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In the final update before we hit the All-Star Break, we saw the AL Central become the only division with just a single team above .500 following a Guardians loss on Wednesday. It’s been a weird year for the division, and competitiveness may be interesting when we get to October. The Standings: Minnesota 49-41 Cleveland 43-44 (4.5 GB, 3.0 GB of 2nd Wild Card) Chicago 43-45 (5.0 GB) Detroit 37-52 (11.5 GB) Kansas City 35-53 (13.0 GB) Chicago again continues to get in their own way while they have gained ground on Cleveland thanks to a horrid stretch from Terry Francona’s club. Detroit and Kansas City haven’t figured to be in play even before Opening Day and the question now is just how far they’ll fall by season’s end. The Stories: After a strong first-half performance by more than a few Minnesota Twins players, both Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez were named to the American League All-Star team. Buxton has a slugging-heavy OPS while Arraez looks like the second coming of Rod Carew. Kenta Maeda has thrown 85 mph in a recent bullpen and looks toward a return later this season. Following his most recent outing, Josh Winder was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. It appears starter Chris Archer will rejoin the rotation and take the final turn against Chicago before the break. Just days after returning to the lineup for Chicago, Eloy Jimenez exited Wednesday with leg tightness. Yasmani Grandal is inching closer towards a return for the White Sox and is expected to rejoin the club following the All-Star break. He has been sidelined dealing with back spasms. Tony La Russa continues to be the gift that keeps on giving in terms of mind-boggling decisions. This week he had his pitcher walk Guardians star Jose Ramirez after getting behind 0-1 in a count while Chicago was trailing by 4. A couple of less than ideal contributors have their status currently up in the air for Francona’s club. Luke Maile took a foul tip to the catcher’s mask and it didn’t look good. Starter Aaron Civale has also been sent for an MRI after dealing with right wrist pain during his latest start. Jose Ramirez did make waves this week when he announced that he would participate in the Home Run Derby during the All-Star game festivities in Los Angeles. It’s been an up and down year for Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. Overall though, he’s nearly hit 100 mph and while he owns a 4.11 ERA the 3.02 FIP suggests he’s been even better. In a year lost for much of the team, he’s been a bright spot. Miguel Cabrera has been selected to participate in the All-Star game by way of Commissioner Rob Manfred. Very little has gone right for Kansas City this season and now they’ve entered the territory of self-inflicted wounds. Heading to Toronto for a final series prior to the All-Star break, Kansas City placed nearly 50% of their 26-man roster on the restricted list. That also includes key trade chip, Andrew Benintendi, who Jon Heyman now reports is not of interest to the Yankees because of the inability to compete. The Week Ahead: A fitting end to the first half for Minnesota, they’ll tangle with the Chicago White Sox. Despite expecting to battle with one another, the Twins own a 5-1 record with a +18 run differential against Chicago this season. After playing the Tigers in Detroit four times over three days last week, Cleveland closes out by welcoming them four a traditional four-game series. Mike Matheny’s Royals club goes north of the border to play the Blue Jays in Toronto. As mentioned, they’ll do so needing to replace a whopping 10 players on their active roster. For a team that’s already one of the worst in baseball, they’ll be a skeleton crew in Canada to close it out. What are you looking forward to this week? What’s your favorite part of the All-Star festivities? View full article

Although the Minnesota Twins have basically gone wire to wire thus far, no one else seems to want to challenge them. Detroit has taken down the White Sox and Guardians of late, which has increased Minnesota’s lead and provides opportunity for the Twins to run and hide. The Standings: Minnesota 47-38 Cleveland 40-40 (4.5 GB, 3.0 GB of 2nd Wild Card) Chicago 39-42 (6.0 GB) Detroit 35-47 (10.5 GB) Kansas City 30-51 (15.0 GB) After jumping a few games over .500, the Guardians have come cratering back to treading water. Similarly, the White Sox can’t quite get over their bugaboo of surpassing and maintaining the .500 mark. Detroit has gone on a nice little run, their 7-3 record over the last 10, including a four-game sweep over Cleveland and a Thursday win over the White Sox. The Stories: Although the Twins couldn’t do much against the Guardians and wound up playing eight games with no change in standings, they handled the White Sox in two of three games. A crazy game with five blown leads continues to highlight the problems for Minnesota’s bullpen and kept them from a sweep. Jorge Polanco enjoyed a birthday dinger, then followed it up the following day. There was also the fun father-son moment with a fan grabbing Byron Buxton’s walkoff homer against the Baltimore Orioles. Chicago got a boost to their lineup in the form of Eloy Jimenez returning from the injured list. He played a pivotal role in Chicago’s win against