FanPost

Minnesota Twin 2017 Season Preview

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Twins

2017 Spring Training Season Preview

If anyone is old enough to remember or at least seen it sometime, the Clint Eastwood movie, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", then that title at least, is apropos to describe the 2016 Twins season.

The good- Brian Dozier and his 42 hr’s; the bad- Twins pitching; the ugly- 103 losses. The Twins were the only team in the majors to lose over 100 games, the first team since the 2013 Houston Astros lost 111 games. So in keeping with the theme, we will first look at the Twins offense, at which overall they are pretty decent and should only improve, as the youngsters they have continue to develop and get better.

OUTFIELD

We will start our look see with the outfield, since that is where the promise of the Twins future begins. The last time a team had 3 OF’s who were up and coming at the same time was probably the 1984 Toronto Blue Jays, who saw the coming of Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Moseby and George Bell who were all 24 yrs. old.

The Twins have Buxton, Kepler and Rosario who have arrived. The most promising of these is Byron Buxton who is now 24 yrs. old. Buxton who will play CF, finally showed his ability in the final 28 games of last season, hitting 9 hrs. with 22 rbi’s. He raised his avg. from .195 to .225. His OBP % rose from .248 to .284 and his slugging % went .330 to .430 at season’s end. Buxton who made the team out of spring training last year, was sent down, and spent 5 weeks in back in the minors before being recalled the first of June. Buxton who also had 10 sb’s, will be counted on for more as his OBP% continues to climb.

Joining Buxton in LF, will be Eddie Rosario, who hit .269/10 hr/32 rbi in 92 games. Rosario will turn 26 yrs. old during the season. Rosario is a LH hitter, as is Max Kepler who be manning RF for the Twins. Kepler, who is also 24 yrs. old. Kepler showed good power last year hitting 17 hr’s. with 63 rbi’s, and appeared in 113 games with 396 ab’s.

Versatility will not be a problem for skipper, Paul Molitor, either in the OF and IF as well. Both backups in the OF are switch hitters. Robbie Grossman will be the LF reserve. Grossman was 2nd on the team last year with a .280 avg. also swatted 11 hr’s with 37 rbi’s. He committed 8 errors in only 132 chances last year, so he is a defensive liability. He needs to improve his defense if he hopes to get more playing time.

Danny Santana is slated to be the main back up in center and right field. Santana does not have much power hitting only 2 dingers to go with 14 rbi’s last season.

Defensively overall in the OF, the Twins appear to be pretty solid, with both youth and speed in the OF, as well good depth. The Twins OF can mature and should be together for the next 6-8 years with tremendous promise and potential hopefully being served.

INFIELD- 3B & SS

There is also much potential and promise in the infield as well, as the left side of the IF will be manned by Miguel Sano at 3b, and Jorge Polanco at SS. They are childhood friends, since the age of 7 are both from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic and will turn 24 during the season, so youth is definitely being served in the Twin clubhouse. Sano has plenty of power to go along with his 6’4" frame as he smacked 24 dingers with 66 rbi’s last season. He hit only .236 while appearing in 116 games. Sano hit .289 in 2015 in 80 games. He also struck out 178 times in 437 ab’s, so he definitely needs to make better contact and put the ball in play more in order to up his average. Sano also needs to improve his defense as he committed 15 errors in 144 total chances. He is a converted OF, so he is still learning the intricacies of playing 3B.

His friend at SS, Polanco will not have to undergo any learning curve. He still has to grow defensively as he had 11 errors in 189 total chances, but that should come with simply more games. Polanco led the team in avg. with .282 avg. while hitting 4 hrs. batting second behind 2B Brian Dozier, who leads off, so hitting for a good average is paramount for the Twins.

SECOND BASE

Dozier who tied for third in HR’s in MLB with 42, is the Twins leadoff hitter. Dozier was the subject of much trade interest from the LA Dodgers, and unless the Twins falter badly he will probably remain a Twin as his contract calls for 2 more years at only 15 million total. His leadership offensively is highly valued as he also hit 35 doubles, 5 triples and drove in 99 runs. So any success the Twins will have, much of it will come or at least start with Dozier.

