Twins' Projected Lineup After Signing Josh Donaldson Looks to Be a Powerhouse
By Jerry Trotta
The Minnesota Twins stunned the MLB landscape on Tuesday when it was confirmed they agreed to terms on a contract with heralded free agent Josh Donaldson.
Let's be honest: do the Twins really need Donaldson's bat in the middle of their world-beating lineup? Probably not, but his addition should scare the living daylights out of the American League.
Josh Donaldson was always set on $100 million, and although it guarantees only $92 million over 4 years (that includes his buyout) it can reach as high as $104 million (with escalators) if the #Twins pick up his 2024 option.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 15, 2020
Twins Projected Lineup With Josh Donaldson
Jorge Polanco, SS
Max Kepler, OF
Eddie Rosario, OF
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Miguel Sano, 1B
Mitch Garver, C
Luis Arraez, 2B
Byron Buxton, OF
BREAKING: Josh Donaldson reportedly agrees on a 4-year deal with @Twins.
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) January 15, 2020
(via @Feinsand) pic.twitter.com/ld6oJQ1q18
SHEESH.
If you are a baseball fan in the Twin Cities, you should be itching for the 2020 campaign to get underway. In case you didn't pay attention in 2019, Minny's offense set the record for most home runs by a team in MLB history with a whopping 307.
Six of the players in the aforementioned projected card hit north of 20 HRs, and five -- Kepler, Cruz, Garver, Sano and Rosario -- hit north of 30. That's not even to mention what sort of havoc Buxton could wreak if healthy for a full season.
? Our #BombaSquad is the 1st @MLB team to crush 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ home runs in a season. ?#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/DDezxq4pST
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 26, 2019
On top of it all, they have Marwin Gonzalez on the bench.
Throw in Donaldson's .521 SLG, 37 home runs, 94 RBI and 96 runs scored from 2019, and we might just see more records broken next season.
Combine all of those facts with the offseason pitching acquisitions of Rich Hill and Homer Bailey to compliment the likes of Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi at the top of the rotation, and you'll come to the conclusion that the Twins will be rockstars in 2020.