MLB Spotlight Series: New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins

Paul Molitor's Twins face key mid-season series vs Yankees

When the 2017 MLB season began, few would have guessed that a mid-July series between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins could be so significant. But here we are, and this is indeed a series that has become important for both clubs.

Led by explosive rookie Aaron Judge, the Yankees took over the AL East Division lead in mid-April. New York held that lead for the most part right up through late June. But a 9-20 mark since June 12 has dropped the Bronx Bombers into third place, 3.5 games behind the arch-rival Boston Red Sox.

The Twins were the biggest surprise team in all of Major League Baseball over the first couple of months. For much of the same time that the Yanks were leading their division, the Twins were on top of the AL Central.

Just as with New York, the Twins have slowed measurably. Since their high-water mark at seven games over .500 on May 24, Minnesota is just 21-27. The Twins have dropped four of their last five games heading into this series.

The American League Wild Card standings after games on Sunday, July 16 show the Yankees still control the second of the two available postseason berths. The Twins are just 1.5 games out, two games behind the Yanks in the loss column.

This week’s clash at Target Field in Minneapolis marks the first meeting of the season between the two teams. They will not meet again until a three-gamer at Yankee Stadium in late September.

Streaking Rangers powered by Joey Gallo

On Friday night at Tigers Stadium, the Texas Rangers held off the host Detroit Tigers by a 5-3 score. The victory was a 10th straight for the streaking Rangers.

Now at 23-20, they have slipped to within 6.5 games of their in-state AL West Division rivals, the Houston Astros.

The Rangers have made this move without their future Hall of Fame third baseman Adrian Beltre in the lineup. Beltre injured his right calf just one week into the 2017 season, and has been on the Disabled List ever since.

Beltre is now on the road to recovery. Earlier this week, Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram reported that his return to the lineup is likely just a couple of weeks away. Wilson quoted Beltre after the Rangers training staff had allowed the now 38-year old to test the calf by running on it at half speed:

“It’s on the right track. I just have to make sure my legs are in shape and not to have any setbacks. So far, the plan the trainers have for me has been working, and I’m trying to follow that plan.”

Stepping into Beltre’s place in the lineup has been the man who is perhaps the future at the Hot Corner in Texas. Joey Gallo is a 23-year old who has been one of the club’s top prospects for years.

Gallo was the Rangers supplemental first round choice at 39th overall in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

Tim Beckham Making Most of Latest Opportunity

Former top MLB draft pick Tim Beckham finally producing in Tampa

The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant in 2008, reaching the World Series for the only time in their history.

The excitement of that 2008 Fall Classic came just one year after the Rays had finished with the worst overall record in Major League Baseball.

As a result of that poor 2007 finish, Tampa Bay held the rights to the top overall pick in the MLB Amateur Draft in June of 2008. With that selection, the Rays chose shortstop Tim Beckham out of Griffin High School in Georgia.

Also selected in that first round included first baseman Eric Hosmer at third overall by the Kansas City Royals. The San Francisco Giants chose catcher Buster Posey with the fifth overall pick.

It was a third consecutive year in which the Rays were selecting within the top three overall picks of the draft. The previous year, the club chose pitcher David Price with the top overall pick. In 2006, the Rays took third baseman Evan Longoria at third overall.

Alex Bregman struggling thus far with the Houston Astros

Scouts have mixed opinions on upside of Alex Bregman

The Houston Astros are off to a red hot start to the 2017 MLB regular season. After games of May 1, the Astros have carved out a 17-9 record. 

That mark is the third-best in all of baseball, and has the club sitting three and a half games up in the AL West Division.

For the most part, it has been pitching that has put Houston on top. The Astros staff has a .227 cumulative Batting Average Against, tied for the top mark in the game. Their 3.33 ERA is second to only the surprising Chicago White Sox pitching staff.

Meanwhile, the Houston offense has left room to grow. Despite the second-best OPS in the American League, the club is just fifth in runs scored and eighth in home runs.

