Rutjers

I really like this kind of content. It explains in detail things baseball fans take for granted. It is fit for a site like The Athletic. Great job.

They are going to win the World Series this year. I said it. Only injuries can derail them.

I was also thinking of the turtle when Cron came up.

I like your work. Before reading I would have said Santana, Blyleven, Viola, either Perry or Pascual, Kaat, Radke (check your spelling). I love your comment, "Johan Santana 8 mostly under-utilized years." What could he have been if inserted as a starter sooner? And how bad were the results of that trade? I was hoping for a better return that Viola.

Your breakdown by decades narrows the field. I really think of Killebrew, Carew, and Mauer as something other than first basemen, so I would not choose any of them. All three are obviously great baseball players, but I don't think of them as first basemen. Next cut...Mientkiewicz was awesome, one of my favorites for those early 2000s teams, but simply not as good as Hrbek or Morneau. I lean toward Hrbek, but the 1980s Twins are when I really started paying attention to the Twins. Am I just choosing that era and Hrbek nostalgically? Morneau seems like he had better annual numbers but for a shorter period of time. My deciding factor will be World Series championships--therefore Hrbek is the man!