With the current roster as is, are we more like the Blue Jays (Power Bats) or Royals (Contact Bats)?  Which team are we closest to modeling in 2015?  Who are we in 3 years?  Your preference?

Edited December 12, 201510 yr by ExpectMorePayLess

Do Rosario, Mauer & Buxton hit for average? Do Sano & Park hit for power? Does Kepler hit for a crazy average? Does Walker light it up for power? Does anyone behind the plate hit for anything?

 

Pretty much what makes this spring so interesting. The twins have to demonstrate which way they will go. Most interesting of all. If the hitters or power guys really rule the spring will Ryan & Molitar go that way, or will they sit on what they have?

 

Example if Buxton and Kepler hit .385 and steal bases in spring, do the twins send them to AAA? Likewise, if Mauer hits .085 and Walker hits 8 dingers...the combinations are endless and the probability to make it very tough for Twins Mgmt. is almost certain. Maybe even as much with the pitching staff.

Edited December 12, 201510 yr by Ncgo4

With the current roster as is, are we more like the Blue Jays (Power Bats) or Royals (Contact Bats)? Which team are we closest to modeling in 2015? Who are we in 3 years? Your preference?

I'd go with the offense that scored the most runs since the 2009 Yankees.

I want balance. I don't want a team that settles for a lot of solo home runs. I don't want to need three singles (combined with walks) to score a measly run. I want crooked numbers, which usually comes from hitting with some power and with runners on.

 

Actually Toronto led the league both in getting guys on base and in slugging percentage, so I guess it's not either/or. I want us to be 2015 Toronto. We don't resemble them now, and I'm not sure we get there in three years either. But there's more of a chance of that than becoming KC.

Certainly not the Royals because we don't make nearly enough contact.

 

Certainly not the Jays because we got a ways to go to reach that level of power.

 

(Thinking)

 

 

Can I have a couple of different teams to try and compare?

The Twins were 26th in hitting and the Jays were first.  The Twins were 18th in fielding and the Royals first, yep we need two new teams!

Lots of different ways to score runs you just have to get contributions from the entire lineup. The Twins don't do this yet as they have too many uncompetitive at bats. Hopefully this gets better with some of the younger players gaining experience.

Wouldn't the hope be that we'll fall somewhere in between?  It's impossible to predict 2016, much less 2018, but in a perfect world wouldn't 2018 look something like this?

 

1. Buxton CF

2. Kepler RF

3. Sano 3B

4. Park DH

5. Dozier 2B

6. Rosario LF

7. Mauer 1B

8. Murphy C

9. Gordon SS

 

In my mind, this team has the potential to check off most of the boxes you are looking for in a great team.  The biggest potential weakness I see is defense at the corner infield positions.  This, of course, completely ignores pitching which some people feel is important to great teams

I'd say our lineup resembles the Mariners, our rotation? Not sure.