Minnesota Twins 2017 Season Preview

After a run at the Wild Card in 2015, the Minnesota Twins collapsed in 2016 to the point of the worst record in baseball. Is there a bounce-back in store in 2017?

The Minnesota Twins had an impressive run in 2015 with a youthful lineup and consistent pitching that led to a run at the playoffs.

In 2016, they opened the season by competing with the Atlanta Braves for the last team in the majors to win a game (they finally won in their 10th game, opening 0-9), finishing the year with 103 losses, their most in the history of the franchise in Minnesota (the Senators had three worse seasons from 1901-1960 before the franchise moved from Washington).

In fact, the only other time the Twins even lost 100 or more games since moving to Minnesota was in 1982. Though no one exactly WANTS to lose 100 games, listen to the young players on that Twins team – Tim Laudner at catcher, Kent Hrbek at first base, Gary Gaetti at third base, and Tom Brunansky in right field with lefty Frank Viola taking his first turns on the mound. The Twins also happened to draft a future Hall of Fame center fielder in 1982 named Kirby Puckett, so that 1982 season offered plenty of promise for a team that would win the World Series just five years later.

Whether the 2016 Twins have the same type of core is up for debate, but there are certainly the young offensive pieces to build a future contender. It’s the pitching where the Twins struggled mightily in 2016 – pitching and defense, that is.

The Twins pitching staff as a whole was the third worst per Fangraphs WAR produced by the staff in 2016. That, however, was one spot better than their defense fared, ranking second-to-last in team defensive runs saved, having given the opposition 45 runs on the season, according to Fangraphs’ tallies.

So how can the Twins change their fortunes in 2017?

We’ll take a look over the next few pages:

We’ll take a look at the team’s 2016-2017 offseason moves, both the key losses and key additions.

Then we’ll take a look at the team’s lineup and bench, followed by the rotation and bullpen.

We’ll follow that up with a run through of the people in charge of the team in the management, coaching and front office roles.

Finally, you’ll get a prediction of what we at Call to the Pen see as the Twins’ 2017 chances.

Let’s kick it off with the offseason moves…

Next: Offseason Movement