The Athletic's preview of the Twins:
Despite an offseason spent slashing payroll by $30 million and losing key veterans Sonny Gray, Jorge Polanco and Kenta Maeda, the Twins are the clear front-runners in the American League Central and well-positioned for their fourth division title in six seasons.
Much of that depends on the trio of Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis staying healthy, but the injury question marks don’t end there. Alex Kirilloff, Chris Paddack and Brock Stewart are also health risks, and the Twins have lost key arms Jhoan Duran, Caleb Thielbar and Anthony DeSclafani to spring training injuries.
This is the most talented team in the division, with the star power and depth to rank among the league’s top five lineups and pitching staffs, but they need Duran to get healthy, Correa/Buxton/Lewis to stay healthy and someone to replace Gray atop the rotation alongside ace Pablo López.
From Sports Illustrated:
[Anthony] DeSclafani is dealing with forearm and elbow injuries, according to multiple reports, issues that have plagued him since last season. Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters on Monday that DeSclafani will see a specialist to determine next steps. The Star Tribune reported that could include elbow surgery.
That means the Twins’ pitching depth will be put to the test right away. DeSclafani was brought in to compete for the fifth spot in the rotation with North St. Paul's Louie Varland, who had stints with the big league club as a starter and reliever last season but spent most of his time in Triple-A.
So their #5 starter spent most of last year in AAA and their #4 starter (Paddack) pitched 5 innings last year and 22 innings the year before that. Their #2 starter (Joe Ryan) was 11-10 with a 4.51 ERA last year.
Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober are good, Ryan is medicre, and I don't know what to expect from Paddack and Varland.
By the way, it's been seven years since Byron Buxton has played more than 92 games. Correa had an OPS+ of 96 last year. Yeah, hope he can stay healthy - they really need that bat.
I'm just not buying the Twins, not with that rotation. Buxton can't stay on the field and Correa is JAG.
