AL Central preview: 1. Minnesota Twins
After a very strong showing this offseason, Minnesota is primed to bring home its third division title in five years. Despite trading away AL batting champ Luis Arraez, the Twins still boast the best lineup in this division. It’s a lineup that’s led by two perennial MVP candidates in Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. Joey Gallo and Max Kepler will join Buxton in the outfield, both looking to bounce back from statistically down years. Christian Vazquez and Ryan Jeffers will rotate behind the dish, with Vazquez signing a three-year deal over the offseason. After a disappointing year from Gary Sanchez, Vazquez will look to bring stability to the catching position. With Arraez traded, Jorge Polanco will move to second, and 24-year-old Jose Miranda will take over at third. Miranda had a strong rookie campaign last year, batting .268 with 15 homers in his first year. Former number one overall pick Royce Lewis is another intruiging young piece. The 23-year-old was outstanding for a short period of time before requiring season-ending knee surgery. If Lewis can return to elite form at the big league level, Minnesota easily lock up this division title. The front office has done a great job acquiring depth over the past few offseasons. As of now, Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, Nick Gordon, Michael A. Taylor and Trevor Larnach are all MLB-quality players who are currently on Minnesota’s bench. If players slump, Minnesota has plenty of replacements to sustain strong offensive production.
While the starting rotation lacks a true frontline ace, it’s very deep with above-average starters who could pitch on a playoff teams. Veteran Sonny Gray will likely get the ball on Opening Day, and will likely anchor this deep rotation. Newly acquired Pablo Lopez certainly has the ability to climb in to the ace role. With arguably one of the best changeups in the league, we saw utter dominance from Lopez at the beginning of last season. Over the first two months of the season, Lopez posted a 1.83, finding himself neck and neck in Cy Young contention with his teammate Sandy Alcantara. Lopez slowly tailed off during the rest of the regular season, finishing with a 3.75 ERA. The 26-year-old still has room for growth, and will look to consistently establish his dominance in his new home of Minnesota. It looked as if Joe Ryan could potentially bring home AL ROY, also dominating early in the season. It’s been rumored that Ryan has developed a splitter and slider over the offseason, hoping to develop his arsenal a bit deeper. While Tyler Mahle was elite with the Reds, he failed to carry this over to Minnesota after being traded at the deadline. While in Minnesota, Mahle lost fastball velocity and landed on the IL. His health is still in question coming into spring training. Mahle is just like the previous three starters we mentioned; he’s an above-average starter who looks like an ace at times but can never consistently prove it. The question is can one of these four starters go beyond “above average.” Former Dodger Kenta Maeda rounds out the group. He failed to pitch a single inning last season, but is expected to be ready by Opening Day, hoping to return to the somewhat elite version of himself that he once used to be.
The bullpen is a strength of this team, highlighted by flame-throwing righties Jorge Lopez and Jhoan Duran. Coming off great seasons, both are capable of a closing role and pitching in high-leverage situations.
For Minnesota, I think most of their division title chances fall on the starting rotation. If Mahle, Gray, Lopez, or Joe Ryan can emerge as an ace, I think it’s a very strong possibility the Twins can win the AL Central. Overall, this is a very deep team that we should expect to see in the playoff mix.