Those aren’t marks that leave the Astros struggling. Remember, they’re in first place comfortably at the moment. But there is one spot in the lineup that has been a bit troublesome.

At third base, 23-year old Alex Bregman was expected to play a big role this year. Bregman was the Astros’ first round pick at second overall in the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft out of LSU.

Rays of Hope During Hot Spring in Tampa Bay

To say that the 2016 season was rough for the Tampa Bay Rays and their fans would be an understatement. The club’s 68-94 last place finish in the AL East was their worst in nearly a decade.

From 2008, the year that a talented, young Rays club won the franchise lone American League pennant, through 2013, Tampa Bay won 90 or more games in five of six seasons.

But it has now been three straight losing campaigns in west-central Florida. And most prognosticators had the team again finishing at the bottom of the standings.

But the Rays are off to an encouraging 9-9 start here in the early weeks of the 2017 season. It hasn’t been any one particular thing either.

Under third year manager Kevin Cash, there has been real improvement across all facets of the game. Those improvements added up to a winning record after the Rays swept the Detroit Tigers earlier this week for the first time since 2010. A loss last night to Houston dropped the club back to the .500 mark.

Angels Again Surround Mike Trout With Little Help

The Los Angeles Angels are off to a 7-10 start to the 2017 season. Those uneven first three weeks have the team tied with the Seattle Mariners for third place in the AL West Division standings. Those two clubs are just a half-game ahead of the last place Oakland Athletics.

One of the main reasons that the Halos remain closer to the bottom of the division than the top is the continuing struggle to find support for the lineup’s lone true superstar.

Mike Trout appears set to add yet another strong season to what might already be a Hall of Fame career. Turning 26 years of age just before the MLB All-Star Game this coming July, Trout is hitting for a .339/.424/.625 slash line over the season’s first three weeks.

Trout has thus far produced three home runs, 11 RBI, and seven runs scored while stealing three bases. Those numbers put him on pace for the second ’30-30′ season of his career, which is now in its seventh year.

But even with a player of this caliber in their lineup, the Angels still struggle. A two-time AL MVP who has been the runner-up for the award in each of his other three full seasons. Five straight Silver Sluggers and AL All-Star nods. And still the team cannot win consistently.

2016 Winter Meetings: Houston Astros

When the Winter Meetings open in National Harbor, Maryland next week, look for the Houston Astros to be one of the big players in free agent deals, big trades, or both.

A new Collective Bargaining Agreement could soon be announced between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. If that happens, the Astros could strike even more quickly.

The two biggest free agent names tied to Houston at the moment are a pair of veteran bats, Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Beltran.

Bradley Zimmer Set to Crack Tribe Lineup

The Cleveland Indians had a magical 2016 season, one that fell just one victory short of baseball’s ultimate prize. Cleveland won the American League Central Division crown by eight games. 

The Indians then bounced a pair of AL East heavyweights, the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, out of the playoffs.

Advancing to the World Series for the first time in nearly two decades, Cleveland bolted out to a lead of 3-1 against the heavily favored Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs rallied, and tied the Fall Classic, sending it to an epic Game Seven. That final game went down to a rare “Golden Pitch” twice. Either club had a chance to win the World Series based on the outcome of that pitch.

In the end, Mike Montgomery induced Michael Martinez to ground weakly to third base, and the Cubs had ended their 108-year World Series drought.

It is now the Indians who are left to carry the weight of the longest such drought. Cleveland has not won the World Series since 1948.

2016 Winter Meetings: Detroit Tigers

There are few teams in as interesting a position as the Detroit Tigers find themselves in during this off-season. 

Al Avila, the EVP of Baseball Operations and the team’s GM has to decide whether to rebuild, or retool for another big 2017 run.

The Tigers were just short this past season, finishing at 86-75. That record left the club eight games in back of the division-winning Cleveland Indians. But Detroit was only 2.5 games off the AL Wildcard pace.

This is a club with most of its key performers already past age 30, a few well into those 30’s. The decision to be made is whether to cash in on those players while they still have real value, or add to that core and make another playoff push.

