Where Will the Twins Draft In 2014?

With the weekend sweep at home, the Minnesota Twins dropped to 61-80 on the season. With 21 games left to play, the good news is that the team is likely to improve upon their record from last season. After finishing 63-99 in 2011 and 66-96 in 2012, the Twins are on pace to finish 70-92.

Certainly that's negligible improvement in terms of moving the team back towards respectability. Averaging a 3.5-win improvement from season to season means the Twins could expect to contend for the division title around 2019. Clearly, that's unacceptable.

The silver lining to finishing with 90-plus losses is another pick near the front of the draft. If the season ended today the Twins would draft fifth. With 21 games left, if Minnesota gets hot they could drop to 14th in the draft - but it's mathematically improbable. If they go ice cold, I can't still can't see them finishing worse than the White Sox, Marlins, or Astros.

Here are the reverse standings, as they sit this morning.

Looking at that table, it's hard to imagine Minnesota drafting higher than fourth and lower than ninth. Perhaps the September callups will energize the team a bit? I'll be posting on those reinforcements later this morning.