This week, Twins pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Fort Myers, Florida. Next week, full practice will be underway as the defending American League Central Division champions begin preparation for the 2020 season.
Off-season free-agent acquisition Josh Donaldson, a home-run hitting third baseman, and recently received — after a couple of trade deals — starting pitcher Kenta Maeda have Twins fans gushing about the apparent improvements for the upcoming campaign.
The 34-year old Donaldson hit 37 home runs and drove in 94 runs while playing in 157 games (that’s pretty doggone good) for the Atlanta Braves last year. Before an injury-plagued year with Cleveland in 2018, Donaldson belted 111 homers (41, 37 and 33) in three seasons (2015, 2016 and 2017) with Toronto. He had a remarkable year in 2015, putting up triple-crown type of numbers — 41 home runs, 123 RBIs and a healthy .297 batting average. He had 184 hits (41 doubles) and scored 122 runs in that magical season — five years ago.
Maeda comes to the Twins from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for flame-throwing reliever Brusdar Graterol (and a few other complicated deals). Graterol was a top Twins prospect and may develop into one of those “ace” players that the Twins “traded away”
Time will tell how Graterol shapes up with the Dodgers, who won a National League best 106 games last year. The Houston Astros (107-55) had the best record in the Majors in 2019. But the World Series champion Washington Nationals (93-69 during the regular season, second to the Braves in the National League East Division) defeated both the Dodgers (three games to two) and Astros (4-3) in the playoffs (sweeping the Cardinals, 4-0, in between). Remember last October?
Graterol is projected to help the Dodgers strive to win their eighth consecutive National League West Division title.
Maeda joins the Twins with a mixed resume. The hard-throwing Japanese right-hander has been both a starter and a bullpen whiz. He pitched in 37 games for the Dodgers last year (26 as a starter and 11 as a reliever), finishing with a 10-8 record, a 4.04 ERA and 169 strikeouts. He will be 32 on April 11.
It’s only 43 days until Opening Day of the 162-game 2020 regular season. The Twins open at Oakland on Thursday, March 26. After four games against the A’s, the Twins travel north for three games with the Mariners in Seattle before the Home Opener (Thursday, April 2, 3:10 p.m.) versus Oakland.
The Twins first pre-season “exhibition” game is already next Friday evening — February 21 — when they play the Minnesota Gophers at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
With this year’s pairing of Adrian and Ellsworth, along with last year’s joining of Heron Lake-Okabena and Fulda, there are just eight girls basketball teams remaining in Section 3A’s South Sub-Section. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, which is in the South for boys, is in the North for girls. What that means, of course, is that there will be no play-in or “pig tail” games for girls’ basketball this year. All eight teams will play in “Super Saturday” (February 22) at Worthington.
I will predict the seeding order to be Hills-Beaver Creek, Southwest Minnesota Christian, Adrian / Ellsworth, Red Rock Central, Murray County Central, Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda, Westbrook-Walnut Grove and Edgerton.
If that order holds true, # 3 Adrian / Ellsworth will host # 6 HL-O / Fulda in quarterfinal action at Worthington on the 22nd and # 5 MCC will tangle with # 4 RRC. The semifinals are scheduled for Monday evening, the 24th, also at Worthington. The sub-section championship game will be played at SMSU in Marshall on Friday, February 28.
The boys’ seeding order is harder to project. Certainly the game between HL-O / Fulda and W-WG, at Okabena next Tuesday (February 18) — the night before the seeding — will have a huge impact on the voting by the sub-section coaches.
Mountain Lake Area / Comfrey plays in Section 2A to the east and that section is loaded with quality teams. According to the latest QRF ranking formula, five teams in 2A are rated in Class A’s Top 11. BOLD (20-1) is top-ranked, followed by Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (20-1) at # 3, Springfield (18-3) at # 8, New Ulm Cathedral (19-2) at #10 and Martin County West (18-3) at # 11.
MLAC (18-2) is only ranked # 26 by the QRF? Southwest Minnesota Christian (19-0) is ranked fifth, behind BOLD, defending state champion Henning (19-1), W-E-M and Ada-Borup (17-1).
The Wolverines are 10-1 in Red Rock Conference games and host SW Christian (11-0) in a clash of the conference leaders at Mountain Lake Thursday, the 13th. The Eagles won big (89-62) at Edgerton back on January 16. But things are different, playing at Mountain Lake.
