The 2022 series on team offense continues with the Minnesota Twins. The Twins finished tied for fourteenth in the majors and seventh in the American League in 2021 with 4.50 runs scored per game.

This season I am using FanGraphs Roster Resource Depth Charts* as the source of default lineups. That Rocco Baldelli batting order is plugged into the Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) using Musings Marcels as the batter projections.   That information produces the following results (Runs per game):

• Best lineup: 5.24
• Probable lineup: 5.11
• Worst lineup: 4.95
• Regressed lineup: 4.67

The recent additions of Carlos Correa, Gary Sanchez, and Gio Urshela appear to be worth the loss of Josh Donaldson. The Twins now play two good hitters on the left side of the infield, instead of just one. Sanchez brings some more power to the lineup, and he won’t need to deal with the New York media.

I am somewhat surprised, however, with the construction of this lineup. Byron Buxton seems like an obvious clean-up hitter, and indeed the LAT bats him fourth in every one of the top lineups. I think a much better, and somewhat more modern conventional lineup would put Luis Arraez at the top, followed by Correa and Buxton. The way this is set now, the Twins are only capturing 55% of the best lineup. Maybe Baldelli is looking for a lot of lead-off home runs.

Despite the criticism, this Twins offense should be a lot more fun to watch than the 2021 version.

You can follow the data for the series in this Google spreadsheet.

Previous posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Houston Astros
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Toronto Blue Jays
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• Boston Red Sox
• San Francisco Giants
• Chicago White Sox
• Atlanta Braves
• Colorado Rockies
• Oakland Athletics
• Philadelphia Phillies

*This is the best version of this information I’ve seen, with everything you might want to know on one page.