2010 Season Predictions
April 3, 2010
The 2010 MLB season is upon us and there is an excitement and buzz around the Twins this year. Joe Mauer has been locked up with a long term contract. The front office was busy with trades and free agents. Their new home, Target Field, has been unveiled with a pair of games against the St. Louis Cardinals, which the teams split, and brought us to the end of Spring Training. From here on out, the games matter and are for real.
Unlike some of the recent seasons, the Twins have made several key moves throughout the offseason to help mold them into not only a division champion, but to also take the next step in the postseason. The team has shored up its middle infield problems by trading Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy and signing free agent Orlando Hudson. The Twins also added power on the bench by signing Jim Thome.
Key parts missing from their once dominant pitching rotation have seemed to fall back in place. Kevin Slowey, who was off to a red hot start in 2009, is back after having season ending wrist surgery. Francisco Liriano also seemed to have regained his form before having Tommy John surgery and looks to be more of the feared phenom of 2006, rather than the lost pitcher of 2009.
With Liriano battling problems last season and Slowey on the shelf, the Twins had a patchwork rotation that consisted of starts from RA Dickey, Armando Gabino, Anthony Swarzak, Brian Duensing and Jeff Manship. Their rotation seems to be more solid this year with Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Carl Pavano being key cogs along with Liriano and Slowey. The same cannot be said, though, for the bullpen.
The bullpen, for the most part, seemed to be set fairly well until Joe Nathan tore his ulnar collateral ligament and needed season ending Tommy John surgery. In his absence, Jon Rauch has been named as the closer with Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares, Brian Duensing, a newly acquired Clay Condrey, and a returning Pat Neshek in the bullpen. The loss of Nathan, though, is a huge blow to the team.
Hopefully the bullpen won’t need to do too much work as the Twins have put together one of the better lineups in recent history. The meat of the lineup – Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young – have been surrounded by great talent in the form of Denard Span, Orlando Hudson and JJ Hardy. Nick Punto or Brendan Harris will round out the order – an order that ESPN’s Buster Olney himself said was the best lineup in baseball today. Even better than the defending World Series Champion Yankees.
Olney, along with many others in the national media, have predicted the Twins to walk away with the AL Central. The Twins are no doubt the odds on favorite and it is their division to lose, but there are some that say the Chicago White Sox, with their strong pitching rotation, could surprise the league and win the title. Ozzie Guillen has seemed to take the Twins philosophy this season with a team that focuses on pitching and manufacturing runs, a vast difference from their power heavy teams in the past, so it will be interesting to see how well they fit in the piranha roles.
The Detroit Tigers could also be a dark horse team in the Central Division. The team looks a lot different than the team that almost won the division, but they still have some great arms in the rotation and I can see them hanging around in the standings. They have lost key players in Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco, but I wouldn’t quite count them out yet. Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello will still be tough to beat.
As for the other two teams in the division – the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals – both are in rebuilding mode and most likely won’t contend this year. I will say, though, that this will be the first time in a while that the Royals won’t finish in the bottom of the standings. The Indians will be down there this time.
As for the Twins, they may be my favorite team but I have a hard time picking against them, especially with the talent they are putting out on the field this year. For my personal predictions I have them in first followed by Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland. From there, I can only hope that the Twins can make it further in the postseason and on to the World Series.
Maybe, just maybe, we will see a new ballpark christened with a World Series Championship for the second year in a row. Whatever the case may be, hopefully we will not have to endure yet another game 163 for the third straight year in a row.
As for my other predictions, I pick the Yankees in the AL East and the Mariners in the AL West, with Tampa Bay picking up the Wild Card. In the National League I will take the Phillies in the East, the Cubs in the Central and the Giants in the West with the Dodgers taking the Wild Card.
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