The second team from the AL Central that I will previewing are the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are coming off a good regular season last year finishing in 1st place in the AL Central with a record of 36-24. But their woes in the playoffs continued as they lost yet another series with a first round exit against the Houston Astros. So they had a great season but a horrible ending. Looking ahead to this upcoming season, did the Twins make themselves better to finally get a playoff series win? Let’s take a look.
| Additions | Departures |
| LHP J.A. Happ | LHP Rich Hill |
| RHP Alex Colome | RHP Tyler Clippard |
| RHP Hansel Robles | RHP Trevor May |
| SS Andrelton Simmons | RHP Jake Odorizzi |
| DH Nelson Cruz (Re-Signed) | RHP Sergio Romo |
| OF Eddie Rosario | |
| UTIL Marwin Gonzalez |
On paper, they lost a lot more than what they gained. More specifically, their pitching staff took a hit, as they lost multiple reliable bullpen arms and two proven starters. One transaction that was a necessity for the Twins was keeping Nelson Cruz around. Cruz is a clubhouse leader in Minnesota and helps keep morale high. That is a key thing here, because the Twins are one of the few teams that have a mix of young talent with veteran minds that still put out a winning product. And Cruz is like the glue that holds it all together. Back to their pitching staff though, I just don’t believe the additions of Happ and Robles outweigh the departures of May, Odorizzi and Hill.
Projected Starting Rotation
| 1 | Jose Berrios |
| 2 | Kenta Maeda |
| 3 | Michael Pineda |
| 4 | J.A. Happ |
| 5 | Matt Shoemaker |
Like I said above, their offseason departures outweigh their offseason additions when it comes to the pitching. Now they have a strong 1-2 punch in Berrios and Maeda, but the rest of the rotation is questionable. Pineda has been inconsistent in his career, but when he’s on, he’s on. Happ is a guy who will give you 5-6 innings every 5th day, but whether those are good innings or bad is up in the air. The dark horse of the rotation, Matt Shoemaker, is someone who was going good in Anaheim before he injured his leg. Ever since, he’s been struggling. In recent years, he’s been able to find his old ways again, but whether that will continue is yet to be seen. Now, the one “strong point” of the Twins pitching is they have depth. Two names standout, and that’s lefty Devin Smeltzer and righty Randy Dobnak. Smeltzer is a lefty who is a contact pitcher, but has a decent enough slider, where if he keeps working on it, it can be wipeout. Dobnak is a tremendous story, as the guy went into Spring Training 2019 as an Uber Driver and ended the year pitching for Minnesota in the playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Truly a guy you should root for, and a guy who will do anything to help the team succeed.
Projected Line-Up
| 1 | RF Max Kepler | L |
| 2 | 3B Josh Donaldson | R |
| 3 | DH Nelson Cruz | R |
| 4 | 1B Miguel Sano | R |
| 5 | LF Alex Kirilloff/Luis Arraez | L/L |
| 6 | 2B Jorge Polanco | S |
| 7 | C Mitch Garver/Ryan Jeffers | R/R |
| 8 | SS Andrelton Simmons | R |
| 9 | CF Byron Buxton | R |
The Twins line-up runs deep that’s for sure. The three names I want to look at are veteran Donaldson and Cruz and centerpiece of the Twins’ core Byron Buxton. Donaldson is coming off an injury plagued 2020 season, as he missed the playoffs due to a lingering hamstring issues. Donaldson is an important part of the Twins, as he is entering his 2 year of a 4 year contract with Minnesota, and his role is that of production leader. He is a big part of the team, both offensively and defensively, and when he’s going good, he’s unstoppable. Onto Cruz; he’s the straw that mixes the drink, if you will. When Nelly Cruz is going good, everyone is going good. He helps with the morale and keeps things loose. That is important as people got to remember that it’s a kid’s game that they are getting paid to play. Lastly, Byron Buxton who has yet to find himself completely. He’s had seasons where he’s a highlight reel in centerfield, but struggled offensively, has had seasons where he’s a on-base machine and steals a lot of bases. But, last year he had his best offensive season yet, where he hit for power but hardly stole any bases. If you ask me, Buxton can be a serious MVP candidate if he puts it altogether, especially if he becomes a 30homerun-30stolenbase guy.
2021 PECOTA AL Central Projections
PECOTA has Minnesota retaining their AL Central crown. I on the other hand do not. I don’t think they have a full team that can compete with the likes of Chicago White Sox. Minnesota’s offense is definitely a top-tier offense, but their pitching after Maeda and Berrios is a very questionable. And in my opinion, Chicago made efforts to better themselves this past offseason, more efforts than Minnesota did. Furthermore, Cleveland will most definitely surprise some people this season. As Cleveland didn’t really better themselves after trading away Francisco Lindor. But I do see Cleveland and Minnesota battling for that 2nd place in the division, and evidently battling for one of the two wild card spots. So, my prediction is, Minnesota will finish in 2nd place and getting one of the two wild card spots.
