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Martin Perez
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you look deeper into it, however, it could be defined as Martin Perez throwing his cutter repeatedly and having it blasted into the neighboring county.
One week after being listed in the up section of this column, Perez turned in one of his worst starts of the season on Saturday night in Detroit. After allowing eight runs (seven earned) in just 2 2/3 of an inning, the Twins can’t rely on him to be a key piece of the starting rotation as they dive into more important games.
Kyle Gibson
Then again, the Twins may not have a choice but to keep Perez in the rotation after Kyle Gibson was put on the injured list on Sunday morning. Gibson’s digestive season has had quite the season after battling E. Coli last winter and now dealing with ulcerative colitis. The condition saps one’s strength and energy, which may explain why Gibson gutted through a tough outing in Detroit, going five innings while allowing four earned runs in a Twins victory on Friday night.
There are plenty of negatives to point out in Gibson’s performance on the mound, but the Twins don’t have many options behind him that are guaranteed to be an upgrade. If Gibson is out for a prolonged stretch, it could leave the Twins thin and looking to someone with less experience in a potential postseason rotation.
Miguel Sano
While most of the Twins’ lineup is running on all cylinders, there could be a little bit of concern for Miguel Sano. As a player that’s ran hot and cold throughout the season, Sano is starting to cool off after a blistering stretch and hit .111 with nine strikeouts in 18 at-bats last week.
Hitters have bad weeks from time to time, but after what we saw from Sano earlier this year, this has to be a small concern. If Sano just had a rough week, then it won’t be a big deal. But the Twins definitely need Sano at full strength if they want to make a deep postseason run.