Twins in the 2000s: The 2015 Season

[Patrick Wozniak]

After four straight 90-loss seasons, 2015 was a breath of fresh air as Minnesota was once again a winner. Fresh blood came in the form of a new manager, a shiny free-agent pitcher, and the emergence of several top prospects. A fan-favorite from the early 2000s would also return and play an instrumental role in Minnesota’s return to contention.We're running a 20-part series in which we look back at each Minnesota Twins season of the 2000s. A rotation of different writers will highlight key moments, unearth forgotten details, and share nostalgic tales from the past two decades leading up to the present. This installment covers the 2015 season.

 

Team Record: 83-79

Finish: 2nd Place in AL Central

All-Stars: Glen Perkins (RP), Brian Dozier (2B)

Awards: N/A

Playoffs: N/A

 

Season Overview

 

All the losing from 2011 through 2014 finally spelled the end of Ron Gardenhire’s 13-year stint as manager of the Minnesota Twins. Gardy’s replacement Paul Molitor wasn’t exactly a “new” face, as the hometown Hall of Famer was quite familiar to Twins fans as a player, bench coach and minor-league instructor. Still, Gardenhire had been in the organization for 27 years, and in many ways was a extension of Tom Kelly's tenure, so the change felt quite significant.

 

Equally, if not more significant, was the return of Torii Hunter. As a 39-year-old, the highlight-reel defensive gems of his first stint with the Twins were long gone, and although he continued to hit late into his career, his bat was beginning to suffer as well. And we can debate the value of “clubhouse chemistry” in contrast to just having good players, or if one is in fact the cause of the other, but it was evident that Hunter brought some immeasurable intangible to the 2015 Minnesota Twins. Whether it was the clubhouse dance parties after a hard-fought win or ripping off and tossing his jersey to protest a bad call, Torii had heart, and it was contagious.

 

General manager Terry Ryan also did his best to bolster the starting rotation. After signing Phil Hughes (great first season) and Ricky Nolasco (opposite of great) to big contracts (relatively speaking) prior to the 2014 season, Minnesota went out and signed Ervin Santana to a four-year, $54 million contract (with a fifth-year option). For a fanbase conditioned to “big” offseason signings including names like Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey, spending $54 million on a quasi-ace a year after spending on Nolasco and Hughes felt huge.

 

After four years of cellar-dwelling misery, there was reason for optimism. But as any longtime Minnesota sports fan is well aware, optimism is dangerous. And our new ace was quick to remind us that we can’t have nice things, as Santana tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol a few days prior to the season opener. Naturally, Santana was dumbfounded as to how the performance-enhancing drugs found their way into his system and the Twins were disappointed but in full support of the league’s drug policies. When the dust settled, Santana was suspended for the first 80 games and Twins fans were left with a predictable, but undeserved, gut punch.

 

It’s possible that the Twins and their rookie manager were still a bit punch drunk as the season began. It took 24 1/3 innings for the offense to score its first run (a club record!) and Molitor and the Twins weren’t able to secure their first victory until the season’s fourth game. The Twins started 1-6 and finished April with a record of 10-12.

 

Fortunately, April showers brought May … dance parties! After an inauspicious start, the season turned for the better in quick fashion. The 20 wins the Twins secured made May the best month since the ’91 season and provided plenty of opportunities for Hunter to lead the team in dance. For the first time in what seemed like forever, it wasn’t all that crazy to picture Minnesota dancing all the way to the postseason.

 

June would bring the Twins back down to earth a bit (11-17), but a break from the dance floor put some spring back into their collective legs and Minnesota was able to end the first half with a bang. The Twins won six of their last seven, including an epic seven-run comeback against Detroit on July 10th that was capped off by Brian Dozier's walk-off homer in a five-run ninth inning. The Twins would finish the first half with a 49-40 record which placed them second in the division.

 

The second half didn't go quite as smoothly as the Twins went 34-39 and narrowly missed a wild-card berth. The team did provide plenty of excitement to re-energize a beleaguered fanbase, and stayed in contention into the last weekend of the season when they were swept by Kansas City.

 

The season left plenty of hope for the future, including the emergence of Dozier, who seemed ready to inherit the torch of team leadership from Hunter. In addition to Dozier, several top prospects made their big-league debuts in 2015, including:

• Eddie Rosario – 122 games, .267/.289/.459

Rosario was the first of the new wave to debut, on May 6th, and he made the most of the opportunity. It took Rosario all of one MLB pitch to collect his first hit, home run, and RBI. Rosario also set a Twins rookie record with 15 triples and tied Kirby Puckett’s rookie record for outfield assists with 16.

