The Twins shuffled their bullpen around a bit today as the club announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez had been reinstated from the injured list. The former All Star was placed on the 15-day IL last month for mental health reasons and told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) that he’s feeling good about where he’s at as he returns to the mound while expressing appreciation for the organization’s support during his IL stint.
The 30-year-old righty broke out in a big way with the Orioles last season, posting a 1.68 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 48 1/3 innings before Baltimore shipped him to Minnesota at the trade deadline for a package including 2023 relief standout Yennier Cano. Since joining the Twins, Lopez has struggled to a 4.71 ERA and 5.37 FIP in 49 2/3 innings. Lopez, who has two seasons of team control left through arbitration, will look to get his Twins career on track going forward this season as part of a Twins bullpen currently relying on Emilio Pagan, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran in the late innings.
Lopez’s return isn’t the only change in the Twins bullpen on the horizon, however, as manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters, including The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, that righty pitching prospect Jordan Balazovic, who had recently been pitching in long relief out of the major league bullpen, will be shortened up and used as a more traditional reliever going forward. Balazovic has impressed in his first call-up to the big leagues this season, with a 1.23 ERA in 7 1/3 innings across six appearances.
More from around the AL Central…
- Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie will look to recover from last month’s UCL sprain without going under the knife, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. Meisel notes that the 25-year-old righty will be shut down for three more weeks but that Cleveland is hopeful McKenzie will be able to return to the big league mound at some point this season. The prospect of McKenzie returning this season is surely a tantalizing one for Guardians fans, as the young right-hander broke out in a big way last season with a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings of work. With McKenzie on the shelf, Cleveland is currently utilizing a rotation of Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale, Tanner Bibee, and Gavin Williams.
- Tigers outfielder Riley Greene began a rehab assignment with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo yesterday, with Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic among those noting that he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow. That Greene is seemingly nearing a return is fantastic news for the Tigers, who returned left-hander Tarik Skubal from the injured list today and are surely hoping to receive a similar boost from the return of Greene. The 22-year-old outfielder has posted a 127 wRC+ in 224 plate appearances this season in conjunction with stellar center field defense.
- The White Sox announced today that they had recalled outfielder Oscar Colas to the major league roster. Colas made the club’s Opening Day roster this season as the primary right fielder but struggled to a slash line of just .211/.265/.276 in 84 plate appearances before returning to Triple-A. He’s hit well with the club’s affiliate in Charlotte since then, however, boasting a solid .293/.359/.508 slash line in 212 plate appearances. That performance has seeming earned Colas another shot in right at the big league level, where he’ll likely share time with Gavin Sheets going forward.
COME ON TIGERS !
Detroit is such a great sports town.
It’s sad what the Tigers have been for the last number of years.
It’s wonderful to see posts here from Tiger fans talking optimistically and suggesting scenarios whereby they can win in 2023, as opposed to the complaining they had to do here for years.
I noticed early in the season that even when they lost, they were making it difficult for superior opponents. They’ve gotten better
as the year’s gone on. Kudos to the new FO, the manager (a very
good one), his coaching staff and the players. Finally the present
and future looks good, and heaven knows….Detroit sports fans deserve it.
Great sports town? Which century? Samuel musta have come of age during the Renaissance. Back when Ian Anderson played the lute and Michelangelo, Donatello and the other turtles built the “Renaissance center”
Tigers about to be lit!!! AL Central is theirs for the taking. Trade deadline buyers, bring back Candy!
Any of those are about as likely as the Twins getting 10 hits and 5 Ks in their next game..
SELL THE WHITE SOX LORD DINGLEDORF!
Hi! I’m Rip Van Winkle, When I wake up in 20 years I’d like to see the American Central in actual contention!
Until then, I’m bored into everyday mediocrity
Hi Curley;
Could write a long response.
Some of it’s the revenue which obviously dictates what the teams can spend. But mostly it’s the rebuilds….most of which fail.
The White Sox, Guardians, and Twins all do things the same way year-after-year. They have limited ceilings. The Royals and Tigers have new FO’s – maybe something will change there. But it’ll be a while….and again – most rebuilds fail.
The worst division in MLB that I can remember – at least this century…..and probably before that.
Colas blows … he needs the money !!!
He has the money already. You do not. Which is why you keep tripping over grandmas underwear in the utility closet.
Hopefully Greene and Baddoo will kickstart the offence like Skubal and Olson did tonight on the pitching side.
Baldelli and Twins FO needs to be fired. They are clueless and make bad trades.
Agree, the Arraez trade still annoys me.
Agree, the Arraez trade still annoys me
Got schooled by Kim Ng and the Marlins
I think the Mahle trade annoys me more. The Lopez trade isn’t good either as the front office has been terrible at trades with the lone exception being Cruz/Ryan.
Speaking as a fan of the White Sox, I hope the Twins keep Baldelli for a very long time.
As I’m sure they would be elated to have the Sox retain Hahn and Williams for a very long time.
Touché
Jordan Balazovic Is going to be the real deal out of the pen. I am hopeful Jorge Lopez can figure it out with his pretty amazing raw stuff, but a big part of the game is the mental side of things and hopefully he got the right mentorship. My feeling is it is hard to fix in 15 days.
