base? 

Or will the powerful White Sox unleash their pent-up angst on a team they thoroughly handled in 2021 while overtaking the division mantle?

Like I said: one way or another, something's gotta give. Should be a fun weekend. Or else really, really not fun.

View full article

[mikelink45]

What a delight - nice reflection - two teams spinning out of control - what a fascinating set of circumstances.  I am about to go back to work and fly to Florida and then go up the coast.  I hope I can stay in touch because this should be fun.  They can't pitch, we can't hit - amazing.  But at least we have Joe Ryan. 

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Well, it's nice to know they are suffering too.

[wsnydes]

Misery loves company!  Bring on the weekend series!

 

And hopefully some decent weather!

[ashbury]

I'm not gonna judge any team, even one that I hate, on messages from That Guy On Twitter.

There are much better reasons to hate the White Sox anyway.

[LastOnePicked]

"Can the Twins kick the division favorite while they're down, at home, while reinvigorating a fed-up fan base?" 

My guess is a very solid "no," but I just love this sentence regardless. We can't score more than 2 runs a game, and the White Sox, despite their troubles, certainly can.

Prove me wrong, boys.

[jun]

The only lineup I have faith in both offensively and defensively.

Buxton (CF)

Arraez (DH)

Polanco (2B)

Correa (SS)

Urshela (3B)

Sanchez (C)

Kepler (RF)

Kirilloff (1B)

Gordon (LF)

[tony&rodney]

Those who may have watched a number of AL Central games the last two weeks may state that the division runs through Cleveland. They run out some fun athletes, can pitch, have a low payroll, the best prospect list, and could easily make a trade to bring in a couple of key pieces. It is a long season though and anything can happen.

[Game7-91]

Should be kind-of-entertaining this weekend. Somebody's gonna right the ship. The Rodon-less Sox are good as any place to start getting bats revved up.

Nick, nice reminder about that bullet Twins FO dodged in not pursuing Rodon, sure glad we avoided him and his diminishing velocity. Can't see how we could have fit him into this staff anyhow, what with Thorpe lurking in the wings. Whew, that was close one......

[tarheeltwinsfan]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

"Can the Twins kick the division favorite while they're down, at home, while reinvigorating a fed-up fan base?" 

My guess is a very solid "no," but I just love this sentence regardless. We can't score more than 2 runs a game, and the White Sox, despite their troubles, certainly can.

Prove me wrong, boys.

Wrong. Buck is back and we're not facing Kershaw.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

1 hour ago, jun said:

The only lineup I have faith in both offensively and defensively.

Buxton (CF)

Arraez (DH)

Polanco (2B)

Correa (SS)

Urshela (3B)

Sanchez (C)

Kepler (RF)

Kirilloff (1B)

Gordon (LF)

That is a good lineup.

[LastOnePicked]

39 minutes ago, Game7-91 said:

Nick, nice reminder about that bullet Twins FO dodged in not pursuing Rodon

Good for Rodon, but way too many question marks going into the season, and this stretch may not last as long as last year. I know I wasn't pushing for the FO to sign him, so I can't do any told-ya-so-ing here. 

[LastOnePicked]

12 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Buck is back and we're not facing Kershaw.

We were facing a 50 year old Zack Greinke today and scored one run. With Buxton.

Okay, maybe he's not 50. But we aren't setting the league on fire in offense, even with Buxton.

[Bradfoot]

I watched a couple of those White Sox games against Cleveland.  Some of the sloppiest defense I have ever seen.  Dallas Keuchel must be frustrated that he got charged for 8 runs when his infield was booting groundball after groundball.  They were very generous with the hit ruling in that one.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Even though the Twinkies record is 5 and 8 and the Pale Hose record is 6 and 6, they each have -8 run differentials. A few runs here and there and the Twins would be at .500. I think Rocco needs a little time to see what he's got, due to so many changes in the roster. I am optimistic about this Twins team. The Yankee trade looks better every day that Donaldson, Sanchez and Gio play and every month when the paychecks are direct deposited. The Cruz trade for the rookie Ace of the Twins staff was a steal for the Twins. I do miss Berrios, but I wonder if there was more going between Berrios and the Twins than any of us posters and writers know about?  I am still disappointed that the Twins traded Chase Petty. I think he will be a special pitcher. I like Sonny Gray, but I would not have traded Petty away.,  By the way, the Guardians have a + 25 run differential, but are opening a series against the Evil Empire featuring the Yankees MVP, team leader at 3B. I don't know who to pull for in this matchup. Correa is a dream to watch play SS. He will eventually hit his average and with some moderate power. Have you been noticing Woods-Richardson in AA? And Royce Lewis in AAA? All things considered, I am very optimistic. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

“There's no such thing as a ‘must-win series’ in April and it's far too early for either team to be feeling a true sense of desperation. But these three games sure do feel like they carry an added level of weight, especially when you consider the stakes outside of all this chaos.”

I dunno @Nick Nelson, if the Twins go the entire month of April without a series win, post season aspirations get pretty difficult. There’s only two full series left.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

24 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

We were facing a 50 year old Zack Greinke today and scored one run. With Buxton.

Okay, maybe he's not 50. But we aren't setting the league on fire in offense, even with Buxton.

