White Sox to host Minnesota Twins for first time in 2021

Alex Colome

When the season started, many observers thought the AL Central race would come down to the defending champion Minnesota Twins and the White Sox -- and it still might.

But thus far, things have been going much better for the Sox than they have been for the Twins. The Sox are 19-13 and alone in first place in the division, while the Twins sit seven games behind in fourth place at 12-20.

The two teams will match up for three games in Chicago starting Tuesday night, and the Sox will be seeing a lot of the Twins in the next two and a half months -- 16 of the 19 meetings between these two clubs will occur within the next 77 days.

Of note, the Twins are 0-7 in extra-inning games so far this season, so they've lost a lot of close ones. You could say it's bad luck, but you could also say Minnesota's bullpen has been brutal.

Former Sox closer Alex Colome has had his problems since joining the Twins -- he has given up 15 runs (eight earned) in just 12.2 innings this season. He's 1-3 with a 5.68 ERA. Tyler Duffey (0-2, 5.56 ERA) also has been having a rough time out of the Minnesota bullpen.

Here's a look at the pitching matchups for this series:

Tuesday: Dylan Cease (2-0, 2.37 ERA) vs. Kenta Maeda (2-2, 5.02 ERA)

Wednesday: Dallas Keuchel (1-1, 3.79 ERA) vs. J.A. Happ (2-0, 1.91 ERA)

Thursday: Carlos Rodon (5-0, 0.58 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (2-1, 2.43 ERA)

Three things to watch for in this series:

1. Can the Sox solve Pineda? I always cringe a little when I see Pineda scheduled to pitch against the Sox. Lifetime, he's 5-3 with a 3.21 ERA against the South Siders, and frankly, I'm surprised he's not 8-0. Pineda is a decent, but not great pitcher -- a lifetime 3.96 ERA. But especially since he's joined the Twins, he always seems to save his best games for the Sox.

2. Michael Kopech's usage. Looking ahead a little bit, the Sox have a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals on Friday, and they are considering using Kopech to start one of those games. But if the Sox have a high-leverage situation in the late innings against the Twins, such as extra innings, will manager Tony La Russa use Kopech to try to get the win? With all due respect to the Royals, my general feeling is still that Minnesota is a bigger threat to the Sox. No matter what the standings say at the moment, it's important to beat the Twins.

3. Yasmani Grandal's offense. It's starting to get a little insane for the Sox catcher, who is batting .113/.378/.242 so far this season. Grandal has appeared in five games in the month of May and taken 22 at-bats. He's 0 for 7 with five strikeouts, 14 walks and a sacrifice fly. Fourteen walks in 22 plate appearances for a guy who is batting .113 and can barely put the ball in play! At this point, you wonder why pitchers are not challenging Grandal more often.

White Sox complete three-game sweep of Royals

Carlos Rodon

The White Sox kicked off a stretch of 13 straight games against AL Central opponents in strong fashion this weekend, sweeping three games against the Royals in Kansas City.

Coming into the series, it appeared the Sox had the edge in the pitching matchup in all three games, and they took advantage, just as you would hope they would do. They outscored the Royals 21-4 in the series, and at 19-13, the Sox now lead the Cleveland Indians by one game in the AL Central race.

Kansas City (16-17) has lost eight consecutive games and has fallen 3.5 games off the division lead.

Let's take a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, May 7

White Sox 3, Royals 0: If anyone tells you they expected greatness from Carlos Rodon this season, they are lying. Rodon was considered the No. 5 pitcher in the rotation when the year started, but right now, he's the best the Sox have. He's started five games, and he's 5-0 with a 0.58 ERA.

Rodon has not allowed more than one run in any start yet this season. And he's allowed no more than five hits in any of those games. The left-hander did allow five hits in this game over six scoreless innings, but he struck out eight and didn't walk anybody. 

The three runs the Sox scored for him, highlighted by Zack Collins' second home run of the season, ended up being enough.

But getting back to Rodon, he is the first pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 2000 to allow five hits or less in each of his first five starts of the season. That was Martinez at his Hall of Fame peak, so that tells you what a good stretch Rodon has had.  