Wonderful.
This happens every year.
Rah rah, go team…….
Even I almost believe it……
Colas is back. THat’LL fix the Sox woes.. I love how Hahn is still in fantasy-land that the Sox are going to go on a winning streak and somehow find their ‘potential’ this late into the season.. This team was under a rock at the end of April, May and now June, and looking the same or worse than when they were in their slump in April with being 13 games under .500, I cannot believe this band of goofs are seriously looking at the standings instead of seeing what a poor group of guys they have. . The Sox need to sell sell sell. They have at least 10-15 players they could move.. Not for a lot likely, but still for something. If anything, to send a message to the rest of the clowns left that the org demands, and expects, results.. In the end though, blame is on Reinsdorf. Never mind his dumpster diving mantra for FA (getting ‘stars’ at least 5 years past their prime) and managers (going for sock puppets they can control instead of a manager who can tell them what he needs to be successful), but just the fact that he pulled out the rug from a rebuilding, up and coming team by removing Renteria and replacing with with a guy in LaRussa who’s managing days were about 10 years ago. Conning LaRussa into believing that all he had to do was come in, tip his cap and wave to the crowd and this team would be back in the playoffs. Never mind what damage it appears to have done in the locker room due to the ‘chairman’ making such a decision as it appears this group really liked and played for Renteria. Now the Sox are stuck with Grifol (Ventura 2.0) and likely will keep him around so as to not admit they screwed up by bringing him in which will cause even more damage to this club. The Sox need to sell while all of these chandeliers are still intact and get something for them. (pretty much anyone not named Robert, Cease, or Kopech). Im thinking:
Grandal, Burger, Vaughn, Sheets, Moncada (unlikely I know, as that chandelier still has ‘issues’), Anderson, Jimenez, Sheets, Adrus, Graveman, Kelly (if anyone who have him) Middleton, Bummer (again if anyone who have him), Giolito, and Lynn (if anyone will have him). As for the holes left, time to bring up youngsters and see what they have. I mean can they REALLY do any worse than the current product on the field? I doubt it, plus you will also have a better idea of what is needed for next season before the off season.
They don’t have MLB capable youngsters in their farm system. You will get a a team of Hanser Albertos and Lenyn Sosas.
You can keep 1 of Anderson, Moncada and Eloy, you just can’t have a third of you lineup constantly on the IL. I lean more toward Jimenez than the other two.
Don’t know why your are giving up on Vaughn. Honestly highlights the absurdity of this post.
Trading Gio, Graveman and possibly Clev should be the priority this month.
If you can get anything for Sheets, Kelly, Bummer and Lynn, go ahead and try to get it. They are all wastes of roster spots.
So you are saying you have to keep one of the three guys who are all constantly on the IL? Who is being absurd?
All these guys can go (though its also likely not all will, either due to Hahn over valuing players, or just lack of interest).. Moncada will likely be still around.. on the IL, collecting his check. Bring up youngsters (Or hopefully you find some guys in trade that can fit that bill.) that want to play every day, not just say ‘ouch my -insert injury here’ and then go collect their check.. Remillard looks solid at 2nd. I’m not expecting him to be Roberto Alomar out there, just solid. Romy Gonzalez was looking like that, and getting key hits, until his injury. For once Id would like to see fundamentally sound players out there. Guys that can field their position and drive runners in when it counts. The Guardians won a lot with guys like that last season.
As for Vaughn, the idea was that now that Vaughn is playing his natural position that he will hit a ton as he can finally focus on hitting, not playing an OF corner spot.. What’s he hitting? .245? Also have seen him fail miserably to drive in runs as well. I say if you have someone who wants him bad enough, move him. Otherwise in a good season I expect this guy to maybe hit 270-280, maybe hit 20-25 homers. That’s enough if you are a corner OF, not enough if you are a 1st baseman. If he stays, it should be only until the end of season and if he still hits like this then out he goes to the next team that thinks he is everything. Hell I hope I’m wrong, I hope he proves me wrong and hits 320 and hit 40 homers in a season, but I just do not see it with him.
The solution isn’t tearing it completely down to the studs. And yes, keeping one of those players is far more preferable than all 3, because they are all very talented and good enough to keep despite missed time, but when all three go down at the same time, your lineup is completely crippled.
I’m willing to give Vaughn more time, especially since he is on pace for just under 100 RBI this season. I also think that 2 years of Menechino absolutely effed this entire roster’s ability to hit for power. Vaughn has low HR totals, but is far from the only one on this team.
I would say if I HAD to keep a guy between Anderson and Jimenez (lets be honest no one will take Moncada and he will not be playing much anyway until his next injury) I would say Jimenez. He has his moments and maybe, maybe if he figures out he has power to the opposite side of the field he may turn out to be a more complete DH (as it would be crazy to have him in the field). Honestly if I were the hitting coach during BP Id have guys on first, second, and third, dancing around to try to distract the hitter.. maybe this would desensitize these guys and they’ll hit better with runners on.. I dunno.
Looks like Sox brass agrees…although I’m not sure I find that comforting.