FIRST BASE

Joe Maurer will man 1B for the Twins as he begins his 14th season. His 129 hits was 2nd on the team as he slugged 11 hrs. with 49 rbi’s. He is still under contract for 2 more years at 46 million, so Maurer probably will be around for a while longer barring injury.

DH

The DH is up for grabs during this spring. Kennys Vargas is the player who will probably be the full time DH. Also hoping to be the DH is right handed hitting Byung Ho Park, the Korean League signee, from who much was expected last season but little was actually returned.

Park was DFA’d by the Twins in the winter, resigned as a minor league free agent. He struck out 80 times in only 215 ab’s last season, while hitting only .191. So if he makes the team, he may split time with Vargas who is a switch hitter. Between the two, they hit 22 hr’s last season, but better contact and higher average is needed from either one who may win the job and be the full time DH.

CATCHER

The one major upgrade the Twins made during the offseason was C Jason Castro, signed as a FA from the Astros. Castro signed a 3 yr. $24.5 million deal to be the signal caller for the Twins. He is considered a very good signal caller who will hopefully help the Twins pitching staff. Any contribution Castro gives offensively will simply be considered a plus. He did hit 11 hrs. with 52 rbi’s last season, while hitting only .210. So as the saying goes, "there is nowhere to go but up!" However, in this case with Castro’s signing, the Twins hope that there is nowhere to go but down, at least as far the pitching staff and the team ERA is concerned.

STARTING PITCHING

The starters for the Twins last year had the majors worst ERA.

The Astro had a team ERA of 4.06 last season and the Twins was 5.08 with 59 wins.

The starters will be led by Ervin Santana, who was (7-11) with a 3.38 era last season. He had 30 starts, with 1.22 whip in 181 innings last season. He is definitely the best of the bunch. Hector Santiago is #2 in the rotation. Santiago won 10 games before coming to the Twins last season. His era with LA was a not bad 4.25, but that ballooned to 5.58 in 11 starts with the Twins, winning only 3 games. So more is expected from him.

Pick an order, any order for #3-5 in the rotation. None of the choices were very good last year. Tyler Duffey won 9 games and Kyle Gibson, won 6 games. Also in the mix is Phil Hughes and Jose Berrios. These guys are going to have to learn on the job, and the Twins hope they do if the Twins have any hope of winning more games.

One to keep an eye on is Adalberto Mejia who acquired in a trade from the SF Giants. Mejia was (9-5) in AA and AAA last season with a 3.00 era in 132 total innings with 126 k’s and 30 bb’s. He made just 1 MLB start last year, so he will probably start the year in AAA and await a call up. There were 3 pitchers who made it to the AA level last year, who the Twins are very high on. LHP’s Stephen Gonsalves and Tyler Jay, and RHP Kohl Stewart. All of them are considered top 6 prospects for the Twins. Although I will guess that their arrival at the major league level will not come until 2018 or 2019 at best.

BULLPEN

The bullpen will be led by Brandon Kintzler who replaced the injured Glen Perkins as closer. Kintzler recorded 17 saves last season, with a 3.15. Perkins who is returning torn labrum shoulder surgery has only begun throwing this spring. He will start the year on the DL and may not return until June or July.

The rest of bullpen will be made up of Trevor May, Ryan Pressly, J.T. Chargois and Taylor Rogers who as (3-1) with 3.96 era in 57 games.

ANALYSIS

How many games the Twins win will depend heavily on their pitching. The Twins lost 24 more games last season then they did in 2015. So an increase in wins to the mid 70’s would be a nice start to a turn around.

The Twin are looking at a 4th place finish in AL Central with maybe a 3rd Place finish as long as the offense also improves as the youngsters continue to develop and get better. It will be certainly interesting to watch them play and learn on the job.

Coaching Staff- Manager Coach, Paul Molitor; Bench Coach, Joe Vavra; Hitting Coach, James Rowson; Pitching Coach, Neil Allen; First Base Coach, Jeff Smith; Third Base Coach, Gene Glynn