Will Twins go with rookies or veterans in critical Cleveland series?
The Twins' playoff hopes ultimately hinge on their five-game series Friday-Monday at Cleveland, and they're entering the series with very little stability in the starting pitching rotation.
Nothing official has been announced by the Twins, but with Dylan Bundy facing the Royals Thursday and Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray scheduled to pitch Sunday and Monday, respectively, there are three openings to begin the series.
Tyler Mahle? No, he's on the injured list. Chris Archer? Injured.
That leaves Minnesota with Josh Winder, Bailey Ober, Louie Varland, Devin Smeltzer, Aaron Sanchez and Cole Sands as realistic starting pitching options for Friday and Saturday's doubleheader.
Sands replaced Archer when Archer got hurt Sept. 10 against Cleveland and he gave up three runs on two hits and five walks in just 3.1 innings. There are better options.
Smeltzer has experience but he's been bludgeoned in back-to-back appearances at Triple-A St. Paul, allowing eight earned runs in just four innings. But he was good in back-to-back late-June starts against the Guardians when pitched a combined 12 innings and allowed just one run on seven hits.
Sanchez last pitched Sept. 9, going 3.1 innings in relief against Cleveland. He allowed just one hit.
Then there are the three rookies: Winder, Ober and Varland.
Winder allowed a pair of solo homers in four innings against Cleveland on Sunday, marking his first MLB start since going on the injured list in mid-July. The Twins have spoken highly of him and if he's healthy he has the ability to keep the Guardians in check.
Ober was outstanding Sunday for the Saints, pitching 4.2 innings and allowing just one hit while striking out six. The right-hander started the season in Minnesota's rotation before a pelvic tendon injury kept him sidelined for three months. His last big-league start was June 1.
Varland hasn't pitched since wowing at Yankee Stadium Sept. 7. The hard-throwing righty from the Twin Cities struck out seven Yankees and gave up just three hits in 5.1 innings in his MLB debut.
The Twins have options. It's just a matter of if they go with three rookies, two rookies and either Smeltzer or Sanchez, or one rookie with both Smeltzer and Sanchez.
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Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.