Saturday, May 8

White Sox 9, Royals 1: The Sox have made a habit of feasting on left-handed starters in recent times, and Royals rookie Daniel Lynch -- making his second MLB start -- got blown to bits in this game.

The Sox sent 13 men to the plate in the first inning and scored eight runs. Lynch recorded only two outs, while being charged with eight earned runs on seven hits. Highlighting in the rally: a two-run double by Yoan Moncada, a sacrifice fly by Yasmani Grandal, an RBI double by Andrew Vaughn, an RBI triple by Leury Garcia, a two-run homer by Danny Mendick and another RBI single by Moncada.

That was pretty much the game. Sox starter Lance Lynn walked four over five innings, so he wasn't overly sharp with his control. But he only allowed one hit, and he easily improved to 3-1 with the big lead.

Sunday, May 9

White Sox 9, Royals 3: Hey, a win with Lucas Giolito on the mound! Giolito (2-3) wasn't his sharpest -- he only went five innings and had just two strikeouts. But he only allowed a run in the first inning.

The Sox quickly bounced back with three in the second and two in the third to take an early 5-1 lead, and the Royals never came close to getting back in the game. 

The South Siders are 21-1 against lefty starters since the start of the 2020 season, and they avenged the only loss by tagging Kansas City starter Mike Minor for those five runs.

Jose Abreu and Yermin Mercedes each had two hits and three RBIs to lead a 10-hit attack for the Sox.

Also of note on the pitching side, lefty reliever Aaron Bummer retired all five batters he faced, three of them by strikeout.

Fix this: White Sox are 1-5 when Lucas Giolito starts

Lucas Giolito

It's probably too early to look at the AL Central standings, but let's look at them anyway. After all, the next 13 games for the White Sox are against two division rivals -- the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins.

Here's how the division stacks up entering Friday's action:

1. Cleveland 17-13
2. White Sox 16-13
3. Kansas City 16-14
4. Minnesota 11-19
5. Detroit 9-23

There are two surprises here. First, the Royals are playing better than .500 baseball. Sure, they just got swept four straight at home by Cleveland, so they might be coming back to reality. But it's been a good start for Kansas City. The Sox will be on the road this weekend against the Royals, and they can't expect to win this series easily. This isn't the same Royals team the Sox went 9-1 against in 2020.

Second, the defending AL Central champion Twins are playing bad. Real bad. In the past, the cure for whatever ails Minnesota has been games against the Sox. Can the Sox keep the Twins on the skids when they play them in Chicago next week? We shall see, but first things first.

Here are the pitching matchups for this weekend in Kansas City:

• Friday: Carlos Rodon (4-0, 0.72 ERA) vs. Brad Keller (2-3, 8.06 ERA)
• Saturday: Lance Lynn (2-1, 1.82 ERA) vs. Daniel Lynch (0-0, 5.79 ERA)
• Sunday: Lucas Giolito (1-3, 4.99 ERA) vs. Mike Minor (2-1, 5.23 ERA)

What am I watching for in this series? I'm wondering whether the Sox can win a game with Lucas Giolito on the mound. The ace of the staff has made six starts this season, and in those games, the Sox are 1-5.

Some of Giolito's woes are self-inflicted. He had a real clunker against the Boston Red Sox on April 19. However, he could also sue his teammates for non-support. The Sox have scored only 19 runs in those six games, and 10 of them were in one game. So, in Giolito's other five starts, the Sox have provided only nine runs of support.

In two of Giolito's starts -- both against Cleveland -- the Sox gave him no runs whatsoever. In one of those games, he managed to keep the Indians off the board and got a no-decision in an eventual loss. In the other, he gave up one earned run and lost. Basically, he forgot to throw a shutout, or give up negative runs.

That's one thing that has to change if the Sox are going to stay in the division race and potentially win it this year: They need to win consistently on Giolito's day to pitch. Let's see if this trend reverses on Sunday.

What exactly are the White Sox doing anyway?

