Minnesota Twins no long AL Central kings; Keuchel goes to White Sox
The Minnesota Twins haven’t done much to improve from last year while their division rivals, the Chicago White Sox have improved vastly.
The Minnesota Twins won the American League Central last year, but they are going to have to earn it again this year–and it is not going to be easy.
Many fans forget that the Cleveland Indians still won 93 games last year and didn’t make the postseason. Most of those wins were without Corey Kluber, who was traded to the Texas Rangers last weekend, so Cleveland is not going anywhere in 2020.
The Chicago White Sox can make the argument to being the AL Central favorites, as they have improved the most out of all of the teams in the division. They brought in the best catcher on the market, Yasmani Grandal, and then fixed up the top of the rotation by signing Gio Gonzalez and now Dallas Keuchel.
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Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins have brought only back Jake Odorizzi after he accepted the Qualifying Offer, but they lost C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop to the Detroit Tigers.
As of now, their rotation consists of three starters according to the club’s website–Jose Berrios, Odorizzi, and Michael Pineda. So it looks like the rotation will once again be a weakness for the reigning Central champions.
With that said, the offseason is not over by any means. They have been in the running for the top player remaining on the market, Josh Donaldson, which would make their infield that much more dominant.
Even after Keuchel has signed, there are still plenty of starters that the Twins can go out and add but many people, including me, predicted that the Twins would go out and be aggressive in a starting pitching heavy market this winter but it just hasn’t happened yet.
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If the Twins continue to stay put with the roster that they have, they will have some serious competition for the AL Central in 2020.