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REFLECTIONS

Optimism reigns supreme for 2024 Minnesota Twins
By
Howard Lestrud, Contributing Writer
Howard Lestrud, Reflections

It’s never too early to get all fired up for the 2024 Minnesota Twins baseball season.

Based on last year’s accomplishments, three victories in the playoffs and a Central Division championship, optimism is high for another successful year.

It’s early in the off season to make some moves that will set the Twins up for another banner year. The Twins have lost two starting pitchers in Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda. It is hoped the Twins will pick up two strong arms to replace Gray and Maeda.

During the regular season, the 2023 Twins went 29-23 against their Central Division opponents.

The Twins unveiled some impressive young talent during the season. After the July All Star break, the Twins caught fire and ended with a nine-game lead over their closest rival, the Detroit Tigers.

A key to success will be a repeat performance of some of the Twins leaders. Number one in that leader category is center fielder Byron Buxton, who missed a ton of games due to chronic injuries.

Let’s take a look at a possible 26-man roster of players if the season started today:

Catchers

Christian Vazquez and Ryan Jeffers

Outfielders

Byron Buxton, Nick Gordon, Max Kepler, Willi Castro and Matt Wallner

Infielders

Carlos Correa, Kyle Farmer, Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien

and Jorge Polanco

Starting pitcher rotation

Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Louie Garland

Relief pitchers

Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, Caleb Thielbar, Kody Funderburk, Jordan Balazovic, Jore Alcala and Cole Sands.

This group of Twins players has a close resemblance to when son Troy and I visited the 1987 Minnesota Twins at training camp in Orlando, Florida.

The rest is history as the Twins rode the back of new acquisitions Dan Gladden, Bert Blyleven, Jeff Reardon, Juan Berenguer, Roy Smalley and Don Baylor.

Four years later, the Twins changed the roster somewhat, but the results were the same as the Twins became World Champions once again, this time in 1991.

There’s nothing more exciting than attending a World Series game. I attended all but one of the four wins in 1987, and I was at all four wins in 1991. Let’s hope we can do a repeat in 2024.

A quote from Twins second baseman Steve Lombardozzi resonates with this group of 2024 Twins players. He said, “We are no longer the Twinkies. We’re the World Champion Minnesota Twins.”

The quote was recorded on the Minnesota Twins website.

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