How Do National Outlets View the 2023 Twins?

Very interesting.  But, like artificially flavored instant mashed potatos.  Not on my menu.  I'll let them all play 162 games, root for my Twins, and enjoy the season.  I like that they play the games to see who wins.  See you at the ballpark.

IMHO the reason why so many journalists predict that the Guardians will win the Division is because there's a perception that Terry Franconia is the better manager. Last year he was named AL Manager of the Year for the 3rd time in his career, & the Guards had the most come from behind victories in MLB with 29. He has a better track record & now it's up to Rocco to show that he can be the better manager.

If Franconia was the Twins manager they would have probably received more 1st place votes than the Guards . 

Perhaps people vote for Cleveland because Francona is the best manager in baseball. I would never argue that point. I do think Cleveland is a really good baseball club and they do benefit from recency bias having won last season.

However, many writers do not have a very strong understanding of some critical Twins players who fly under the radar. The Twins starting staff is pretty good and mostly acknowledged. What is overlooked is the talent in the arms of Alcala, Jax, Thielbar, and Moran in support of J. Lopez and Duran. Additionally, the Twins have depth on the roster with help on the way in the youth of Lewis, Julien, Ober, Varland, and Wallner. Not all of the young pups will be stars but I'm pretty confident in their abilities to support the current roster. Finally, we hope for a  return of two very strong baseball players in Polanco and Kirilloff. The Twins may have some rough moments but there are some guys who can step up this year and bring the AL Central flag back to Target Field.

So what I'm reading here is CBS and FANGRAPHS have the smarter writers, yes? :)

Not surprising ESPN would just gloss over any mention of the Twins. Maybe I'm jaded, but it always feels they dismiss Minnesota teams out of hand.

I think Cleveland is a good ballclub. I liked their addition of Bell. I'm not sold on their depth or their offense yet. (Of course, I still have questions about the Twins offense as well). All those come from behind victories and the 1st or 2nd healthiest team in all of MLB, if I recall correctly. That's asking a lot to duplicate. 

IMO, the biggest question for our Twins is the offense. I know there are a lot of IF's involved: can Gallo rebound, can Kepler show some improvement, can Polanco get right soon and be his normal self, can Larnach stay healthy and continue to shine when so, will Kiriloff really and truly be good to go now, how much do Lewis and Julien contribute when up? But not every IF has to come through in dramatic fashion for this to be a quality offense. 

 I don’t buy in to the scheduling changes as a pro or con to anyone. I'm standing by my prediction of around 88 wins with a shot at 92 if a few things break right.

I'm not surprised that the national sports media doesn't think much of the Twins.  They haven't for years.  I think the Twins can win the division and win a playoff game this year.  My hesitation is that yes there are way to many " ifs" with the team.  I'm beginning to worry more and more about our anemic offense.  Other than Polanco that's injured many of those that are injured and were injured last year need to play and shi something.  For example for all the raving we hear about Kirilloff we haven't seen enough of him to see if he can really help the club.  Others also really haven't proven much to believe they are going to make a big difference.  Yes they could make a difference but other than Polanco no one has really proven anything.  I'm still sticking to my estimate of 82-85 wins.  I was so happy to see Rocco used the same starting lineup two days in a row!!

Undefeated!  162-0!  Best pitching staff in MLB!!! They’re going to win every game 2-0!  Can I join the club now?

Underdogs yet again!

On 4/1/2023 at 3:50 PM, sun said:

IMHO the reason why so many journalists predict that the Guardians will win the Division is because there's a perception that Terry Franconia is the better manager. Last year he was named AL Manager of the Year for the 3rd time in his career, & the Guards had the most come from behind victories in MLB with 29. He has a better track record & now it's up to Rocco to show that he can be the better manager.

If Franconia was the Twins manager they would have probably received more 1st place votes than the Guards . 

Rocco will never be a better manager than Francona.