• Byron Buxton – 46 games, .209/.250/.326

Next up was Minnesota’s, and arguably all of baseball’s, best prospect. Buxton didn’t exactly hit the ground running (although he did fly from time to time) but he showed brief glimpses of what he might become and his struggles as a 21-year-old were none too concerning.

• Miguel Sanó – 80 games, .269/.385/.530

Another month, another top prospect debut. Sanó’s arrival left nothing to be desired (other than an earlier start date) as he made a case for team MVP (he was in fact the Twins' choice, but Twins Daily chose Dozier). Appearing mostly as DH, the young slugger hit 10 dingers in his first 41 games and managed 18 in just a half-season.

• Tyler Duffey – 10 games, 58.0 IP, 3.10 ERA, 8.2 K/9

August would bring another prospect, not as heralded, but every bit as effective. Duffey, who was a member of the college reliever-turned-starter experiment, gave the Twins every reason to be hopeful as he was masterful in his 10 starts down the stretch. Ultimately, the starter thing didn’t work out (for Duffey or any of the other multitudes of relievers Ryan drafted), but his career got off to a great start and success would eventually return to Duffey as a reliever in 2019.

• Max Kepler would also get his first taste of MLB action, but it was the tiniest sip of coffee as a September call-up. He did manage to collect his first hit and got seven plate appearances. Jorge Polanco would also make the briefest of appearances (12 PA) but it wasn’t his debut as he made an even briefer appearance in 2014 (8 PA).

Team MVP: Brian Dozier (2B)

 

Other Contenders: Miguel Sanó (DH), Trevor Plouffe (3B), Eduardo Escobar (SS), Torii Hunter (RF)

 

The MVP race was a ballot of two halves. It was Dozier who impressed in the first-half with 19 home runs and an .841 OPS. Dozier even found his way to the All-Star Game as an injury replacement. The second half was all Sanó as he hit 18 home runs and finished his rookie year with a very good .916 OPS. Even though Dozier stumbled in the second half he ultimately took home the hardware (of the virtual variety, courtesy of Twins Daily) as he was with the team for the entirety of the season, played pretty good defense, led the team in fWAR, and made up for any shortcomings on the dance floor.

 

3 Most Pivotal Games

 

April 10th: Won vs. Chicago White Sox, 6-0

 

It took until the fourth game of the season, but the Twins and Molitor finally got their first win. After being swept by Detroit in a three-game series where Minnesota scored all of one run (and was outscored 22-1), the Twins finally got it going against the White Sox. Dozier hit the team’s first dinger of the year and Tommy Milone pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the W. Sure they would go on to lose their next three, but they got that all-important first win under their belt.

 

July 10th: Won vs. Detroit Tigers, 8-6

 

The Twins had really begun to heat up in July but were coming off a loss in the first game of their last series before the All-Star break against Detroit. They looked to be on their way to another loss as they were trailing Detroit 6-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Then the impossible happened. Joe Mauer singled followed by a Sanó ground-rule double. Trevor Plouffe struck out but Rosario followed with a single to score Mauer and send Sano to third. Rosario then decided to steal second, and Aaron Hicks took a walk. With the bases juiced, Kurt Suzuki leaned into one, to bring in another run. Next, Danny Santana singled to bring in both Rosario and Hicks, moving Minnesota within one. Dozier stepped up with one out and completed mission impossible by hitting a three-run shot to give Minnesota the 8-6 win.

 

 

October 3rd: Lost vs. Kansas City Royals, 5-1

 

Going into the season’s final series the Twins found themselves still in the wild-card hunt, but a Kansas City sweep put an end to Minnesota’s postseason dream. It was the second game of the three-game series that made it official, as Yordano Ventura stymied the Twins bats and led the Royals to a 5-1 victory at Target Field.

 

Unforgettable Highlights

 

The Elusive First Run

 

You have to score runs to win ballgames and the Twins realized this … it just took nearly 25 innings. In their third game of the year they got their first run but still managed to lose 7-1 to the Detroit Tigers. The run came in the top of the seventh as Mauer scored from first on a Kennys Vargas double thanks to a Detroit fielding error. Sorry Kennys, no RBI.

