Minnesota Twins: Minnie has tools to win AL Central

The AL Central isn’t as good as it used to be, actually, it may be one of the least competitive divisions in all of baseball, which spells good news for the Minnesota Twins.

Minnie has a new manager in Rocco Baldelli and if he brings similar qualities that Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler currently has then the future is bright for the Twins at that position.

The Twins added to their lineup which currently features, Nelson Cruz (at least 37 homers in each of last five seasons), Logan Forsythe (hit .258 w/Twins last season), Miguel Sano (13 homers in ’18 after hitting 28 in ’17) and Max Kepler (career-high 20 dingers last year.)

Minnie has a chance to improve on some of last year’s offensive numbers as several of their hitters are coming off of awful years.

Jonathan Schoop comes to mind as a player looking to make up from a down year. The 27-year old is coming off a 2018 campaign where he hit .233 and smacked 21 homers and drove in 61 runs. If the infielder can come close to the hitter he was in 2017 (.293 average, 32 HRs, and 105 RBIs), then the Twins will be at least a tougher out June through August.

Outfielder Eddie Rosario returns to the Twins lineup after leading the team in average (.288), home runs (24) and RBIs (77).

Minnesota bolstered their pitching staff by signing a closer, Addison Reed. The 30-year old reliever tossed 56 innings for Minnie last season and walked 15 while getting 10 holds.

The Twins have a solid rotation as well as Kyle Gibson is coming off a campaign where he threw 196.2 innings and struck out 179 batters to go along with a 3.62 ERA.

Minnesota has the opportunity to seize the AL Central crown not just because of the players on their roster, but because teams in their division are not ready to contend for the playoffs, let alone a division’s top spot.

The Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Royals have a lot of holes to fill and Cleveland just lost shortstop Francisco Lindor for the start of the season because of injury.

The Tribe lost outfielder Michael Brantley and relievers Cody Allen and Andrew Miller in free agency, plus Edwin Encarnacion in a trade with Seattle.

Minnesota is looking to build off a 2018 season where they finished 13 games out of first place and finished second in the central.

If the Twins can’t take advantage of the depleted division they play in, then they might as well start rebuilding again too.