MLB.com’s Richard Justice posted an interesting column today in which he discussed “Three Teams to Believe In”. And among them were your Minnesota Twins.
He leads the section on the Twins with a great hook, claiming you can “make an easy case that they’re now the AL Central favorite.” That’s a bold claim considering that Cleveland has won the division three years running and the Twins haven’t won it since 2010.
So are the Twins a “team to believe in”? After all, it’s still April and 5 months of the season remain to be played. The real answer is “yes and no”.
Yes, the lineup should be believed in. The Twins are in the top 10 in all of baseball in Slugging and OPS. SS Jorge Polanco alone has a ridiculous slash line of .415/.467/.755 with nine extra base hits among his 22 total hits.
Justice hits on perhaps the most important bat in the Twins lineup at the end of his article when he says, “But if Twins center fielder Byron Buxton - who has a .868 OPS with three steals and seven doubles - finally is the player he’s long been projected to be, Minnesota will be in excellent shape.”
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Excellent shape offensively, sure. But in terms of pitching? That’s another matter.
Jose Berrios has been terrific out of the gate. And Michael Pineda has shown the potential to be a solid arm in the rotation. But as for the rest of the starters? Kyle Gibson has struggled to bounce back from his off-season illness and regain the form that made him a top-two starter on the team last season. Jake Odorizzi has struggled after an excellent first start. And Martin Perez is still an unknown quantity.
And then there’s the bullpen. Justice’s assertion that “Addison Reed’s return from the injured list should make the bullpen as good as any in the division” seems a touch optimistic. Manager Rocco Baldelli has tried a number of different combinations in an attempt to keep arms fresh and maximize matchup advantages, but the results have been decidedly mixed. As a whole, Twins relievers have a 5.07 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .260 (only six teams have a worse BAA).
The good news is that it’s still early and the Twins have a strong farm system from which to deal if additional arms turn out to be necessary. Former manager Tom Kelly used to say that you don’t really know what kind of team you have until you reach Memorial Day. That’s still over five weeks away. Plenty of time to determine if the arms you have are enough to be the division favorites Justice suggests they may be.
