One year ago I tagged the Twins as my sleeper team for 2019. The Twins went on to set the major league home run record while winning 101 games and the American League Central. An injury- and suspension-ravaged version of the team was wiped out in three games in the AL Division Series by the Yankees, but the Twins were still one of the best stories last year.
I’m having a hard time identifying a 2020 sleeper. This winter saw the middle tier of baseball teams, the teams that had largely sat out recent winters, get aggressive. The Rangers traded for Corey Kluber. The Angels signed Anthony Rendon. The Diamondbacks added Madison Bumgarner and Starling Marte. The Reds spent for Mike Moustakas and Nick Castellanos. You can’t be a sleeper if you spent the offseason drawing attention to yourself.
So let’s look for something else: the team with the most riding on the 2020 campaign. There are the usual suspects, of course: The Yankees committed $324 million to the idea that Gerrit Cole was the difference between getting past the Astros and not. The Dodgers have seven straight National League West titles but no World Series ring, spoiling their claim to the word “dynasty.” The White Sox have invested a lot of money this winter to turn their rebuilding project into a playoff berth. You could pick any of these, as well as the scandal-ridden Astros, the stagnant Cubs, or the talent-laden Padres.
この記事は Baseball America の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Baseball America の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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Wood Has Towering Upside- Nationals rookie James Wood also stands 6-foot-7 and also has game-changing power.
Aaron Judge and Oneil Cruz are 6-foot7 sluggers who stand out for their power in this year’s MLB Best Tools voting. Wood spent half of this season with Triple-A Rochester before making his MLB debut on July 1. While he was in the International League, he captured managers’ attention. Wood unanimously won Best Power Prospect and also claimed Most Exciting Player in a survey of league skippers. Wood hit .353/.463/.595 with 10 home runs in 52 games for Rochester. His .242 isolated slugging was the best for a player 21 or younger at Triple-A this season.
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