The 100 Greatest Royals Of All Time2019 Series PreviewsMinnesota Twins Series

Like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito Bill Lee Jersey , these Twins could be a force."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Royals Trade Rumors & Hot StoveRoyals Minor Leagues & ProspectsRoyals Review ClassicRoyals Review Users GuidePreview: The grind beginsNew,9commentsLike Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, these Twins could be a force.EDTShareTweetShareShareMinnesota Twins Series Preview: The grind beginsSep 14, 2018; Kansas City, MO, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Jose Berrios (17) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken/USA TODAY SportsPeter G. AikenThe opening homestand continues with the first visit of the year from the Minnesota Twins for a two-game set. The Twins had a really solid offseason, adding talent pretty much everywhere and hope to be the beneficiaries of the Indians declining their option to get better this offseason (and having some injuries) along with the general malaise that is the American League Central. In Nelson Cruz, CJ Cron, Jonathan Schoop and Marwin Gonzalez, they added some pop and hope to get a big rebound from Byron Buxton. If Jose Berrios can take the jump (and I picked him as my AL Cy Young), they might have a shot to win the Central. Meet the TwinsRoyals vs. Twins - 2018 EditionCategoryRoyalsTwinsCategoryRoyalsTwinsTwins Projected Lineup - 2018 StatsPlayerPosPAAVGOBPSLGBB%K%wRC+fWARPlayerPosPAAVGOBPSLGBB%K%wRC+fWARTwins Projected Bench - 2018 StatsPlayerPosPAAVGOBPSLGBB%K%wRC+fWARPlayerPosPAAVGOBPSLGBB%K%wRC+fWARTwins Key Relievers - 2018 StatsPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWARPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWARProbable Pitching MatchupsTuesday, April 2nd - 7:15pmPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWARPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWAROff days early in the season allow teams to do some fun things with their pitching staffs, so the Twins can bring back Jose Berrios for his second start in their first four games. Berrios was outstanding against the Indians on Opening Day Xander Bogaerts Jersey , allowing basically nothing, just two hits and a walk over 7.2 innings. He struck out 10 and looked absolutely dominant, making my above noted Cy Young pick seem smart after one day. While he’s been very good, I think it’s fair to say the stuff hasn’t matched the results early in his career as he’s been firmly above average in his first two full seasons, but not yet great. His curve is the moneymaker, and I think if it’s on that he might cause some problems for two of the Royals biggest forces, Jorge Soler and Adalberto Mondesi. He got five of his 10 strikeouts with that curve on Thursday. Keller was almost as good as Berrios, trailing him in innings by 2/3 of a frame and in strikeouts by five, but matched the hits and walks. Their games are obviously very different, but both had fantastic first impressions. He had 10 whiffs in his start against the White Sox (thanks Eloy!) and seven of them came on his slider. That’s obviously a very important pitch for him. Yes, ground balls are his game, but look up at the strikeout numbers from the Twins bats. A good chunk of that lineup will swing and miss if you give them the opportunity. Keller had his first start against the Twins last year and then pitched very well against them in his only other outing against them, actually striking out 11 in his 10 innings of work. This is a different Twins offense with a lot of new additions http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-dustin-pedroia-jersey , but the gameplan should be the same for him as last year.Wednesday, April 3rd - 12:15pmPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWARPitcherGIPWLK%BB%ERAxFIPWARGibson contracted E. coli on a charity trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the offseason, so he had a bit of a late start to his spring and was held back a couple days in Florida to get ready for his season, but he appears to be close to his listed weight and is ready to go. The noted Royals killer (it’s actually not as crazy as you’d think; he’s 7-5 with a 3.59 ERA in 18 starts) bounced back from two straight subpar seasons to look as good as ever in 2018, adding strikeouts and keeping walks fairly close to previous seasons. He still gets a decent number of ground balls and limits home runs well enough, but a change in the way he threw his slider last year led to some extra swings and misses and has made his success a wee bit more sustainable. Homer Bailey has two career no-hitters and is in the middle of a six year deal worth $105 million. He’s also coming off his third straight season with a an ERA above 6.00 and went 1-14 in 2018. I know win-loss record doesn’t mean much, but when it’s that extreme, it has some meaning at the very least. Bailey was actually okay in spring and was at his best in his last outing, so the Royals have some hope that maybe he can find the form that allowed him to be at least average in 2014, but that was five years ago at this point and that seems unlikely. So here’s to the Homer Bailey era, I guess. PredictionThe Twins are the better team, a borderline playoff team and they get to go with their top two starters against the Royals because Gibson’s season debut was delayed by a few days due to his spring bout with E. coli. I think the Twins offense will be too much for the Royals, but they’ll be lucky and get out of this with a split of the two games. The Tigers came away the winners of their first arbitration hearing in almost two decades."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Detroit Tigers AnalysisDetroit Tigers Prospect NotebookDetroit Tigers Game ThreadsDetroit Tigers NewsDetroit Tigers PodcastsDetroit Tigers NewsMichael Fulmer loses his arbitration caseNew Blake Swihart Jersey ,72commentsThe Tigers came away the winners of their first arbitration hearing in almost two decades.ESTShareTweetShareShareMichael Fulmer loses his arbitration caseKen Blaze-USA TODAY SportsSince 2001, the Detroit Tigers had avoided going to an arbitration hearing with any of their players. That streak finally ended with Michael Fulmer. In his first year of arbitration eligibility, the 25-year-old righthander and the Tigers could not come to an agreement. Both sides pleaded their case on Wednesday, and things didn’t turn out as Fulmer had hoped.ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that Fulmer will receive $2.8 million for the 2019 season. That number is $600,000 lower than his asking price. It’s a somewhat surprising result considering that a host of young players, including Trevor Bauer and Carlos Correa, recently won their own cases by fairly substantial margins.While Fulmer didn’t come away with the amount he had hoped, he has consistently taken a business-like approach to the process. Fulmer even went so far as to carpool to the hearing with Tigers officials. It doesn’t appear that there will be any lingering bad feelings here.That isn’t always the case. Despite winning his arbitration hearing, Bauer and the Cleveland Indians’ relationship appears quite strained by the process. Bauer accused the Indians of character assassination, and was highly critical of the team’s front office for declining his invitation to the hearing. Such conflict and hard feelings aren’t so unusual in contract negotiations, so it’s good to see that the Tigers and Fulmer don’t seem to letting business poison their relationship.But that’s not always the case. Just ask former Tigers first baseman Sean Casey.