 

Eddie Rosario Homers on His First MLB Pitch

 

Rosario made his MLB debut on May 6th and quickly made his presence felt. All it took was one pitch, as he homered to opposite field with his family in the stands on the first offering he saw as a big leaguer. It was pure Eddie magic and he hasn’t stopped swinging since.

 

 

Dance Party!

 

After four straight terrible seasons, Hunter brought some joy back to the Twin Cities. His veteran presence and leadership were invaluable but his post-victory locker room dance parties were legendary.

 

 

Hunter Leaves It All on the Field

 

The dance floor wasn’t the only place Torii got his freak on … or out. On June 10th Hunter didn’t agree with a third strike call in the bottom of the eighth and he let everyone at Target Field know … by ripping off and tossing his jersey. He also threw his protective gear and batting gloves but kept his pants on. Molitor was ejected along with Hunter, but he managed (get it?) to stay fully clothed.

 

 

One Detail You Probably Forgot

 

On June 14th the Twins managed to hit three triples in the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers and only score one run. How’d it happen? Eduardo Núñez led off with the first triple but was followed by a Suzuki foul pop-out behind home. Shane Robinson (who's Twins tenure is another detail you’ve likely forgotten) produced the inning’s second triple (also his second triple of the day) to score Nuñez but he was picked off during Eduardo Escobar’s at-bat. Escobar would go on to hit the third triple of the inning (second by an Eduardo) but he would fail to score as Buxton struck out for the third out. The three triples set a team record while the four total hit on the day tied a team record set by the ’64 club.

 

Fun Fact

 

Most Twins fans will associate the number 28 with Twins great Bert Blyleven’s retired jersey number. The same number was tied to two Twins records that were set in 2015. The first was of the good variety. Glen Perkins set a club record with 28 consecutive saves to start the season. The second not so much. Plouffe tied the greatest-ever Twin, Harmon Killebrew by grounding into – you guessed it – 28 double plays. At least Plouffe will always be able to say he was Killebrew’s equal in this respect.

 

~~~

Previous Installments:

• The 2000 Season
• The 2001 Season
• The 2002 Season
• The 2003 Season
• The 2004 Season
• The 2005 Season
• The 2006 Season
• The 2007 Season
• The 2008 Season
• The 2009 Season
• The 2010 Season
• The 2011 Season
• The 2012 Season
• The 2013 Season
• The 2014 Season

 

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[theBOMisthebomb]

Fun season, it sure felt great to get away from the end of the Gardy era doldrums.

[chinmusic]

Man, I remember being blindsided reading about Ervin Santana's suspension just days before the season was to begin. 

 

That Rosario first pitch in the majors homerun with his ecstatic family in the stands was a joyous moment.

 

Tracking Buxton and Sano, wishing and hoping.

[EddieMatthews]

The team OPS was a dismal .704 which includes Sano's .916 for a half season.  Except for Miguel, the best OPS+ for a starter was 105, which meant that any starter could have been replaced with a ham sandwich and had no impact.  

 

It was fun to see a winning record and some great highlights, but the 2015 Twins were still painful to watch, beginning with Santana's suspension.  The best part of this team is seeing a little bit of the future in the prospects that played.  

 

Top WAR went to Kyle Gibson with 3.2, another indicator of the overall lack of punch.

 

Fun articles and series.  Hoping for some real baseball soon!

[JW24]

The thing I remember most about 2015 is that I went to 9 Twins games that summer (White Sox opening day in Chicago, 2 games at Miller Park, 3 in KC, and 3 at Target Field) and Tommy Milone started 5 of those games. 7.2 shutout innings for W #1 against the Sox, a really good duel with Mike Fiers in Milwaukee that Casey Fien blew (4 earned, 0 outs), another nice game in KC during the weekend Sano made his debut, and a couple games I can't remember the specifics of at Target Field.

 

This was a really fun year; I remember watching more baseball the first couple months (May especially) than I did the previous 3 years combined. Thanks for the write up and the memories, especially the 9th inning comeback against Detroit.

[Nine of twelve]

The Rosario and Dozier home runs made that whole season worthwhile.

[DocBauer]

I was and always be a Gardy fan. But it was time for a change and a new voice. The Santana signing was exciting and despite how it ended in career ending injury it was a good and important signing.

 

It stunk, of course, that the team couldn't finish the deal and earn a WC spot. But we started to SE our team win again and hope was offered by a new manager, a quality SP signing, and the kids starting to play and tease what they could become.