In what equates to the smallest of sample sizes, the
Minnesota Twins thumped the Cleveland Indians all over the diamond to begin the
2019 season. Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, and Martin Perez baffled
Tribe hitters, and the home team looked like one worthy of competing in the AL
Central division. Sure, this Terry Francona lineup was watered down in almost
every way imaginable, but that’s really the backbone of this argument isn’t it?
Through his team’s first three games, Francona has needed to
trout out Eric Stamets, Max Moroff, and Jordan Luplow for meaningful at bats.
Brad Miller started at second base despite being inked to a deal just a week
ago, and Tyler Naquin struck out in six of his seven at bats. 23-year-old Jake
Bauers is the starting left fielder after being moved on from by the Rays, and
Roberto Perez looked as much like Drew Butera behind the plate as he did
standing in front of it.
Sure, Francisco Lindor is not in this current lineup, and
Jose Ramirez is still probably shaking off some lingering effects caused by a
near-serious injury. All offseason though, the talk of this team surrounded the
possibility of dealing one or both of Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer, which only
further highlights the notion of pitching and not much else. Lindor and Ramirez
are truly an elite tandem for the Indians, but can they be expected to top what
amounted to career years a season ago? Even if they do, with a watered-down sum
of parts, will it matter for Cleveland?
We are nowhere near a point that conclusions can be made
regarding the Twins, Indians, or the division. This small of a sample size only
gives us numbers that are fun to illogically dream upon. The opening that was
wondered about over the offseason appears to at least be a potential reality as
the games begin to matter. The Twins did what they needed to in taking a series
at home from the reigning division winner. They did so by executing in multiple
facets of the action, and it was a ball being put in play away from a sweep.
For both clubs, we’ll need to at least head into June before
any real conclusions can be drawn. Rocco Baldelli will continue to have his
team prepared on a game-by-game basis until that point, but you can bet the
goal will also be to put distance between themselves and the club that did
little to stay on top. Ownership for the Indians has publicly stated that
players like Lindor may not be affordable for the long haul, and we’ve already
seen them fail to supplement for an offseason. Further lack of fan interest and
an emergence from this Twins club should continue to spell disaster for the
2016 runner up, and in Twins Territory that’s all we can hope for.
It certainly helps that the bottom trio of divisional
opponents should spend the year in the doldrums, but the reality is that
Minnesota was always going to need to knock off Cleveland for any real run of
significance. Doing so out of the gate is something to build upon, and they’ll
have plenty more opportunity to do so as the year progresses.