There are heavy rumors that Detroit is looking to slash payroll. The club has been big spenders and steady contenders for years. While they would like to keep contending while also getting rid of some big salaries, that usually proves a difficult tightrope to walk.

2016 Winter Meetings: Tampa Bay Rays

When newly named Tampa Bay Rays GM and senior VP of baseball operations Erik Neander arrives at the Winter Meetings, he is likely to be a popular fellow.

The Rays have what is generally considered to be a top ten farm system. They finished the 2016 season at 68-94 in fifth place in the always tough AL East Division.

Now might be the perfect time for Neander and Matthew Silverman, the club’s President for Baseball Operations, to begin looking at building a contender for a few years down the road.

To that end, the Rays would have two of the most attractive assets as the Winter Meetings open. 

Those would be starting pitcher Chris Archer and veteran third baseman Evan Longoria.

White Sox Potential Winter Meetings Deals

The Chicago White Sox are almost certain to be among the most popular and influential players as the 2016 MLB Winter Meetings unfold in National Harbor, Maryland.

The White Sox went an extremely disappointing 78-84 this past season. That resulted in a fourth place finish in the AL Central Division.

It was a fourth consecutive losing season on the South Side of Chicago. This followed a long run of contention that had spanned the better part of two decades.

Now the White Sox also have to contend for the hearts and attention of fans in a two-team city. The other franchise is, or course, the young and exciting new World Series champion Chicago Cubs.

The White Sox were legitimate division crown contenders in the majority of seasons between 1990 and 2012. They won the AL Central five times in that span, and were the 2005 World Series champions.

In the eyes of most industry talent evaluators, the Chisox minor league talent is among the bottom five in the game. So there is not much help coming from within the organization.

Four of the last five AL pennant winners have come from the division. This includes the defending champion Cleveland Indians. But the AL Central could become very competitive in the next few years.

It is the job of general manager Rich Hahn and VP Ken Williams to make sure that Chicago gets back to that regular contending status. To that end, they are going to have to start replenishing the young talent in the organization.

Can the Royals Bounce Back and Contend in 2017?

The Kansas City Royals and their fans suffered through nine straight losing campaigns and 17 of 18 dating back to the 1994 strike season.

Then in the early part of this decade, the club began to build up one of the top farm systems in the game.

It all came together for them at the big league level with back to back AL pennants in 2014 and 2015, and a World Series championship in 2015.

But this year the Royals slid back to the .500 mark, finishing in third place in the American League Central Division. They were 13.5 games behind the division-winning Cleveland Indians, and eight games behind the AL Wildcard pace.

It was a frustrating summer for the defending champs. But that eight game difference between themselves and the playoff teams is not insurmountable.

The Royals plan to return to that postseason contention in 2017, but is that a reasonable goal? With a few tweaks, some breaks, and not unreasonable improve performances, the club can indeed reach the postseason once again.

Red Sox 2016 POY: Mookie Betts

The Boston Red Sox finished 93-69, recovering from back-to-back last place finishes to win the American League East Division crown.

The BoSox were quickly swept out of the American League Division Series in three straight games by the eventual pennant-winning Cleveland Indians, with two of the three decided by a single run. 

While manager John Farrell and his team were disappointed in the postseason ending, this was a big year for a number of young players who are paving the way for future Boston success.

Red Sox 2016 Statistical Leaders

One of those youngsters was 23-year-old shortstop Xander Bogaerts. He hit .294 with a .356 on-base percentage, producing 21 homers, 89 RBI, and 115 runs scored.

26-year-old center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is one of the best defenders in the game today. This year he stepped up his offensive contributions with 26 home runs, 87 RBI, and 94 runs scored.

26-year-old third baseman Travis Shawchipped in with 16 homers and 71 RBI. Outfielder Andrew Benintendi is just 21 years old. He hit .295 with a .359 on-base percentage, roping 11 doubles while producing 14 RBI and 16 runs scored in just 118 plate appearances. He retains rookie eligibility for the 2017 season.

