SI's power rankings

[gunnarthor]

http://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/24/the-30-mlb-power-rankings-spring-training

 

We start at #23 but ahead of the White Sox. Nothing earth shattering but they conclude with "What we can say with more certainty: This could, on many nights, be a fun team to watch."

[BK432]

 

http://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/24/the-30-mlb-power-rankings-spring-training

 

We start at #23 but ahead of the White Sox. Nothing earth shattering but they conclude with "What we can say with more certainty: This could, on many nights, be a fun team to watch."

 

Joe Sheehan said much the same in his newsletter today. Said it won't be a great, or even good team, but more interesting and fun to watch than any Twins team in recent memory.

[Doomtints]

#23 would be a huge improvement over dead last. If the Twins land in this range this would be a successful year.

[DaveW]

Yes, 10-8 games are quite fun to watch

[notoriousgod71]

 

http://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/24/the-30-mlb-power-rankings-spring-training

 

We start at #23 but ahead of the White Sox. Nothing earth shattering but they conclude with "What we can say with more certainty: This could, on many nights, be a fun team to watch."

 

 

Why would it be any different than last year?

 

For every player than improves it stands a reasonable chance that the same amount of players will regress.

[Doomtints]

 

"What we can say with more certainty: This could, on many nights, be a fun team to watch."

 

They were "fun" to watch last year as long as you were watching in the right mindset.

1. Walk off wild pitch losses. Pretty funny.
2. Games with ~150 people in the entire stadium. Pretty funny.
3. Wild pitch walks. Pretty funny.

And I'm just scratching the surface.

[twinsfanstreif]

Why would it be any different than last year?

 

For every player than improves it stands a reasonable chance that the same amount of players will regress.

I disagree. Almost all of the vets had a down year besides Dozier's home run totals and Santana. There are a lot of young guys on this team with massive potential and many of them started to really shine at the end of last year. I expect a break out season from at least Buxton, Kepler, and Sano. Also we now have a catcher who is know for his pitch framing which will help the pitching staff, we have a new hitting coach, and we could see significant improvement from guys like Berrios, Polanco, and Rosario, as well as a stronger bullpen (it really can't get worse). Where exactly do you see regression? Mauer won't get worse as a hitter, if anything he will get better another year removed from the concussion (see what Morneau did, it took 4 years to get better for him), Hughes, Gibson, May, Jensen, and Santiago all had a career worst years last year. The only place I see for regression is Santana. Anywhere else?

[Doomtints]

 

The only place I see for regression is Santana. Anywhere else?

 

Generally in baseball discussions "regress" would be for a metric to move to the mean (or average), either for that player or for the league in general. If there are so many players who you think will be better than last year -- who all played well below both their potential and the league last year -- you had better hope they regress.

[twinsfanstreif]

Generally in baseball discussions "regress" would be for a metric to move to the mean (or average), either for that player or for the league in general. If there are so many players who you think will be better than last year -- who all played well below both their potential and the league last year -- you had better hope they regress.

I have been around baseball most of my life and I have never heard a single person use the term "regression" to discribe a player getting better, not once

[Doomtints]

 

I have been around baseball most of my life and I have never heard a single person use the term "regression" to discribe a player getting better, not once

 

Here is where the term comes from in baseball terminology.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_analysis

 

Here is a fangraphs discussion on it.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/principles/regression/