Going into this season, the expectations for the Portland Trail Blazers were pretty low amongst the NBA world, with ESPN predicting they'd win 35 games and Bleacher Report penciling them in to win 38 games. I know it's early, but with a 5-1 start, the Blazers appear to be firing on all cylinders and look to be a team competitive enough to at the very least make the playoffs. Here are a few reasons why.
Dame Time
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Excluding Damian Lillard's rookie season and last year's injury-riddled campaign, the Blazers have always been good enough to at least make the playoffs in every year of his career. He has shown the ability to carry below average rosters on his shoulders with his magical shot-making and poise. Going into 2022, he is surrounded by a roster that is more talented than any he has had for the last several years, and he received treatment on his heel over the offseason that he claimed had been hindering him for years. Because of this, I'm not particularly sure why the realm of NBA experts was down on this Blazers team if you consider Lillard's track record as well as the talent level of his roster. Dame's loyalty and realness have garnered both fans and critics over the years, but one thing you can't argue with is this: the dude is stone-cold killer on the basketball court.
Anfernee Simons
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Entering his fifth NBA season, Blazers guard Anfernee Simons has grown into a borderline All-Star level player. With the trade of CJ McCollum last year, somebody needed to step up and take on his role of shot making, and it is looking like Simons has slid into that role flawlessly. As clipped below, you can tell that Simons has taken pieces from Dame and CJ's game and integrated them into his own, whether it is the step back 3s from Dame or the crafty iso-ball from CJ. At only 23 years old, he has steadily improved each year and appears to be more than capable of being Dame's sidekick in an exciting new backcourt duo.
New Acquistions
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The Blazers made a few key moves to bolster their roster this offseason, highlighted by trading for star forward Jerami Grant from Detroit. Grant will provide the blazers with elite defense, athleticism on both ends, and shot-making that they have been sorely lacking at the power forward position for years. As a borderline All-Star himself, Grant's defensive abilities will also help make up for the lack of defense in the Blazers backcourt as well as giving them another guy that can stretch the floor from deep.
However, Grant was not the only important offseason move the Blazers made. They went even further in attempting to improve their defense by signing reigning NBA champion Gary Payton II to help out the backcourt. On top of that, with the seventh pick in the 2022 Draft, the Blazers selected Shaedon Sharpe. Thus far, he is looking like he could be a full-blown superstar in the making. He can jump out of the gym, and his combination of scoring, athleticism, and length are looking dangerous at only 19 years old. Earlier this year, Dame had talked about how Sharpe might be the type of guy to take this team over the hump, from a fringe playoff team to a contender. Maybe this combination of seasoned vets and young, up and coming stars is what the Blazers need to finally see some more postseason success. After watching the way Sharpe catapulted for a slam a few nights ago, I'm starting to get a little convinced of that myself.
The 2022 season for the Minnesota Twins began with excitement, as the team made a splashy offseason acquisition of Carlos Correa and spent the first half of the season atop the AL Central, even leading by six games at the All Star break. However, even with some seemingly helpful trade deadline moves, this team absolutely fell apart down the stretch, finding themselves completely out of contention for the division title with a few weeks to go as a result of injuries and poor play. With that being said, this season was filled with things to feel pessimistic about as well as a few bright spots to bring your hopes up. Let's tackle the bad stuff first then assess what can be looked forward to for next season.
