Can the Twins Have One of MLB’s Best Lineup Duos in 2024?

Interesting read, Cody, thanks.

Buxton and CC are the big names, players familiar to every fan in baseball.  Hope like heck that when next year ends, with the Twins winning it all, these two were the duo that led the Twins to their championship.  

But odds are good that at least one of their top duo will be someone else.  My bet would be it will be either Lewis or AK stepping up with a huge, HUGE, 2024 season for the Twins.  

The Twins simply do not have any two (or three) player(s) to compare to guys like Judge/Soto or Betts/Freeman/Ohtani. However, I do believe that it is possible that with good fortune, health, and continued growth the Twins will have a strong lineup. The offense of the last half of 2023 could be replicated and even improved in 2024. It is a reason I believe the Twins will be a better team next year than they were in the past year.

As far as duos go, I would suggest that Edouard Julien and Royce Lewis batting 1 & 2 could be quite a start in any game. It will be the 1-9 lineup that makes a difference though. The Twins do not have the superstars to make any top ten list of duos in MLB. The Twins ranked #10 in runs last season and it would be sweet to see them reach the top five in the coming year.

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I will take Lewis and Correa.  Next would be Wallner and Julien.  The injury pairing of Buxton and Kiriloff is potentially great, but they need to stay out of the hospital to make the ranking.  But based on last year the last half season it was our trade boys - Polanco and Kepler. 

Lewis and Julien initially popped into my head.  Hopefully in a few years it'll be Lewis and Lee.  They could be a great combo for many years.

All I want for Christmas is my 2 bomb ers my 2 bomb ers. To suggest that any combination  the Twins have as of Dec 14 2023 and compare them to Soto/Judge or Betts/Ohtani/Freeman Tucker/Alvarez Acuna Jr/Olson is blasphemous sacrilegious lazy incompetent wishful thinking. 😴 

It's a stretch to say Buxton and Correa will be a major 1-2- punch at the top of the league. But obviously that would be awesome and not entirely impossible. If Correa's foot is better and Buxton finally has a full season absolutely any thing could be possible with that pair. I'd add that maaaaaaybee AK could be the next MVP caliber hitter on the team. But that would require rolling a 20 sided die and getting your number. 

Id be happy to see Lewis and Julien move a step forward, or even stay as hot as they were, but until I see it, I'm not going to believe it. 

As for the Mirandas and Larnachs, of the world... maybe even Wallner, their window of opportunity is quickly slamming shut. Maybe not Wallner yet.  

5 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Just for fun, I'm going to take a long shot and say it's Lewis and Miranda. I know Miranda has largely been an after thought by us, me included, but man, that strikeout rate is just so nice to look at, even last year when he struggled. If his shoulder WAS the issue, he has the chance to start hitting and make us all smack our heads with the realization that he was an obvious bounce-back player.

This is not to argue. Miranda did not take part in the WBC last year due to the shoulder. In spring training he was clobbering the ball. When the season started he struggled right out of the gate. Did the shoulder problem persist or get worse?Colder weather? I hope he bounces back. But right now he's a man looking for a position and the Twins still have options

26 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Did the shoulder problem persist or get worse?

Yes, much worse. Awkward swings, demotion, more bad swings, IL, and finally surgery. The details are somewhat murky but the swing was affected immediately.

This is not a team built around superstars, certainly not the kind of offensive players that mostly populate that list of duos.

Correa did it for two months in 2022, Buxton has done it for stretches, and maybe Lewis establishes himself as a superstar hitter, though he looks like he's overperformed by a bit so far.

But if this offense is going to be good, I don't think it's going to be two guys with .900+ OPS, they'll need to have a deep group of guys with .800+ OPS.

Lewis, Correa, Buxton, Julien, Wallner, Kirilloff, Kepler, Polanco, Jeffers; all of those guys could do it if they are on the roster and healthy.  Probably unlikely that all of them will, but they need a solid majority of them to perform.

I would rather the Twins have the best pitching duo than hitting duo. See Dodger post season success 

You must have missed the article on MLB.com after the dodgers signed Ohtani they have the best 3 hitters in a row… duos are so last week… also note the Twins didn’t make that list either but they also didn’t have a hitter with more than 72 RBIs either so is pitching really scared…. We did have I think 14 players with 40+ RBIs which I think is interesting also that even with such a low RBI leader we were 5 th in the league in runs scored and that is my preference to have the highest scoring offense in the league.

When a team sets the world ablaze in strikeouts the odds of having a dynamic duo are longer than the Vikings winning a Super Bowl.

17 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Just for fun, I'm going to take a long shot and say it's Lewis and Miranda. I know Miranda has largely been an after thought by us, me included, but man, that strikeout rate is just so nice to look at, even last year when he struggled. If his shoulder WAS the issue, he has the chance to start hitting and make us all smack our heads with the realization that he was an obvious bounce-back player.

We forget Miranda was a beast for a period of time.  I would love to see him get back to that form and make your prediction come true.

You forgot our best clutch & walk off hitter that done most of it while playing unneccessarily hurt & that's Jorge Polanco. This season he'll be 100% so watch out & don't undersell him.

Correa is a really good hitter when healthy, but he’s not one of baseball’s best hitter.

Lewis won’t sustain his astronomical level of production.