Twins at White Sox: News and Notes

Probables

• Friday, 1:10pm, FSN: Kyle Gibson vs. John Danks
  
• Friday, 7:10pm, FSN: Liam Hendriks vs. Charlie Leesman
  
• Saturday, 3:05pm, Why would FOX broadcast this: Mike Pelfrey vs. Andre Rienzo
  
• Sunday, 1:10pm: Kevin Correia vs. Jose Quintana

White Sox

• You know, when the White Sox got terrible, I thought it would be more fun than this.
• According to a source, the Rangers have claimed Alex Rios off waivers, and since the White Sox owe Rios twelve and a half million dollars for next year, and Rios will be 33, and his 0.9 WAR this year makes him roughly the equivalent of Trevor Plouffe.... well, if they don't let him go for nothing, then they are insane.
• Tonight, Charlie Leesman makes his major-league debut. The 26-year-old lefty had a 2.47 ERA at Triple-A Charlotte last year, and a 3.47 ERA at the same level this year. He doesn't strike too many hitters out, and he'll give up a few hits, but Chicago is likely hoping that he pulls off the Andrew Albers and baffles hitters tonight. He's probably a future LOOGY, but for now, he starts.
  
• Saturday's starter, Andre Rienzo, is also working on a young big-league career. He started last season at High-A but advanced through three levels last year, and after posting a 4.06 ERA in AAA, he'll make his third major-league start Saturday. He tossed quality starts in his first two outings, and struck out nine in 13 innings - not surprising, for a guy who consistently struck out a hitter per inning in the minors. Rienzo was the Sox' #8 prospect coming into the year, according to John Sickels, so they're heavily invested in him.
  
• Maybe you missed it, but the Sox dealt Jake Peavy at the deadline last week, in a trade that brought them outfielder Avisail Garcia from the Tigers. If Rios leaves for the Lone Star State, look for Garcia - who has struggled in the bigs but murdered Triple-A this year, at age 23 - to join Chicago.

Twins Notes

• Remember Tim Wood? He's regularly featured in these updates, mostly because he kept being not quite ready to start pitching for the year. Anyway, he had another setback, and will have season-ending surgery August 22, which I suppose is a misleading term because he hasn't pitched in a game this year and so his season never actually got started.
  
• I'm looking forward to Liam Hendriks pitching today, because I'd like to see him succeed enough to reach the point where the Twins decide to either fish or cut bait with him. (Then again, he's gotten spanked at Triple-A this year, so maybe the latter is a more attractive option than the former.)
• I'm not so sure that this story (Headline: "Justin Morneau rediscovers power swing") wasn't placed at the behest of the Twins front office. Anyway, the guy has hit three homers in August already, so I suppose I should lay off.
• That story also includes the following, regarding Andrew Albers: "His phone was jammed by text messages from friends, family and proud Canadians, too." I love the idea that everybody in Canada has Andrew Albers' phone number. "Hey, Don! Would you send that nice Albers boy a text message? He had such a good start today."