White Sox pitchers are going to have to figure out how to get Nelson Cruz out.
That's something they haven't been able to do the past two seasons, as Cruz put up MVP-caliber numbers as the driving force of the Minnesota Twins lineup. While plenty held out hope he'd leave the division, perhaps the American League — and maybe even wind up on the South Side — he'll be back in the Land of 10,000 Lakes in 2021, The Athletic's Dan Hayes reporting Tuesday night that the Twins and Cruz agreed on a one-year deal worth $13 million.
The return of Cruz is obviously enormous for the Twins, and it keeps the White Sox in a projected dogfight for the AL Central crown in 2021. Elevating out of rebuilding mode and into contention mode during the shortened 2020 campaign, the White Sox finished just one game back of the Twins, who captured their second straight division title. After making big splashes in the form of Lance Lynn and Liam Hendriks this winter — as well as being still in possession of one of the most potent lineups in the game — the White Sox might be the better team on paper heading into 2021. But the Twins are still a contender themselves, setting up an entertaining race.
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A key part of that race will be whether the White Sox pitching staff can limit Cruz, who has feasted against South Side arms in his tenure as a Twin. In 2019, Cruz slashed an ungodly .433/.521/.917 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs in 16 games against the White Sox. He followed that up with a .368/.442/.711 line with three home runs and 10 RBIs in 10 games last season.
But even Cruz earning a first-ballot entry into the White Sox killers Hall of Fame didn't stop the Twins from a stark statistical slide in numerous offensive categories in 2020. After setting a major league record with 307 home runs and ranking second in the game in OPS in 2019, the Twins ranked 18th in baseball in runs scored last season, 15th in OPS. Meanwhile, it was the White Sox who led the American League in homers and ranked second in the AL in OPS.
As the White Sox lineup passed the Twins' as the division's most threatening, Cruz became even more valuable in the Twin Cities, making his return a near necessity if the Twins wanted to keep pace with the rising South Siders.
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Some fans and observers saw a chance for the White Sox to deal the ultimate blow in the rivalry before the season even started, hoping that Cruz would land on the South Side as yet another big free-agent addition. And indeed there were and remain arguments to be made that the White Sox could use that kind of veteran impact at the DH position. Andrew Vaughn, the White Sox top ranked prospect, is currently the top candidate to take over as the team's everyday DH during the 2021 season. But despite rave reviews for his "advanced bat" from the White Sox, there are valid questions about how much someone who hasn't played above A-ball can be counted on in a season with World Series aspirations.
Instead of those wishes coming true, though, Cruz is back with the Twins, and the race for the Central is on.
The Cleveland Indians have fallen down a rung or two, when it comes to discussing the division's top contenders, after they dealt Francisco Lindor to the New York Mets earlier this offseason. The Kansas City Royals made some under-the-radar improvements, and the Detroit Tigers are moving along nicely in their own rebuilding project. But it figures to be a two-horse race. Though the White Sox have set their aspirations at the world-championship level — the phrase "World Series or bust" has already been uttered, and they're still two weeks from spring training — winning a Central championship would be a nice milestone on the road from rebuilding. The White Sox haven't been kings of their division since 2008.
And as Aaron Bummer illustrated earlier this offseason on the White Sox Talk Podcast, the guys in the home clubhouse at 35th and Shields aren't viewing themselves as the favorites, no matter what any preseason prognosticators might be saying.
They're ready to unseat the Twins.
"I’m a believer that you’ve got to take down the champs," Bummer said. "You’re not the favorite until you’re standing on the top.
"To say we’re the favorites, that might be the betting odds, but I want to go out there and take it from them. So I’m not going to call myself the favorite, and I’m not going to crown ourselves anything until we go out and take it from them."
Well, they'll have to go through Cruz to do it.
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