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Minnesota Twins Season Predictions | 2014 Season Betting Preview

2014 Twins MLB Team Odds

It wasn’t all that long ago that Minnesota was one of the most consistent winning franchises in the game, winning 94 games as recently as 2010.

Since then they have gone to ground with three straight seasons in the 60s. They haven’t just been bad, they have been very bad, playing an embarrassing brand of baseball over the past few years in their shiny new ballpark.

That is not a way to endear fans

Coming into this season the Twins have made some moves to try and improve a pitching staff that was epically bad last season.  I am not sure those moves are going to make much of a difference but at least they prove to the fans that management is trying.

There is young talent in the pipeline too but it is mostly offense and still maybe a year or two away.

MLB Sportsbook Odds to win:

  • AL Central:  +3500
  • American League:  +5800
  • World Series:  +12500

Key Additions:

The Twins invested in arms for the top of the rotation it is just too bad they are not really top of the rotation arms. The pitchers in question are Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes. Nolasco got out of Miami and proved with the Dodgers that he can succeed when part of a good team too.

Unfortunately he is back in another losing situation this season (talk about following the money). Hughes was absolutely terrible for the Yankees last season but has a history of rebounding after subpar seasons. We shall see.

Minnesota also welcomed back a friendly face in DH Jason Kubel. He was a disaster with Cleveland and Arizona last season but he did hit 30 homers for the Diamondbacks as recently as 2012. Maybe something familiar gets him restarted. If so this lineup could have a lot of pop in the lower half.

Projected Starting Lineup

CF Alex Presley
2B Brian Dozier
1B Joe Mauer
LF Josh Willingham
DH Jason Kubel
3N Trevor Plouffe
RF Oswaldo Arcia
C Josmil Pinto
SS Pedro Florimon

This is a pretty light lineup with Mauer and Willingham hardly the kind of mashers you want to see in the middle of an American League batting order. If they are going to scare anybody at all it will be because they get 75 or more homers from the trio of Kubel, Plouffe and Arcia.
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Also, where is the spark. Presley proved that he is nothing special in Pittsburgh but finds himself at the top of this lineup by default. That is not a good sign.

Projected Starting Rotation

RH Ricky Nolasco
RH Phil Hughes
RH Kevin Correia
RH Mike Pelfrey
LH Scott Diamond

Rick Nolasco is pretty good but if he is your ace than your ceiling pitching wise is just not very high. Odds are the Twins will be better in the rotation than they were a year ago but to be frank they only had up to go after being a half run worse than everybody else last season.

The worst part about this rotation is that it is all full of guys who have been around enough to know what you are going to get…and it isn’t much. There is no prospect expected to bust through and surprise.

Closer

Glen Perkins

Perkins is not the most intimidating closer out there but he gets the job done. He got a save in more than half of the Twins victories last season while also posting very good peripherals.

There is no reason to think he can not continue to be successful in this role but I think they should probably deal him for some rotation help if they could.

He is kind of a luxury they don’t need. The options after him should that happen are not great.

Minnesota Twins 2014 Prediction

The Twins are going to be very bad again in 2014. I think what they were hoping for with some of the moves they made in the offseason was some respectability but that is hardly a very lofty goal. Not to beat a dead horse but their pitching is just not good enough to win consistently.

They have a lot of 6 inning guys that nobody wanted.

Last year this team somehow cleared 6 units on the road. They were still losing lots of games away from Target Field but the odds were so stacked against them that the wins really paid off.

Look for opportunities like that again. Nolasco at .500 or better probably yields positive value.

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By The Wiesguy

The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.