Minnesota when he launched his 2nd dinger of the season on Wednesday. Although Tony La Russa’s club was excited to get Jimenez back, they did lose Jake Burger to a bone bruise, and Vince Velasquez was placed on the injured list with a blister. Cleveland seemed to be riding high after holding serve against the Twins but then were swept in four games over three days by the Tigers. With so few games played in relation to their competition, a string of doubleheaders will make things difficult for the Guardians down the stretch. In the last week alone Terry Francona’s club had to play three separate twin bill’s. Star prospect George Valera is set to represent Cleveland in the Futures Game in Los Angeles. Although Javier Baez has been a massive flop in Detroit thus far, he did provide a solo shot to help sink Chicago on Thursday night. Beau Brieske was great allowing just two hits over 6 1/3 innings. Veteran pitcher Wily Peralta suffered a hamstring strain and A.J. Hinch doesn’t see him coming back until August. Outfielder Austin Meadows should be back sooner as he finished his first rehab game working his way into action from an Achilles injury. Starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez continues to remain on the restricted list while the Tigers have had no contact with him. He went on the list for “personal matters” on June 13 and hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since May. After giving him a five-year contract this offseason, things couldn’t be going more poorly. Andrew Benintendi has been a bright spot for the Royals and is almost certain to be a veteran name drawing trade interest later this month. Star rookie Bobby Witt Jr. was hit by a pitch on the hand this week and has been held out of action but looks like he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list. Kansas City has not been good this year, and already down clubhouse leader Salvador Perez, they need an infusion of as much talent as they have available to them. The Week Ahead: The Twins matched up with the Rangers this offseason when they sent Mitch Garver to Texas for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. They’ll now see their former Silver Slugger for the first time with a three-game series on tap over the weekend. Milwaukee then comes to town before the White Sox invade Target Field a final time prior to the All-Star break. It’s a divisional week for the White Sox as they continue a series with Detroit at home before a trip to Cleveland. Chicago has four games in three days with the Guardians and then ends the first half in Minnesota. Cleveland begins a series with the Royals on Saturday and then has another doubleheader looming Tuesday. They finish their first half against the Tigers to close out a stretch of 11 games in 10 days. Finishing the first half entirely on the road, Detroit wraps up with Chicago before a doubleheader in Kansas City and a weekend series with Cleveland. After the AL Central opponents leave Kauffman, the Royals head north of the border to face the Blue Jays for a four-game set wrapping up their first half. What are you looking forward to this week? What are the storylines to watch over the final week in the first half? View full article

After what was arguably the most impactful series of the year thus far, the Minnesota Twins have now put the AL Central Division on ice. With a magic number at nine, and 13 games left against the divisional doldrums, all eyes are on October. The first opponent of the final homestand in 2019 is none other than the Chicago White Sox. Doubling up on them thus far, Rocco Baldelli’s club gets their final three cracks at Rick Renteria’s squad.Brief Overview: When you play any team 19 times in one season you’re going to get to know them quite well. Chicago knows the Twins are what they aspire to be (in a few years), and Minnesota is familiar with the up-and-coming names on the White Sox. Luis Robert did not garner a September look, so this is the same squad we’ve grown accustomed to. What They Do Well: At 65-84 it’s not shocking that there’s very little the White Sox do well. These two teams last played against each other on August 29th so it’s worth trying to isolate the numbers since that point. Over the past few weeks the White Sox own the 10th best offense in baseball. That’s actually superior to the Twins, which isn’t surprising given what Minnesota has had to run out there. There isn’t a specific category that truly jumps off the page for Chicago in that time, but they have done a great job hitting for average. With a .272 batting average they have the fifth best tally dating back to the 30th. What They Do Not Do Well: Pitching has been pretty middle of the road for Chicago since the end of August. Lucas Giolito has continued to look the part of a staff ace and that’s helped to anchor a group that’s definitely lacking as a whole. Where Chicago really falls off, as has been the case most of the year, is in the field. You can’t isolate defensive metrics over a sample size so small, but the White Sox have been 25th in fielding over the course of the season. They have a whopping -59 defensive runs saved and have a whole collection of guys that struggle to provide any range. It’s a dated stat, but only the Seattle Mariners have made more errors than Chicago’s 111, and that many miscues is