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  • 2015 All-Former Twins Team

    JackWhite

    By JackWhite

    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 sign and re-sign big-time players. Many players from the likes of David Ortiz to Kyle Lohse have gone on to have success with other teams.

    Image courtesy of Jack White

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    Seeing countless former Twins crush their old Minnesota ballclub 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 batting order for the hypothetical 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 homer runs 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 ballclubs and it shows in the starting rotation below. 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 in all the solid pitchers our team has decided to let go. A weakness of the current Twins ballclub is in fact pitching. No starter has solidified himself 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 Garrett 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 its 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 of seasons I think Twins fans everywhere will begin to forget about all the key players lost to free agency.

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    Rosterman

    Rosterman 3,922

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Of course, every team has its players going up and down. Don;t forget:

     

    Kevin Correia 0-3 6.56 in 23 innings

    Andrew Albers 0-0 3.58 in 3 innings

    Vance Worley 4-5 3.78 in 69 innings

    Scott Baker 0-1 6.73 in 11 innings

    Yohan Pino 0.2 3.26 in 19 innings

    Sam Deduno 0-1 6.96 in 21 innings

     

    And all those bench guys:

    Delmon Young .270/.289/.339 2 HR 16 RBI 180AB

    Rene Rivera .186/.216/.288 5 HR 26 RBI in 292AB

    Drew Butera .205/.239/.261 1 HR 5 RBIU in 95AB

    Sam Fuld .194/.271/.302 in 271AB

    Alex Presley .250/.318/.250 0 HR 1 RBI 12AB

    Chris Parmelee .215/.238/.433 4 HR 9 RBI 162AB

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    bird

    bird 6,083

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    This is a fun exercise. However, I can imagine several false conclusions being reached. To get things started, here are my own false conclusions:

     

    1. The most troubling weakness of the Twins and Ryan over the years has been management, and especially the "disposal" of player assets. Not so much bad trades, but more the timing. My own view has been that they have lacked a "sell discipline", and the result has been sub-optimal returns on those assets on a regular basis.

     

    2. Perhaps the organization's greatest strength gets evidenced by this thread. I wonder how many other organizations can boast of producing players prolifically enough to have three dozen of them still good enough to play for other teams. A roster and a half of players! Scouting, drafting, and developing talent is a strength for this organization in my mind.

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    funoka

    funoka 13

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    I can remember a time not so long ago that Twins castoffs didn't ever play for another major league team, so the fact that guys like Valencia, Parmalee, Colabello, end up on other MLB rosters says something.   I'll the take the current roster -- with some better starting pitching. 

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    big dog

    big dog 3,356

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    A lot of those players were picked up in trades when they were in the minors.  I think we only drafted four or five of the position players and starters.  We've been able to acquire some good young players over the years.

     

    Florimon's RBI the other night was his first as a Pirate.  He's 2 for 19, 2 BBs, 10 K's.  The Pirates might be able to turn him into a good starting pitcher, though, given their track record.

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    tobi0040

    tobi0040 4,125

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    I think you could do this exercise with almost any team. Fun to think about but hard to draw any conclusion.

     

    Boston Red Sox - Lester, Ellsbury, Victor Martinez (2010), Josh Reddick, Jed Lowrie, etc.

     

     

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    gil4

    gil4 2,525

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    How is pitching the strength? I would only want Liriano.

     

    I sure hope that part was sarcasm.  Jason Marquis has long been filed in the "gone and intentionally forgotten" bin, right there with Sidney Ponson and ... I can't remember his name now.  It worked!  (Free agent signee, 3B, about 15 years ago, possibly Tony something, released pretty quickly.) 

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    gil4

    gil4 2,525

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Of course, every team has its players going up and down. Don;t forget:

     

    Drew Butera .205/.239/.261 1 HR 5 RBIU in 95AB

     

    BA over .200 - things are looking up!  What's his ERA?

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    Rosterman

    Rosterman 3,922

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    And, of course, there are names like Joe Benson, Tim Stauffer, P.J. Walters, Darin Mastroianni, Jose Mijares, Julio DePaula, Matt Carson, Caleb Thielbar, Brandan Harris, Alexi Casilla, Jason Pridie, Joe Beimel, Jared Burton, Erik Komatsu, Bobby Korecky, Scott Diamond, Luis Ayala, Randy Ruiz, J.C. Romero. Alex Burnett, Esmerling Vasquez, Yoslan Herrera, Kris Johnson, Tsuyoshi Nyshioka, Eric Hacker, Phil Humber, Rene Tosoni, Jason Repko, Pedro Hernandez, Shairon Martis, Sean Burroughs, Luis Rodriguez, Jose Morales, Matt Maloney, Luis Perdomo still toiling in the minor leagues here and abroad. And Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan being carried on team disabled lists for the season.

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