I know it is early and to be honest I have been thinking about baseball lately and wanted to post this while fresh in my mind.. I am taking the Twins to win the AL Central, AL Pennant, and World Series.. Call me a homer but as long as they win the Central I can hedge the other wagers..
RATIONALE:
Last year the Twins came down to a one game playoff where they lost to the Chi-Sox 1-0. Chi-Sox got the game at home due to a coin flip despite the Twins winning the overall season series. Anyway the Twins started off slowly and ended slowly but I don't see that happening BARRING MAJOR INJURY.
STARTING PITCHING: They were probably the least experienced starting staff in the majors last year except Livan Hernandez who was shown the door midway through the season. The Twins return ACE Fransisco Liriano to hopefully make it through a full season, strong starters in Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey, and decent starter Nick Blackburn. Now this unit should be much stronger after enduring a full season together and gaining much needed experience. The question mark will be the health of Liriano due to the violent way he throws his slider.
BULLPEN: Suprisingly this unit was a major disappointment last year. 8th inning stud set up man Pat Neshek was lost for the season and is gone for this upcoming year as well. Matt Guerrier was just awful and Jessie Crain had a stretch of 13 appearances without allowing a run but was mediocre at best other than that stretch. Guerrier who was solid the season before is a free agent and resigning him is up in the air.. The Twins do have some bright young arms that will be in the pen most notably lefty Jose Mijares will fill the role of 8th inning set up man to compliment stud closer Joe Nathan. Mijares has a lot of torque and nasty stuff. The Twins will be looking to shorten the game to 7 innings as long as Mijares doesn't crack under pressure. Phil Humber should also help solidify the pen this year.
HITTING: The Twins hit over .300 last year with men is scoring position last year and doing that again this year will be hard to accomplish. Everyone knows about Mauer and Morneau but the Twins got key contributions from Denard Span and Alexi Casilla. The Twins weakness is that they lack power. Morneau hits em out in streaks because he is pitched away so damn much, rarely gets challenged. Delmon Young had a slow start and power numbers were down, Jason Kubel had decent power numbers as well and just keeps getting better and better. He is a free agent this year but he shouldn't be going anywhere. The Twins should get a healthy Michael Cuddyer and that should help some of the power numbers as well. Weakness: Will be lack of power and will they have the clutch hitting numbers that they had in 2008? Also the Twins have issues finding a good hitting third basemen.. Currently looking for Blake or Creedy.
SPEED and DEFENSE: Not many teams can match this team in speed with Span, Gomez, Casilla, Punto (FREE AGENT) and Tolbert. Defensively they had some lapses with routine plays at the end of last year but they make outstanding plays as well.
CONCLUSION: The Twins have the most upside over any team in the Division from last year.. The bullpen issues should be resolved with Mijares and Humber. Liriano barring injury will be there for a full season instead of half. The rest of the starters are now more experienced and battle tested. Cuddyer will be back at full strength and Delmon Young should have a much better season than last year. If the Twins can find a good hitting 3rd basemen watch out anything is possible.
RATIONALE:
Last year the Twins came down to a one game playoff where they lost to the Chi-Sox 1-0. Chi-Sox got the game at home due to a coin flip despite the Twins winning the overall season series. Anyway the Twins started off slowly and ended slowly but I don't see that happening BARRING MAJOR INJURY.
STARTING PITCHING: They were probably the least experienced starting staff in the majors last year except Livan Hernandez who was shown the door midway through the season. The Twins return ACE Fransisco Liriano to hopefully make it through a full season, strong starters in Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey, and decent starter Nick Blackburn. Now this unit should be much stronger after enduring a full season together and gaining much needed experience. The question mark will be the health of Liriano due to the violent way he throws his slider.
BULLPEN: Suprisingly this unit was a major disappointment last year. 8th inning stud set up man Pat Neshek was lost for the season and is gone for this upcoming year as well. Matt Guerrier was just awful and Jessie Crain had a stretch of 13 appearances without allowing a run but was mediocre at best other than that stretch. Guerrier who was solid the season before is a free agent and resigning him is up in the air.. The Twins do have some bright young arms that will be in the pen most notably lefty Jose Mijares will fill the role of 8th inning set up man to compliment stud closer Joe Nathan. Mijares has a lot of torque and nasty stuff. The Twins will be looking to shorten the game to 7 innings as long as Mijares doesn't crack under pressure. Phil Humber should also help solidify the pen this year.
HITTING: The Twins hit over .300 last year with men is scoring position last year and doing that again this year will be hard to accomplish. Everyone knows about Mauer and Morneau but the Twins got key contributions from Denard Span and Alexi Casilla. The Twins weakness is that they lack power. Morneau hits em out in streaks because he is pitched away so damn much, rarely gets challenged. Delmon Young had a slow start and power numbers were down, Jason Kubel had decent power numbers as well and just keeps getting better and better. He is a free agent this year but he shouldn't be going anywhere. The Twins should get a healthy Michael Cuddyer and that should help some of the power numbers as well. Weakness: Will be lack of power and will they have the clutch hitting numbers that they had in 2008? Also the Twins have issues finding a good hitting third basemen.. Currently looking for Blake or Creedy.
SPEED and DEFENSE: Not many teams can match this team in speed with Span, Gomez, Casilla, Punto (FREE AGENT) and Tolbert. Defensively they had some lapses with routine plays at the end of last year but they make outstanding plays as well.
CONCLUSION: The Twins have the most upside over any team in the Division from last year.. The bullpen issues should be resolved with Mijares and Humber. Liriano barring injury will be there for a full season instead of half. The rest of the starters are now more experienced and battle tested. Cuddyer will be back at full strength and Delmon Young should have a much better season than last year. If the Twins can find a good hitting 3rd basemen watch out anything is possible.
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