hardly a positive. Individuals Of Note: The same names you’ve gotten to know all year are worth mentioning again in this space. Eloy Jimenez is the big-bat prospect that Chicago is pinning its future hopes on. Lucas Giolito is that late-blooming arm that has developed into a staff ace, and now looks like one of the best starters in baseball. Tim Anderson has electrified the sport and provided plenty of excitement all year long. If there’re two guys that have flown a bit under the radar in terms of recognition, it’s James McCann and Yoan Moncada. The former was an All-Star (because Mitch Garver wasn’t on the ballot), and has fallen off in the second half, but he’s having a career year. The latter is a former superstar prospect that has finally met expectations and looks the part of a franchise cornerstone. McCann will need to substantiate the 2019 results, and Moncada will also, but it’s Yoan that can be a guy you build around. Recent History: Minnesota swept Chicago at the end of August on the road but dropped two of three the week before at Target Field. On the season, the Twins have gone 11-5 against the White Sox and they own a healthy +59 run differential. Recent Trajectories: The Twins wrapped up their last difficult stretch of the season going 6-6 against the Red Sox, Nationals, and Indians. Chicago is 4-6 across their last ten and have been losers in each of their last two. Pitching Matchups: Monday: Berrios vs Lopez Tuesday: Perez vs Giolito Giolito now done for the year with a lat strain Wednesday: Odorizzi vs Covey Ending Thoughts: There’s no denying that Minnesota should have a healthy amount of wins awaiting them in this final 13 game stretch, but the reality is they still need to play the games and compete. The Twins bumped Jose Berrios to get another day of rest, and they should prioritize getting ready for October. They’ll get solid tests against Lopez and Giolito though, so dropping the series is something they should be keyed in on avoiding. I don’t see a sweep, but Minnesota needs to assert some home dominance against bottom feeders the rest of the way. Take two and call it good. Click here to view the article

Luis Arraez has fought his way into an everyday role on one of the best offenses in baseball history. This is no small feat, especially for a 22-year old rookie. Since he wasn’t a highly-ranked prospect, Arraez has surprised many fans with his professional approach at the plate. Could he surprise the rest of baseball and walk away with the American League Rookie of the Year Award?The Arraez Resume' Arraez entered play on Tuesday hitting .350/.421/.446 with 12 extra-base hits in just over 200 plate appearances. He has coaxed 22 walks and has struck out only 14 times. Among AL rookies with 200 plate appearances, he has the highest batting average by 50 points and the highest OBP by 40 points. His 6.9 K% is almost half as low as the second-place rookie on the leaderboard. One of Arraez’s biggest hurdles to winning the award will be his lack of plate appearances. He should finish with close to 370 plate appearances, but some other rookies already have over 300 plate appearances to their credit. Arraez will also be hurt because other rookies will be able to accrue more WAR because of their getting to the big leagues before him. According to FanGraphs, Arraez currently ranks fourth in WAR among AL rookie batters. Less than a week ago, he ranked sixth on this list. He currently trails Tampa’s Brandon Lowe (2.5 WAR), New York’s Mike Tauchman (2.5 WAR) and Seattle’s Daniel Vogelbach (2.2 WAR). None of these players are exactly household names but the real competition might come from other more well-known players. The Competition Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the big name in the AL ROY competition. So far this season, he has hit .274/.346/.459 with 34 extra-base hits in 367 plate appearances. FanGraphs has his WAR total as 0.5 and his total is low because of his negative value as a baserunner and a defender. He still had a ton of hype coming into the year and he has compiled a solid offensive resume. Some other former top prospects to consider are Chicago’s Eloy Jimenez and Toronto’s Cavan Biggio. Jimenez’ 19 home runs are second among AL rookies, but his other offensive numbers might make it tough to consider him a front-runner. He is hitting .237/.294/.453 with 27 extra-base hits and he has provided negative value on the defensive side. Biggio’s .205 batting average is tough to swallow, but he is getting on base a third of the time and he has 17 extra-base hits in 63 games. As far as pitchers, Spencer Turnbull has been worth 2.0 WAR on a bad Tigers team. He has a 3.68 ERA, a 1.32 WHIP, and a 98 to 42 strikeout to walk ratio in 107 2/3 innings. John Means represented the Orioles in the All-Star Game this season and he has a 3.36 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP to go along with an 83 to 28 strikeout to walk ratio. Both players have been decent, but neither will likely have a shot at the award. The Race Minnesota hasn’t had a top-three finisher for AL ROY since 2015 when Miguel Sano finished a distant third behind Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor. During Minnesota’s last run to a division title in 2010, Danny Valencia earned enough votes to finish a distant third in the voting. One