Injuries
The Twins were easily one of the most injured teams in the MLB this season, as it felt like they sent a player at just about every position to the Injured List (IL) at least one time throughout the course of the year. However, arguably the most profound of those injuries would be the outfielders, and more specifically Byron Buxton. Far and away the biggest knock on Buxton throughout his eight year career is that he can't find a way to stay on the field, and 2022 was no different for him. He only appeared in 92 out of 162 games, with a lot of those appearances coming as a designated hitter (DH) only. Buxton's value significantly decreases when he is limited to the DH spot because of the monumental impact he has as a fielder with his lightning speed and tracking abilities in center field. Whether we want to talk about it or not, Buxton simply needs to find a way to stay on the field consistently. He is the best player on the team and is looked at as a guy that will win you games with his unique skillset, but he just can't be relied on as heavily anymore since he has proven that he can't stay on the field. Additionally, arguably the Twins next three best outfielders all missed the majority of the season with injuries, with those three guys being Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, and Trevor Larnach. The Twins presumed top catcher Ryan Jeffers was only able to appear in 67 games this season, and veteran slugger Miguel Sano missed almost the entire season with a knee injury (although as much as it pains me to say it, Sano not being in the lineup may have been addition by subtraction). On top of the vast number of injuries to position players, the Twins also had a slew of injuries to a pitching staff that was average at best in the first place. Sonny Gray (aka their best starter) spent some time on the injured list, 2020 Cy Young candidate Kenta Maeda missed the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery, offseason acquisition Chris Paddack blew out his arm (again), Bailey Ober missed a majority of the season, midseason acquisition Tyler Mahle had to miss a substantial period of time after joining the Twins, reliever Jorge Alcala missed almost the entire season, and the list goes on and on. By now I would like to think you are convinced that the Twins struggled with more than their fair share of injuries. However, even if the team was mostly healthy, would they have been able to compete with clubs like the Astros or Yankees? The short answer is probably not. Top of the line teams like these are much more well-rounded than even a healthy Twins team and have rosters designed to be successful in October, including lineups that typically have more consistent bats and deeper pitching staffs than the Twins.
The Front Office and Coaching Staff
The Governor's Academy
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has become a polarizing figure amongst fans, with some defending him no matter what and others ripping on him with every chance they get. Even though Rocco sometimes does a questionable job at managing a pitching staff, there are a few things that fans need to remember: First, Rocco can't go out there and hit or pitch for the guys on the roster. He is simply creating lineups and making decisions based upon the roster he is given (I understand the gripes on his mistakes though, especially when it comes to bizarre lineups or in-game substitutions). Second, Rocco is spoken of glowingly by many of the players he has managed. Several guys have admired the way he treats them and his ability to bring the clubhouse together. That certainly is meaningful and is something you just can't take away from him. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that Baldelli's beliefs most likely align closely with the beliefs of President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine. A lot of fans like to just say "Fire Rocco," but what would that solve if the rest of the front office doesn't go with him? They're probably all coming from the same line of thinking.
To add to the Rocco discussion, I would like to point out that he definitely earned a little more respect from me with the way he handled things this season. I love a manager who has their players backs, and Rocco seemingly always has but especially put that on display this year. My personal favorite came in a game against the Blue Jays this season in which Rocco absolutely lost it on the umpire crew for basically blowing the Twins chances at winning the game:
Anyway, back to the front office. When Derek Falvey was brought in at the end of 2016 after spending 9 years with Cleveland, Twins fans were excited and hopeful that he could do something similar to what has been done in Cleveland, which was establishing a pitching pipeline loaded with prospects that would be developed into good MLB pitchers. Well, it has been six years and we are still waiting for that to come to fruition. In fact, they have actually done exceptionally well in not developing MLB-worthy pitchers. When looking at their rosters since Falvey and Levine took over, almost all of the best pitchers they have had either came by way of free agency or trades or were traded for as prospects then brought up to the majors shortly after. In other words, they have barely developed anybody that has made a substantial impact on their major league roster.
