Notable Additions: Torii Hunter OF, Tim Stauffer RP, Ervin Santana SP

Notable Losses:  Jason Kubel OF, Chris Colabello 1B

Minnesota’s starting rotation finished second to last in 2014. The starters finished with a 4.57 ERA and gave 66 quality starts. The staff was led by Phil Hughes who finished with a 3.52 ERA through 209.2 innings. Hughes was the only bright spot in the rotation last season. The Twins picked up Ervin Santana to pick up some of the slack. Santana has thrown 200+ innings five times throughout his career. He finished last year with a 3.95 ERA over 196 innings of work. He should bring consistency to the mediocre pitching staff.

The Minnesota fans are excited to have Torii Hunter back with the Twins. Hunter is thirty-nine years old and still going strong. Hunter brings a veteran presence to the locker room to go along with his incredible durability. The thirty year old has played in at least 140 games in each of the last five season. He finished with a .286 batting average and 17 home runs in 2014. Hunter was brought back to Minnesota to be a mentor for the younger guys who will soon be the core of the Twins.

It’s easy to pick out the negative features of the Twins. Although they won’t contend this year, they have a bright future ahead. Minnesota fans know that they have a talented group of prospects. Leading the pack is outfielder Byron Buxton. The youngster brings incredible speed and a solid contact bat to the lineup. He uses his speed to his advantage and knows how to steal a base with ease. He has developed a decent amount of power in the past few seasons and has enough range to play centerfield. Buxton dealt with a leg injury that kept him sidelined for a while but is ready to make his run for the show. There is a good possibility that Buxton will find himself playing for the big league club at some point in 2015. Next on the prospect list is third baseman Miguel Sano. Like Buxton, it’s possible that Sana will get called up in 2015. Sano has unbelievable power and will be looking to show it off. He had elbow surgery that kept him off the field in 2014 but he will be making his comeback in 2015. Sano strikes out often and is working on making contact more consistently. He will be an exciting player to watch for years to come.

The Twins have a couple pitching prospects that have the potential to be key contributors in the future. The most commonly known names are Alex Meyer and Kohl Stewart. Both are right-handed pitchers with live fastballs. We probably won’t see Stewart with the big league club for another couple season. He has a lot of potential but still has a ways to go with his secondary pitches. He won’t be able to rely solely on his fastball in the pros. Alex Meyer also has a powerful fastball. He’ll need to improve his control a bit but is close to being ready for the Twins. He finished with a 3.52 ERA through 130.1 innings in the minors last season. Meyer has a chance of getting called up in 2015.

I have to talk about my favorite prospect that the Twins were able to steal in the second round. Nick Burdi has an electric fastball. I normally prefer pitchers with pinpoint control and movement but Burdi is just too much fun. Burdi consistently hits triple digits with movement. He also has a nasty slider that touches low 90’s. We probably won’t see him for another season or two but when he does arrive in Minnesota he’ll have the opportunity to be the closer. A solid closing pitcher can make all the difference in the world. If you don’t believe that just ask any Tigers fan.

Breakout Player: Trevor Plouffe 3B

Plouffe has been getting better each year. He finished with a .258 batting average and 14 home runs in 2014. He needs to hit for more contact to become a more dynamic threat. He has the ability to hit 25+ home runs if he can increase the contact. He had 24 long balls in 2012. I still think he’ll struggle to hit for average but I’m expecting a little more power. He should be categorized as an improved player instead of breakout player. If healthy I expect:

.266 BA, 22 HR, 79 RBI’s, .449 SLG

Game Changer: Danny Santana

Santana was phenomenal in 2014. He finished with a .314 batting average and 20 stolen bases. He’s a twenty-four year old shortstop with a quick bat. He has plenty of time to improve and could be a game changer in the future. If he can consistently hit .290+ and play a decent shortstop, he will brighten the future for Minnesota fans.

The Twins won’t be good in 2015. They have a below average pitching staff and an often nonexistent offense. Fans will be happy to see Torii Hunter back in the lineup. Although they will struggle in 2014, the Twins have a bright future ahead.

Make sure to check back in on March 31st for my complete standing predictions along with a few other fun pieces of news. Until then, you will be able to find a new preview of an individual team from March 1st through the 30th here at KRUI.FM.

The post Minnesota Twins 2015 Preview Edition #8 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s a long way to the top.