must go back all the way to the mid-90s to find Minnesota’s last AL ROY winner when Marty Cordova took home the hardware after beating out Garret Anderson and Andy Pettitte. Voting for the Rookie of the Year Awards is different than voting for other year-end honors. While most awards go to the player that had the best overall season, this isn’t always the case of the ROY. I’ve heard from voters that they approach voting for this award by looking at the candidates and voting for not only who had a good season, but also who will have a long-term impact on the game. Over the last seven years, some of the AL winners include Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, Jose Abreu, Wil Myers and Mike Trout. All those batters had at least 88 games played at the big-league level with Myers having the fewest. He batted .293/.354/.478 that season and he was one of baseball’s top prospects. He only had to beat out Jose Iglesias and Chris Archer for the top spot. Does Arraez have a shot at the AL ROY? It seems more likely for Guerrero to finish on top but that still doesn’t take anything away from the impact Arraez has had on the Twins line-up. Click here to view the article

Extending young players has become the new normal in baseball. Some young players are willing to give up free agent years for more financial stability. In some situations, teams have been able to work out those contracts with unestablished big-league players. Team friendly deals seem to be trending and that could benefit the Twins. Is it possible Minnesota may engage Alex Kirilloff or Royce Lewis in extension talks within the next 12 months?Atlanta Braves Deals Baseball was a little up in arms last week with the extension signed my Ozzie Albies. The All-Star second baseman signed a contract that will guarantee him $45 million over the next nine seasons. With multiple top tier players signing for $100 million or more this off-season, this deal was seen as a relative bargain. The Braves also locked up Ronald Acuna Jr. this off-season to a deal that was also considered a bargain. Coming off a Rookie of the Year campaign, he signed an eight-year deal for $100 million. Acuna is a five-tool player with the ability to impact multiple facets of the game. This puts him in a different category than Albies, but Atlanta was able to work out two very team friendly contracts. Eloy Jimenez Extension Another intriguing extension was the one handed out by a division rival. The Chicago White Sox were able to work out a unique deal with one of their top prospects. Eloy Jimenez had yet to appear in a big-league game and the club signed him to a six-year, $43 million contract. It includes a pair of club options and can max out around $77 million. One unique aspect of this deal was there was no need to manipulate service time. He was under contract and the White Sox aren’t going to be in contention this season. This allows him to take his licks at with the big-league club. Entering play on Tuesday, he was hitting .268/.328/.393 with three extra-base hits in 15 games. Possible Twins Extensions When looking at Alex Kirilloff and Royce Lewis, there are plenty of things to consider. Minnesota’s outfield seems like it is in good shape with the likes of Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler and Byron Buxton. Kirilloff’s bat might be MLB ready but the outfield seems a little jammed at this point. Kirilloff’s best option might be a move to first base. Minnesota has already stated that he will be getting plenty of time at first base this season. There is also an opening at first base for the 2020 season. Kirilloff has yet to play this season, so it will be intriguing to see how much time he gets at first. Lewis is certainly in a different situation. He might be able to come up and succeed at the big-league level, but what’s the rush? He’s starting this season at Fort Myers where he is almost 2.5 years younger than the competition. He had a great 2018 campaign, but he likely won’t have a shot at debuting until 2021. Jorge Polanco is doing more than holding down shortstop at this point. Lewis might be able to land a contract higher than Acuna, but there are plenty of hurdles facing him in the years ahead. If he follows in Acuna’s footsteps and wins the AL Rookie of the Year, then the Twins can start taking about a long-term extension. The Boras Question Scott Boras, the baseball super-agent, might be standing in the way of Minnesota getting any long-term deals in place. Forbes has named Boras as the most powerful sports agent in the world for six consecutive seasons. This off-season he negotiated Bryce Harper’s massive free agent deal. He has negotiated more than ten contracts worth over than $100 million including Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Chris Davis. Kirilloff and Lewis are both represented by Boras. Of the trio mentioned above (Acuna, Albies and Jimenez), none are represented by Boras. Boras likes his clients to test the open waters of free agency, but free agency hasn’t been as lucrative in recent years. Could Boras buck the trend and give up some free agent years for Kirilloff or Lewis? We will all have to wait and see… Do you think Kirilloff or Lewis will sign an extension in the next 12 months? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. Click here to view the article