The Twins are a team known for producing their players from the minor league system. Although one of Minnesota’s biggest downfalls is the team’s inability to resign and sign big-time players. Many players from the likes of David Ortiz to Kyle Lohse have gone on to have success with other teams. Seeing countless former Twins crush their old Minnesota ball club got me thinking, what would a team look like made up entirely of former Twins players who are still active in the MLB. So without further ado here is the former Twins All-Star Team of 2015.

The team has a solid core lineup in Morales, Ortiz and Cuddyer and has good on-base guys in Span and Gomez. The only real hole is the second base position filled by Pedro Florimon. Florimon is moved from his primary position of shortstop to second base to make room for J.J. Hardy. Florimon has struggled at the plate in 2015, but did produce a walk-off hit for Pittsburgh just last week. The hypothetical batting order for the Twins team would be this:

1. Span: .301/.365/.431, HR 5, RBI 22

2. Gomez: .246/.307/.392, HR 10, RBI 51.

3. Kendrys Morales: .285/.352/.456, HR 13, RBI 87

4. Ortiz: .260/.350/.499, HR. 26, RBI 76

5. Cuddyer: .263/.313/.408, HR 10, and RBI 37.

6. Ramos: .238/.271/.367, HR 11, RBI 53.

7. Hardy: .222/.253/.315, HR. 7, and RBI 32

8. Valencia: .289/.328/.518, HR. 12, RBI 43

9. Florimon .105/.190/.211, HR 0, RBI 1

Not a bad lineup. The team would however be lacking in power. David Ortiz is the only player on the former Twins All-Star team to have more than 20 homeruns in the 2015 season (although the likes of Hardy, Morneau, and Cuddyer have topped that mark in seasons past).

The Former Twins squad has a decent batting order but the team’s true strength is the starting rotation. The most difficult decision for me was picking who would be the number one pitcher. Too many Twins pitchers have gone on to be successful in other ball clubs and it shows in the starting rotation below. Anyways, here’s the rotation.

1. Francisco Liriano: 9-6, 3.23 ERA.

2. R.A. Dickey: 8-10, 4.26 ERA.

3. Matt Garza: 6-14, 5.26 ERA.

4. Kyle Lohse: 5-13, 6.27 ERA.

5. Jason Marquis: 3-4 6.46 ERA.

The strength of the former Twins starting rotation is evident of all the solid pitchers our team has decided to let go. A weakness of the current Twins ball club is in fact pitching. No starter has solidified themselves as an ace in the rotation and many of the younger pitchers have struggled down the stretch. The former Twins would also give the current Twins a run for their money in the relief-pitching department.

Pat Neshek: 3-3, 3.11 ERA.

Jeff Manship: 0-0 1.48 (only appeared in 19 games in 2015)

Craig Breslow: 0-3 with an E.R.A. of 4.28

LaTroy Hawkins (Closer): 3-1, 2.81 ERA. Only one 2015 save, but since it is against the Twins, we will make him the closer.

Liam Hendriks: 4-0, 2.25 ERA

Grant Balfour: 0-0, 6.23 ERA. (Six games played in 2015)

Anthony Swarzak: 0-0, 3.38 ERA. (Ten games played in 2015)

The Bench players include: Chris Colabello (BA .332/.373/.531, HR 13, RBI 49), Ben Revere (.294/.334/.362,HR 1, 30 RBI, SB 24) A.J. Pierzynski (.293/.334/.426, HR. 7, RBI 40), Justin Morneau: (.290/.317/.450, HR 3, RBI 9) and Garret Jones (.215/.257/.361, HR 5, RBI 17)

Overall, I think the former Twins All-Star team would give the current roster a run for their money when it came to pitching, but would struggle to produce runs (especially if David Ortiz or Justin Morneau got hurt). Keep in mind that the current team is a young one and in a couple seasons I think Twins fans everywhere will begin to forget about all the key players lost to free agency.