Twins are better than the Indians, White Sox, if..

[Kyyle23]

I still think the Twinkies rotation will be better in 2006 though. They're subtracting Lohse and Mays who had ERA's of 4.18 and 5.65 respectively. Baker had a 3.35 ERA in about 6 or 7 starts, and Liriano could be another Santana, even though he may initally struggle depending on how many hits he gives up (19 hits in 23.2IP, with 15 scoring (also only 7BB's)).

 

It should be interesting to see how they do without J.C Romero as well, and Mulholland ain't there either, so there's 2 lefties gone, even though Gardenhire did use Mulholland way too much.

 

Where do you think Lohse is going? He repaired Gardenhires door and they hugged, everything is ok now.

[Steve9347]

Their starting third baseman is Tony freaking Batista.  'Nuff said.

 

exactly what I was going to say.

 

Im thinking .225 at best, with more strikeouts that one can imagine.

 

Think if they had held on to Bret Boone! That would be the worst infield in the majors, and could still be with

 

1B Morneau (big potential, bad so far)

2B Luis Castillo (best days way behind him)

SS Jason Bartlett (needs to develop)

3B Tony Batista (as bad as they come)

 

That real bad.

[bschmaranz]

They forgot to mention the magic beans that the Twins need to buy.

[RME JICO]

So if every player has a career year, no gets worse or hurt, then the Twins will win the Division. I guess the Cubs are going to win the WS too.

[beck72]

I still think the Twinkies rotation will be better in 2006 though. They're subtracting Lohse and Mays who had ERA's of 4.18 and 5.65 respectively. Baker had a 3.35 ERA in about 6 or 7 starts, and Liriano could be another Santana, even though he may initally struggle depending on how many hits he gives up (19 hits in 23.2IP, with 15 scoring (also only 7BB's)).

 

I agree. The Twins will have solid young rotation for years to come with Liriano and Baker teaming with silva and Santana [26]. Liriano sounds like he could be another unhittable LHP like Santana. Not to mention the bullpen will be young too with Crain, et al. I thought Crain was a strikeout guy but he only had like 29 in over 80 IP's.

 

The AL Central's going to be a dogfight for years. The AL West and East aren't going to like to see central teams coming into town.

[nitetrain8601]

I think the Twins will be in Wild-Card contention all year. I mean they kept pace with us until Hunter got injured basically and that team was alot worse than their current one. I don't see the Twins or Indians as a joke though I think the Twins will be better.

 

The Royals definately will cost some teams some games.

[elrockinMT]

The Twins will finish ahead of the Indians.

 

 

It will be close between the Twinkies and the Indians, but they both will still be eating our smoke.

[samclemens]

Their starting third baseman is Tony freaking Batista.  'Nuff said.

 

good point.

[witesoxfan]

^^^. 

 

But alas, the Twinkies really also need to hope that whoever plays RF for them, whether it's Cuddyer, Kubel etc., can perform adequately enough.

 

And my thoughts on Tony Batsita put simply, is the guy will make so many outs, does it really matter if he can hit 15-20 HR's?

 

New third baseman Tony Batista matches his career batting average of .251 and hits 20 home runs; he has not had fewer than 25 major league home runs since 1998 and hit 27 homers in Japan last season.

 

He has averaged atleast 25 homers a season since 1998...that is pretty much all I need to know. He's not very good at all...but he's not a .220 15 50 .250/.400/.650 player...he's atleast a decent power bat in the 7 or 8 hole in the lineup. I mean, if he hits .250, he seems to be a replica of Joe Crede of 03-05, no?

 

He's not signed to a lot of money either, so I don't see a ton of risk involved in the deal either. Counting on him to be your starting 3Bman is not a situation you want to be in, but when your billionaire owner will only let you spend $55 million and all of your good, young players are starting to receive big paychecks, what are you gonna do?

 

I still think they're an underrated team, and I still will make no bet as to who will finish higher in the standings between Cleveland and Minnesota, as they both appear to be very good teams...so long as both finish in 2nd or 3rd(or lower), I could care less, so long as the Sox don't finish below them.

[Benchwarmerjim]

I thought Crain was a strikeout guy but he only had like 29 in over 80 IP's.

 

.

 

 

he was

but then he hurt his arm and lost velocity on his fast ball. He started to throw more junk balls up and and just get guys to hit ground balls

[WilliamTell]

Wow that's a lot to have happen. Why don't they just say if the Twins win every single game, they'll win the World Series.

[Rowand44]

Wow that's a lot to have happen. Why don't they just say if the Twins win every single game, they'll win the World Series.

Meh, you can pretty much throw out a bunch of ifs for every team, every year.

[witesoxfan]

Meh, you can pretty much throw out a bunch of ifs for every team, every year.

 

So do you look for the team with the fewest ifs, or the team who will likely end up fulfilling the most ifs at season's end?

 

One could make the argument that the Blue Jays have fewer ifs than the Sawks or Yanks...but they are picked almost universally to finish 3rd. Are we looking at one of the most underrated and overlooked teams in the league in Toronto, even with all the friggin noise they made in the offseason, or are the Yankee and Sawks offenses just that good? Or is the East Coast Hype Machine just working their magic with the Sawks and Yanks again?

[Rowand44]

So do you look for the team with the fewest ifs, or the team who will likely end up fulfilling the most ifs at season's end?

 

One could make the argument that the Blue Jays have fewer ifs than the Sawks or Yanks...but they are picked almost universally to finish 3rd.  Are we looking at one of the most underrated and overlooked teams in the league in Toronto, even with all the friggin noise they made in the offseason, or are the Yankee and Sawks offenses just that good?  Or is the East Coast Hype Machine just working their magic with the Sawks and Yanks again?

I think it's more like: They're the yanks and the sawx, they both have to be in the playoffs. I had the Jays pegged for 2nd in the east but with the addition of Bengie I can easily see them winning that thing. I would not be surprised at all to see a postseason this year minus both New York and Boston.

[AirScott]

pretty crazy to hope 100 RBI's out of RonDL White.  Especially since he has NEVER done that before in his career.

he's capable, but he's usually plagued by injuries. people have said the Yankees gave up on him too early because his hand was messed up. not playing the field makes those numbers more likely than before.

[JUGGERNAUT]

Even if all that were to come true (A BIG WALLY-DO IF) they still are a slow team both in the field & on the bases. If Chicago plays as expected & the Twins wish list comes true Chicago will still win the division.

[YASNY]

So do you look for the team with the fewest ifs, or the team who will likely end up fulfilling the most ifs at season's end?

 

One could make the argument that the Blue Jays have fewer ifs than the Sawks or Yanks...but they are picked almost universally to finish 3rd.  Are we looking at one of the most underrated and overlooked teams in the league in Toronto, even with all the friggin noise they made in the offseason, or are the Yankee and Sawks offenses just that good?  Or is the East Coast Hype Machine just working their magic with the Sawks and Yanks again?

 

So many fans ... and media 'experts' ... look at offense as the big determining factor. As any fan south of Wrigley can tell you, pitching and defense wins championships.

[Kyyle23]

he's capable, but he's usually plagued by injuries.  people have said the Yankees gave up on him too early because his hand was messed up.  not playing the field makes those numbers more likely than before.

 

I dont even think Rondell White is capable of driving in 100 runs anymore. Even when he was young and healthy in 1997 (151 games) he only drove in 82 runs, and in 2003 he came the closest to his highwater mark when he played in 137 games. But he just cannot stay healthy, and that reason alone would make me think he isnt capable of driving in 100, besides the fact that he could never do it before.