A trio of veterans produced big numbers for Boston this season. Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia manned the right side of the field, while David Ortiz wound down his possible Hall of Famer career with a final big year.

Ramirez hit .286/.361/.505 with 30 homers, 28 doubles, 111 RBI, and 81 runs scored. Pedroia hit .318 with a .376 on-base percentage. He cracked 15 homers and 36 doubles with 74 RBI and 105 runs scored.

Big Papi hit for a .315 average and led the club with a .401 on-base percentage, .620 slugging percentage, 38 home runs, 127 RBI, 48 doubles, and a 1.021 OPS.

Orioles 2016 POY: Manny Machado

The Baltimore Orioles went 89-73 this season, finishing in a second place tie with the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East Division.

The O’s then battled the Jays in the AL Wildcard Game in Toronto before losing on a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Despite that frustrating postseason ending to their year, manager Buck Showalter‘s squad enjoyed a fifth straight season among the top three in the always tough AL East.

Orioles Statistical Leaders

On the mound, the loss of 28-year old righty Chris Tillman may have been a difference-maker, at least in deciding home field advantage for that Wildcard Game.

Tillman went 16-6 with a 3.77 ERA, allowing 155 hits over 172 innings, striking out 140 batters. He was driven to the disabled list from the crucial period at the end of August through mid-September, missing at least 3-4 starting outings.

23-year old Dylan Bundy started the year in the bullpen, but was finally stretched out to the rotation after the All-Star break. He won 10 games, allowing 109 hits over 109.2 innings with 104 strikeouts.

Yankees 2016 POY: Masahiro Tanaka

The New York Yankees are the most storied franchise in the history of Major League Baseball, but the 2016 season was certainly not one of their best.

Joe Girardi‘s club went 84-78, finishing in fourth place in the American League East Division standings. This was the club’s lowest finish in 24 years. It was one of only three times in that stretch that they did not either win the division or finish in second place.

During and immediately following the season the Yanks said goodbye to a number of key players. Alex Rodriguez retired towards the end of the year, and Mark Teixeiradid so when the season wrapped.

As the MLB trade deadline arrived, GM Brian Cashman dealt away a pair of big southpaw bullpen arms in Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. Each would lead their acquiring teams to the World Series.

Rays 2016 POY: Kevin Kiermaier

The Tampa Bay Rays finished the 2016 season at the bottom of the American League East Division standings with a 68-94 record. 

It was the club’s worst record since the 2007 team went just 66-96. That was also the last time that the Rays finished at the bottom of the division standings.

The club ran off seven consecutive winning campaigns after that 2007 debacle, including a pair of division crowns and their lone American League pennant in 2008. Despite the poor season for the team as a whole, there were some fine individual performances turned in by the Rays’ players.

Rays Statistical Leaders

26-year-old Jake Odorizzi went 10-6 with a 3.69 ERA and 1.194 WHIP. He allowed 170 hits in 187.2 innings with a 166/54 K:BB ratio.

In the bullpen, 27-year-old Alex Colomeemerged as the closer, registering 37 saves over 57 games. He allowed 43 hits over 56.2 innings with a 71/15 K:BB ratio.

Offensively, 30-year-old veteran third baseman Evan Longoria led the regulars with a .273 average, .521 slugging percentage, and an .840 OPS mark. He banged 36 homers and 41 doubles, drove in 98 runs, and scored 81 times.

Blue Jays 2016 POY: Josh Donaldson

The Toronto Blue Jays finished in a tie for second place with the Baltimore Orioles this season in the American League East Division. The club put together an 89-73 record, just four games behind the division-winning Boston Red Sox.

The Jays then topped the O’s in dramatic fashion in the AL Wild Card Game, winning on a walk-off three-run home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the bottom of the 11th inning at Rogers Centre.

Toronto then swept past the Texas Rangers in the NLDS before losing a five-game American League Championship Series to the Cleveland Indians.