Tony La Russa

Is it just me, or do the White Sox find themselves in the national spotlight for embarrassing things more often than other teams?

Manager Tony La Russa was unaware of an extra-inning rule that would have allowed him to avoid using closer Liam Hendriks as a base runner during the 10th inning of Wednesday's 1-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. I don't really feel like rehashing the whole scenario, so click the first link in the sentence above to read Bruce Levine's report on what happened.

This ended with The Athletic's James Fegan reading the rule aloud during La Russa's postgame press conference. Apparently, nobody on the Sox coaching staff knew the rule either, or if they did, they failed to speak up -- which is probably worse.

The $54 million closer is running the bases unnecessarily in the top of the 10th inning, when he should be preparing to pitch the bottom of the 10th inning. Then, he loses the game when the first two batters get hits off him. Did that happen because he had spent the previous 15 minutes running the bases? Maybe.

And you've got Leury Garcia getting thrown out trying to steal second as the trail runner in the top of the 10th. And you've got Billy Hamilton, he of the career 67 OPS+, being allowed to hit for himself with the go-ahead run on third base, when there are better options available on the bench. Anyone surprised that Hamilton struck out? Me neither.

These late-inning strategical gaffes are becoming a once-a-week occurrence. It's great that the Sox are 16-13 and in a three-way tie for first, but it's hard not to feel as though they should be 18-11 or 19-10.

Just what exactly are the Sox doing anyway in these close games? Good grief.

White Sox to sign outfielder Brian Goodwin

Brian Goodwin

With Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Adam Engel all on the injured list, the White Sox have added some outfield help by signing Brian Goodwin to a minor league contract, according to multiple reports.

Goodwin had an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which he exercised Monday. If the Sox add him to the 40-man roster, his salary will be $1 million. I would expect that to happen.

Two years ago, the 30-year-old Goodwin had the best season of his career, when he batted .262/.326/.470 with 17 home runs, 29 doubles, 47 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 136 games for the Los Angeles Angels.

Last season, Goodwin was decent in 30 games for the Angels. He batted .242/.330/.463 with four home runs and 17 RBIs. The Cincinnati Reds acquired him in a midseason deal, and that didn't work out so well. 

Goodwin slumped to a .163 batting average in 20 games with the Reds, and that's how you end up on a minor league deal with the Pirates.

But the standard is not high for the Sox right now. They need some help with all these injuries, and they're hoping Goodwin and his left-handed bat can recapture what we saw in 2019. This is a career .250/.317/.455 batter, and that's at least better offense than you'll get from Leury Garcia or Billy Hamilton.

Is Goodwin a long-term solution to anything? No. Is this the big move Sox fans are clamoring for? Absolutely not.

But you have to be realistic here. The trade market doesn't heat up this early in the season, and there aren't a lot of impact players out there that you can acquire right now.

Not to mention, opposing GMs know the Sox are desperate for outfield help, and if Sox GM Rick Hahn calls, they are going to ask a high price. I'm not sure there's a fair trade Hahn can make right now, and I would caution against any panic moves -- the Sox are 16-12 and tied for first place after Tuesday's 9-0 win over the Reds, and nobody in the AL Central looks primed to run away.

Around Chicago, you hear some people calling for the Sox to acquire Kris Bryant from the Cubs. That suggestion literally makes me laugh out loud.

If Hahn calls the Cubs, you know who Jed Hoyer is going to ask for? Probably Michael Kopech. Maybe a package of Andrew Vaughn and Dylan Cease.

Sox fans, are you willing to make that move? Because that's what it's going to take. My answer is a resounding no.

Normally, I'm the first in line with the pitchforks and torches at Hahn's doorstep. But I think a minor acquisition such as Goodwin is fine for now. Try to stem the tide until we get to midseason, some teams fall out of it, and GMs become more willing to deal.

If anyone wants to criticize Hahn for not signing adequate depth in the offseason, I will join that chorus.

If anyone wants to criticize the Sox's draft-and-development arm for failing to provide adequate depth to plug these holes from within, I will join that chorus as well.