I'm in my happy place when only one run gives the Twins a victory. It was a beautiful game to me. I love a low scoring victory with good defense and no Twins thrown out at home. 

[Doctor Gast]

It was a big mistake that CWS let Rondon walk, the problem IMO was that Rodon wasn't a work horse so La Russa didn't want him.

CLE always beats up on CWS but this was awsome. Twins need to be pumped about that. CWS believes they have our number. We need to blow them away because we just used our 3 best short RPs in this last game and we have basicly Duffy to close.

[twinssporto]

Twins vs. White Sox!!!

 

[SE23]

We need some wins here. Buck is back, Let's party.

[beckmt]

May not do much.  Lot's of rain predicted the next 2 days.  

[wabene]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Even though the Twinkies record is 5 and 8 and the Pale Hose record is 6 and 6, they each have -8 run differentials. A few runs here and there and the Twins would be at .500. I think Rocco needs a little time to see what he's got, due to so many changes in the roster. I am optimistic about this Twins team. The Yankee trade looks better every day that Donaldson, Sanchez and Gio play and every month when the paychecks are direct deposited. The Cruz trade for the rookie Ace of the Twins staff was a steal for the Twins. I do miss Berrios, but I wonder if there was more going between Berrios and the Twins than any of us posters and writers know about?  I am still disappointed that the Twins traded Chase Petty. I think he will be a special pitcher. I like Sonny Gray, but I would not have traded Petty away.,  By the way, the Guardians have a + 25 run differential, but are opening a series against the Evil Empire featuring the Yankees MVP, team leader at 3B. I don't know who to pull for in this matchup. Correa is a dream to watch play SS. He will eventually hit his average and with some moderate power. Have you been noticing Woods-Richardson in AA? And Royce Lewis in AAA? All things considered, I am very optimistic. 

I agree with all this except I'm not sure I do about the Gray and Petty trade . Yes I would have preferred they signed his equivalent in free agency, but that guy wouldn't have such a short, team friendly deal. If they can get 300 innings of a good later career Gray the next two years, then it makes sense. By the time we possibly see Petty in the bigs I'm guessing the FO is banking on the pipeline.

[Whitey333]

Still need to get our offense going.  We should have taken at least two of three against a poor Royals team.  I believe we scored 4 runs in 3 games against some questionable pitchers.  Plus we have only scored 1 run in the past 18 innings.  Last year we were told in April that it's too early to worry.  Yet we only won 9 games in April.  Then proceeded to finish last by end of the year.  They told us games in April and May don't matter because it's too early.  They are telling us the same thing this year.  The great starting pitching we are getting is being wasted.  The starters will level off at some point.  We have guys being paid a lot of money to hit. If the Twins can ever get good hitting and pitching together at the same time, watch out.  Our "defense"? That's another issue.

[Trov]

11 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Even though the Twinkies record is 5 and 8 and the Pale Hose record is 6 and 6, they each have -8 run differentials. A few runs here and there and the Twins would be at .500. I think Rocco needs a little time to see what he's got, due to so many changes in the roster. I am optimistic about this Twins team. The Yankee trade looks better every day that Donaldson, Sanchez and Gio play and every month when the paychecks are direct deposited. The Cruz trade for the rookie Ace of the Twins staff was a steal for the Twins. I do miss Berrios, but I wonder if there was more going between Berrios and the Twins than any of us posters and writers know about?  I am still disappointed that the Twins traded Chase Petty. I think he will be a special pitcher. I like Sonny Gray, but I would not have traded Petty away.,  By the way, the Guardians have a + 25 run differential, but are opening a series against the Evil Empire featuring the Yankees MVP, team leader at 3B. I don't know who to pull for in this matchup. Correa is a dream to watch play SS. He will eventually hit his average and with some moderate power. Have you been noticing Woods-Richardson in AA? And Royce Lewis in AAA? All things considered, I am very optimistic. 

The early returns on Yankees trade is tilting Twins, despite neither player we got doing great, Donaldson is doing terrible.  In terms of the Gray for Petty trade, time will tell if we made a mistake or not.  High school pitchers are so hard to project.  He is doing fine first 11 innings in A ball for Reds. 

[jmlease1]

We're seeing why a lot of us didn't like the Dallas Keuchel deal when it was signed in the first place. He was good in the short season, bad last year, and worse this one. And if Keuchel manages to get to 160 innings this season, they're on the hook for $20M on him for next year too! (seems unlikely with how bad he's been, but who knows with LaRussa)

I was surprised that the ChiSox didn't make a QO to Rodon; it seemed to make sense to run him back because of his upside, but without long-term commitment because of his injury history. I guess they were convinced that he wasn't going to stay healthy.

It would be lovely to get well against the White Sox. I love beating LaRussa, who I think is a lying scumbag.

[Giles Ferrell]

If one thing has been right for the Twins, it's been their starting pitching (can't believe that is the one positive right now). Hopefully the starters can buzzsaw the southsiders' lineup over the weekend and give us a decent chance to win the first series of the year. 

[South Dakota Tom]

Reaction on WS media won’t be pretty. Someone mentioned something about “kicking it around” IIFC.