Blue Jays Statistical Leaders

Encarnacion, the club’s DH, was an AL All-Star and one of their offensive leaders. He bashed 42 homers and 34 doubles to go along with 127 RBI, 99 runs scored, and a .529 slugging percentage.

The high-powered Jays offense had four other players each hit 20 or more homers: Troy Tulowitzki (24), Michael Saunders (24), Jose Bautista (22), and Russell Martin(20).

Second baseman Devon Travis led the club with a .300 batting average, smacking 28 doubles and knocking in 50 runs.

On the mound, starters J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, and Marco Estrada all had outstanding seasons. Trade acquisition Francisco Liriano also produced solidly after arriving on August 1 from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Closer Roberto Osuna paces the bullpen.

Donaldson Is the Jays’ 2016 Top Player

But the Blue Jays’ top player this season was their third baseman, Josh Donaldson. He hit for a .284/.404/.549 slash line with 37 homers, 32 doubles, 99 RBI, and 122 runs scored. He recorded a .953 OPS while producing 7.4 WAR.

White Sox 2016 POY: Adam Eaton

The Chicago White Sox entered the 2016 season with hopes of reaching the postseason. The club bolted out to an 8-2 start, and reached 23-10 in early May when they held a six game lead in the AL Central Division.

But over the next six weeks the Chisox collapsed, going 10-26 and failing to win three games in a row again until mid-June.

In the end, the South Siders finished at 78-84 and in fourth place in the division, a distant 16.5 games in back of the eventual AL pennant-winning Cleveland Indians.

To make matters worse, they have effectively ceded the hearts of much of the city to their crosstown rivals over on the North Side, the World Series champion Chicago Cubs.

The White Sox received a strong power season from new third baseman Todd Frazier. The trade acquisition from the Cincinnati Reds switched leagues and banged a team-high 40 homers. He also drove in 98 runs, scored 89, and stole 15 bags.

First baseman Jose Abreu hit for .293/.353/.468 with 25 homers and 100 RBI. Left fielder Melky Cabrera hit for a .296 average with 86 RBI.

On the mound, ace lefty Chris Sale is the subject of numerous trade rumors. He went 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA and 1.037 WHIP. Sale produced a 233/45 K:BB ratio while allowing just 190 hits in 226.2 innings over 32 starts. He was an AL All-Star for a fifth time.

Indians 2016 POY: Corey Kluber

The Cleveland Indians had a dream season in 2016, capturing the AL Central Division by eight games and then rolling to the American League pennant.

The dream ended in something of a nightmarish fashion, however. The club took a 3-1 lead in the World Series, only to watch as the Chicago Cubs came roaring back to capture the next three games and win the Fall Classic after a dramatic Game Seven in Cleveland.

In the regular season they recorded the most wins by a Tribe team since the 1997 team, which also lost the World Series in an agonizing Game Seven. As you can imagine, there were many outstanding players this year for manager Terry Francona‘s 94-67 squad. 

INDIANS 2016 OFFENSIVE STATS LEADERS

The middle infield keystone combo led the lineup. Second baseman Jason Kipnisbanged 23 homers and 41 doubles, and had 82 RBI and 91 runs scored.

Shortstop Francisco Lindor hit .301 with 15 homers, 30 doubles, 78 RBI, 99 runs, and 19 stolen bases. The 22-year old Lindor was an AL All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner for the first time.

Power was provided by first baseman Mike Napoli with 34 homers, 101 RBI, and 92 runs scored. DH Carlos Santanaripped 34 homers and 31 doubles, with 87 RBI and 89 runs scored.

Rookie center fielder Tyler Naquinbecame an AL Rookie of the Year Award finalist by hitting for a .296/.372/.514 slash with 14 homers, 43 RBI, and 52 runs over 116 games.

Another quiet key in the lineup was third baseman Jose Ramirez. He hit for a .312/.363/.462 slash line with 76 RBI, 82 runs scored, 46 doubles, 11 homers, and 22 stolen bases.