Remember when there was a so-called glut of talented minor league outfielders in the Sox system? Welp, none of Micker Adolfo, Blake Rutherford, Luis Gonzalez or Luis Alexander Basabe panned out. 

So now the Sox are in a fix. Cross your fingers that Goodwin can become the 2 WAR player he was in 2019.

White Sox 2B Nick Madrigal is outslugging some people he shouldn't be outslugging

Nick Madrigal

Let's play a game of name that White Sox player:

Player A: .313/.364/.413

Player B: .264/.370/.396

Player C: .202/.302/.374

Player D: .127/.333/.273

You may have noticed that Player A has the highest slugging percentage, while Player D has the lowest slugging percentage. I intentionally arranged the players in that order.

Would you believe noted singles hitter and king of the two-strike base hit Nick Madrigal is Player A? Good for Madrigal that he's off to a good start with the bat this season, and he is to be commended for that. 

But it's not good news for the Sox that Madrigal is outslugging Yoan Moncada (Player B), defending league MVP Jose Abreu (Player C), and the team's highest-paid player, Yasmani Grandal (Player D).

With Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert both out of the lineup with injuries until at least August,mMoncada, Abreu and Grandal better start producing more runs. It's time for them to hit some balls off the wall and over the wall, or this season in which the Sox have very high expectations is going to end in disappointment. 

It's great and all that Yermin Mercedes won AL Rookie of the Month, but it's preposterous to think a 28-year-old rookie is going to carry the middle of the lineup all season.

Luis Robert out 12 to 16 weeks ... Now what?

Luis Robert

Get ready to see a lot of Leury Garcia and Billy Hamilton in center field over the next month ... at least.

The White Sox had a successful 6-3 homestand, but I don't think anyone is celebrating. That's because center fielder Luis Robert crumbled in a heap while beating out an infield single in the first inning of Sunday's 5-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. 

Robert was in tremendous pain, holding the area in front of his right hip while writhing around on the ground in shallow right field. After he was helped to his feet, he couldn't put any weight on his right leg and had to be carried into the dugout. 

Bad news was expected, and bad news was made official Monday, with the announcement that Robert will be out 12 to 16 with a hip flexor tear. It is not known yet whether Robert will undergo surgery, or if rest and rehabilitation will be enough. The timeline for return to baseball activities is expected to be the same, regardless of the treatment path chosen. 

This is a terrible break for Robert, who was off to a fine start this season. He was batting .316/.359/.463, and he was showing much improved plate discipline. Robert has had a weakness for breaking balls down and out of the zone in the past, but he's made significant strides in fixing that problem. Namely, he seems to be recognizing pitches better, and not swinging at as many pitches that are out of the zone. 

The injury is also a substantial blow to the Sox's playoff aspirations. They are already without left fielder Eloy Jimenez until at least August, and it doesn't sound as though Adam Engel will be returning anytime soon. 

Engel suffered a pulled hamstring the third week of March and hasn't played yet this season. The latest report indicates Engel is "back at square one" after a setback, and he will not return to baseball activities for three more weeks. 

This means three of the top four outfielders on the Sox roster are unavailable because of injury, and the other guy -- Adam Eaton -- is hobbling around right field on a sore knee. Eaton is in a terrible slump that has seen his slash line dip to .217/.301/.380. That being said, no matter how bad it gets for Eaton, if he can physically get out there, he has to play. The Sox don't have a lot of alternatives. 

In left field, Andrew Vaughn has gone 7 for his last 19 to pull his slash line up to .275/.373/.373, but he is still without a home run and has only one RBI. But despite his expected rookie struggles, he has to play. 

And that leaves Leury Garcia and Billy Hamilton to share center field until Engel gets healthy. 

Garcia: .200/.224/.246 

Hamilton: .176/.263/.176 

Gulp. Yeah, it's hard not to be discouraged knowing these players are going to get more playing time than they should in the weeks and months ahead. 

Back in the offseason, I thought the Sox needed to sign two outfielders to bolster their depth. They signed only Eaton, and now that weakness is coming home to roost.