The money the Twins spent trying to upgrade their pitching staff might not make a big difference in the amount of wins for the team during the upcoming 2014 baseball season.
A website, called Fangraphs.com has picked the Twins to finish near the bottom in the American league. In the league, only Houston was picked to win fewer games.
The site predicts the Twins will lose 93 games during the 2014 season. That would be the fourth straight 90-loss season for the club. Specifically it predicts the Twins will win three more games than they did last year to finish the 2014 season with 69 wins and 93 losses.
It is interesting to note that only one team in the AL Central (Detroit) was picked to finish above .500 on the year. While only the Astros in the American League West and Baltimore Orioles in the A.L. East were picked to finish under .500, according to Fangraphs.
The Twins spent a lot of money to upgrade their starting rotation during the offseason, signing Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes, while re-signing Mike Pelfrey to a two-year contract.
The battle for the fifth starter in the rotation appears to be between Scott Diamond, Vance Worley, Sam Deduno and Kyle Gibson. Diamond, Worley and Deduno are all out of options, so if they fail to win the spot, they will likely be released.
Offensively, the Twins failed to sign some of their top targets. Instead they brought back both Jason Bartlett and Jason Kubel on minor-league contracts and signed Kurt Suzuki to provide a veteran presence behind the plate.
- The Star Tribune reports Pedro Florimon is expected to debut for the Twins Tuesday night against Tampa Bay. He has not played since undergoing surgery to remove his appendix prior to the start of spring training.
