The surprise team of 2019 will be…the Minnesota Twins?

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 25: (L-R) Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey, Manager Rocco Baldelli and General Manager Thad Levine of the Minnesota Twins pose for a photo as Baldelli is introduced at a press conference at Target Field on October 25, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 25: (L-R) Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey, Manager Rocco Baldelli and General Manager Thad Levine of the Minnesota Twins pose for a photo as Baldelli is introduced at a press conference at Target Field on October 25, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
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Minnesota Twins
OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 22: Ehire Addrianza #16 of the Minnesota Twins slides into home plate to score a run against the Oakland Athletics during the seventh inning at the Oakland Coliseum on September 22, 2018 in Oakland, California. The Oakland Athletics defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-2. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)

Payroll flexibility

More than most of their potential competitors, the Minnesota Twins are beautifully poised to make any necessary mid-course corrections.

The Twins begin the 2019 season with a payroll that may dip below $100 million for the first time since 2014, and – barring a nuclear-level free agent signing – will not top last season’s $128 million. That will give GM Thad Levine and executive VP Derek Falvey maximum flexibility to patch a roster hole or react in the event a pricey but desirable mid-season trade target looms.

It also means the Twins can afford to tie up any of their own stars on multi-year deals. That could provide further incentive for Kepler, Buxton, Adrianza, Rosario, catchers Jason Castro and Mitch Garver, or any of several promising members of the Twins’ young mound staff.

Looking past 2019, the Twins have virtually no payroll commitments tying them down.

That’s something that cannot be said of their principal rival in the American League Central, the Cleveland Indians. The Indians are expected to start the season with about $116 million in salary commitments, and management has intimated it’s not willing to go much higher.

If the AL Central race comes down to the contenders’ abilities to patch weaknesses mid-course, the advantage all lays with the Twins.