A New Low: I have tried all year not to repeat a Bottom 5 distinction for specific athlete or franchise, but unfortunately, the Charlotte Bobcats are the first nomination to make this list.  They have two very big reasons for repeating on my Bottom 5.  The first is that they have had arguably the worst season in NBA history, posting only 7 wins.  That sets a new low in season wins, as the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers held the previous low mark at 9 wins.  Even though the ‘11-‘12 NBA season was shortened due to the lockout, there is absolutely no excuse for winning 7 of 66 games.  Fun fact: they actually had a winning record at one point this year when they were 1-0 coming off a home win over the Milwaukee Bucks.  The second reason is they posted the lowest

winning percentage in NBA history at 11%.  I have a better shot at winning the Powerball.  But this team has failed miserably in just about every facet of the game, marring the bright spot of Kemba Walker’s somewhat promising rookie season.  They lost 23 straight games to close out the year and have not won since defeating the Toronto Raptors on March 17^th.  Another fun fact: the Bobcats were 2-1 over the Raptors this year, making it their only series win over an Eastern conference team.  I do not count any series this year against the Western Conference, because they only played a couple of teams more than once—though Charlotte was 1-0 against Golden State and 1-1 against New Orleans.  They should get the number 1 pick in the upcoming draft, unless the ping pong balls do not fall their way, but they have to be better next year, right?  How could any team be any worse?

No Class in Boston: Boston sports fans are notoriously known for loving their teams to the point of obsession and fixation.  (Those fans exist in any market, but perhaps there are more of them in New England).  They are often regarded as some of the best traveling fans, as major U.S. sports teams have some of their highest attendance games against Boston teams.  But their hockey fans took their love too far following the Boston Bruins loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the NHL playoffs.  In overtime, Capitals forward Joel Ward—one of the few black players in the NHL—scored the game winning goal to push the Caps into the second round, which is a rarity for Washington in recent years (I put the Caps on a Bottom 5 edition last year for failing to get out of the first round).  After the game, some frustrated Bruins fans used Twitter and Facebook to direct racial slurs at Ward.  Have some class, Boston.  I know you are proud of having some of the longest championship droughts in your respective sports (I am aware of the Celtics and Patriots dominant eras in their histories), but do not hate the opposing team’s players for being better than yours.  Put it behind you and look forward to next season.

Being in Bad Skin: Brandon Meriweather, the new Washington Redskins safety, was arrested for DUI last week.  While this may seem like nothing to many sports fans, Meriweather has taken a nosedive in recent years and cannot afford any slip-ups in trying to get back to his former Pro-Bowl self.  He played miserably for the Chicago Bears last season, and now this. Meanwhile, the Redskins are trying to revive a franchise with a proud history.  They took a step in the right direction by drafting RG3 with the second overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft.  Management, obviously, does not want any negative publicity surrounding the team, but Meriweather has created just that with his arrest.  Unless he wants to play in the UFL (the United Football League, also known as the “U Fudged up League”), the safety should avoid doing stupid things (like the party scene, and transporting himself to and from such scenes) and focus on playing football.

Yankees Starting Pitchers: While many people may disagree with this nomination, I feel that the Yankees starters are just not up to par as an MLB rotation.  C.C. Sabathia is outstanding in the long run and will get better as the season progresses, but he is just one of five guys.  The rest create a giant question mark.  Phil Hughes has been terrible all season long and shows few signs of improving.  Hiroki Kuroda hasn’t had enough starts (4) to show how can be.  Two great starts have been offset by two terrible starts, so inconsistently is a theme of the rotation’s weakness.  For some mysterious reason, Ivan Nova is struggling to keep his spot in the rotation despite the fact that he’s a good pitcher.  He has not lost a start since June 3^rd, dating back to last season.  The team has considered sending him down to the AAA level or trading him.  The team has also lost Michael Pineda for the rest of the year, while finding a replacement will be difficult through their farm system.  Freddy Garcia has been lit up in all three of his starts this year and has pitched only 12 innings while posting a 9.75 ERA.  Can this team win the AL East back-to-back years right now?  The answer is simply no at this point.

 No Soccer Sportsmanship: The English Premier League will not have Chelsea and the Queens Park Rangers perform a ceremonial handshake before their upcoming game on Sunday.  While no opposing European soccer teams like each other, not having them shake hands is a very disrespectful gesture and sends the wrong message to teams.  The EPL claims that they are suspending the handshakes because of John Terry’s racism trial and the fact that one of the Queens Park players is black.  Regardless, there are racist people all over the world and the league should still require the players to shake hands.  This could open a can of worms that could lead to future teams not shaking hands for stupd reasons (I am not saying this reason is stupid by any means).  I am putting the EPL on my Bottom 5 this week for not upholding decent sportsmanship rules.

The post Bottom 5: New Lows for All appeared first on KRUI Radio.