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When Baseball Prospectus released their 2017 team projections earlier this month, the Minnesota Twins’ forecast was unexpectedly rosy. After a dreadful 59-win 2016, the math put the Twins on 80 wins for this season.
On Thursday, BP spokesperson Robin Neilsen walked the projection back.
“We do a rigorous analysis of all our numbers,” said Neilsen. “When we QC’ed the Twins final projection, some red flags appeared. So we re-ran the numbers.”
The new 2017 projection for the Twins is one that may temper the optimism caused by the original forecast.
“Rather than a win-loss record, our projections came back as one long, agonized howl,” said Neilsen. “Just endless screaming, then suddenly everything is black. The walls of our server farm started to bleed.”
Neilsen said the bad news doesn’t end there.
“We ran the pitching projections again, and instead of spitting out ERAs, a robed, disheveled stranger entered the room and just mumbled ‘hellplagueitsallruinedhellplagueitsallruined’ over and over. The laptop turned into houseflies.”
Baseball Prospectus editor Aaron Gleeman could not be reached for comment.