Is That a Threat? How Each AL Central Opponent Could Pose a Threat to the Minnesota Twins

[Patrick Wozniak]

With such a short amount of games being played in 2020 a lot can happen. Fortunately, the Twins are well stocked to succeed, but each AL Central team presents their own challenge to Minnesota’s chances. Today we’ll take a look at how each team could pose a threat to the Twins.We’ll go about this alphabetically, so Chicago’s up first.

 

Chicago White Sox

Threat: The Offense Explodes

 

While there is plenty of hype surrounding the Chicago White Sox chances in 2020 due to their significant offseason spending, they still seem to be a tier below the Twins. After signing former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel Chicago’s rotation still isn’t all that scary, but they do have an “ace” in Lucas Giolito (if his 2019 success is to be believed) and plenty of young arms that could take off, including Michael Kopech, Dylan Cease, and Reynaldo López. But with Chicago it’s not so much the arms that pose a threat, it’s the bats.

 

The White Sox made a huge upgrade a catcher by adding the best backstop on the market in Yasmani Grandal and were also able to add veteran slugger Edwin Encarnación to serve as their DH. Soon to be 23-year-old phenom Luis Robert has the potential to explode in a shortened season as MLB pitching won’t have much time to figure out the rookie’s tendencies and make adjustments. Add in young and rising stars Yoán Moncada and Eloy Jiménez and Chicago’s offense has the potential to be truly explosive.

 

Cleveland Indians

Threat: Dominant Starting Pitching (duh)

 

Cleveland was Minnesota’s biggest obstacle in 2019 and they look to be in 2020 as well. They managed to not trade away all-world shortstop Francisco Lindor who is still joined by third baseman José Ramírez, himself one of baseball’s better hitters. But Cleveland is sort of the anti-Chicago as it’s the pitching staff that could bring Cleveland to the next level.

 

The rotation is headlined by two ace-caliber starters in Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber, along with a presumably healthy Carlos Carrasco. Throw in Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac and Cleveland boasts one of the better rotations in baseball. Plus, if someone gets hurt, Cleveland has the unique superpower of being able to pluck quality MLB starters out of thin air. If the old adage that says starting pitching wins the postseason is to be believed then Cleveland might have an advantage as the entire season is essentially playoff baseball.

 

Alright, there you have it. What’s that you say? Detroit and Kansas City? Ah, forgive me. Time to get creative!

 

Detroit Tigers

Threat: Revenge!

 

If enough chips fall in place, I suppose Detroit could have a somewhat formidable rotation. The Tigers do have everyone’s favorite perennial breakout candidate in Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull is kind of interesting. If the Tigers really want to go for it they have three really good starting pitching prospects who are nearly MLB-ready in Casey Mize, Matt Manning, and Tarik Skubal.

 

Detroit is also full of former Twins, so they might have the whole revenge-factor going for them. The coaching staff includes Ron Gardenhire, Rick Anderson, and Joe Vavra and the Tigers added CJ Cron and Jonathan Schoop this offseason to give the offense a little boost. Plus they have former Minnesota farm-hand Niko Goodrum who always seems to do well against his former team (sure enough, .851 career OPS vs. Minnesota).

 

Kansas City Royals

Threat: New-Manager Magic

 

On the surface, Kansas City doesn’t appear to have a whole lot going for them. Sure Jorge Soler hit 48 bombs last year and Whit Merrifield is pretty good, but there’s just not a lot to get excited about for the Royals. But maybe, just maybe, they can find some magic under the tutelage of new manager Mike Matheny. With long time skipper Ned Yost retiring, Matheny is a new face (to Kansas City at least) and sometimes teams find unexpected success under first-year managers. Look no further than Rocco Baldelli. Or Paul Molitor. Or Ron Gardenhire. Or Tom Kelly…okay, you get the point.

 

The Twins are a great bet to win the AL Central and I do believe they will do so, but there is plenty that can go wrong in just 60 games. Cleveland and Chicago pose the biggest threats but I suppose it wouldn’t be wise (or polite) to sleep on Kansas City or Detroit. Of course there’s also the threat of a Covid outbreak bringing the season to a premature end, but that’s not as fun to think about.

 

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[TwinsFan268]

Nope, COVID is not as fun to think about at all.