On top of that, they have continued what feels like a Minnesota Twins tradition by their free agency tendencies when it comes to pitching. Instead of paying a really good starter, this front office would rather give chump change to a guy who isn't wanted by anyone else since he is either clearly past his prime or was never very effective in the first place. The Twins are always looking for a bargain in terms of their pitching staff, hoping that they will be able to revitalize a veteran's career into his older age instead of developing pitchers or signing ones that actually get people out. Names like Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, Martin Perez, Homer Bailey, Rich Hall, Lance Lynn and Dylan Bundy come to mind. Four of these seven players posted an ERA of 5.00 or higher in their season with the Twins, and the other three were either just a hair below it or barely pitched for the team because of injuries. Additionally, they have made some questionable trades pertaining to starting pitching. I'm not sure if it's coincidental or not, but it feels like this regime has a knack for trading for a starter who gets seriously injured at some point during his Twins tenure (usually early). For example, in the last couple of years, Kenta Maeda blew out his arm (albeit after an excellent 2020 season), Chris Paddack blew out his arm for the second time, and Tyler Mahle dealt with injury issues as soon as he joined the squad this season, just to name a few. Is this another case of the Twins going after damaged goods for less, or is it really just bad luck? We probably won't ever know for sure unless it continues to be the recurring theme that it has been. To sum up my thoughts on this front office, when I thought of them coming in and developing a pitching pipeline loaded with prospects this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
A Few Bright Spots
Finally, let's look at some of the positives coming out of this season, more specifically what players really stood out (in a good way). First, I couldn't start this short list off with anybody but Luis Arraez. He had a spectacular fourth season with the Twins, earning his first All Star appearance as well as winning his first American League Batting Title over MVP candidate Aaron Judge. He is an old-school hitter who hits for contact to all different parts of the field, and he is easily the steadiest bat in their lineup.
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Secondly, let's talk about the rise of Jhoan Duran. In his first year with the club, he posted a 1.86 ERA to go with 89 strikeouts in 67.2 innings pitched. He topped out at 104 and throws a nasty 'splinker' and has all of the tools to continue being one of the best relief pitchers in the game for years to come. Why the Twins didn't use him as a closer more is baffling to me. I know that they acquired Jorge Lopez at the deadline, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Duran was clearly the best reliver on the team and would be absolutely dominant in that role on a full-time basis. However, if the reasoning was simply because of their lack of quality relief pitching outside of Duran, then I can empathize with that a little bit. He was outstanding this season and should only build on that success in the following years.
Third, Nick Gordon's ascension was great to see and easily one of the lone bright spots of this Twins team. It should be mentioned that if not for the injury problems talked about earlier, Gordon almost certainly wouldn't have been able to break out in the way he did, similar to what Rocco had said during the season. He ended up being one of the best hitters in the lineup and was more than you could ever ask for as a utility guy, proving he can play every outfield position as well as the middle infield successfully. I am excited to see hopefully see him continue to go strong in this role as a super utility guy moving forward because I think it fits him perfectly.
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Next, free agent signee Carlos Correa wound up having one of his best individual seasons in Minnesota, ending the year with his second-best single season batting average at .291 on top of being one of the best shortstops in the league with his glove. He seems to provide leadership and a veteran presence to a clubhouse that has needed it. It would be a real shame if the Twins let him walk this offseason, especially considering his public desire to stay with the team for the long run. Additionally, another position player that excited this fan base was infielder Jose Miranda. In his rookie year, he showed flashes of potentially being borderline elite at the plate in the future, hitting .268 with 15 homers in 125 games (keep in mind he was ice cold in his first month or so). He should hold down a spot in the infield for years and has the potential to play at an All Star level.
Finally, starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan both had their ups and downs but ended up providing really solid seasons for the Twins rotation this season. In an ideal rotation, they both probably would be better suited as second or third guys, but that doesn't take away from what they accomplished this season as being the only two consistently reliable guys in the rotation.
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2023 Rebranding
If you know me, you should know that there's no way I'd forget to include this in the post. Even though the Twins have some of the better uniforms in the league (in my opinion), they are doing a full rebrand for 2023, including a new logo and new uniforms while sticking with the same color scheme. Considering how solid their current look is, the Twins must have something special in the works. President Dave St. Peter says that the uniforms will "take a step toward the future" but that "There is always a sensitivity to paying respect to the history and heritage of the franchise, but there's also a desire to move it forward, much like we did in the mid-80s." He used the Padres as an example of a team who did this right with their rebranding in 2020. Some things I would like to see featured on the new uniforms include: home pinstripes, the throwback creams making a comeback, baby blue as the primary away look instead of grey, and the retention of the Minnie and Paul logo as well as the TC logo (they would have to be fools to get rid of either of those). Also, I wouldn't mind seeing them do away with the Kasota Gold, but I'll admit that it doesn't look bad and adds an element of uniqueness to their uniforms. All in all, they better not screw this up considering how nice their current branding and uniforms already are. I'll leave it at that.
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