Minnesota Twins - All-Decade 2000-09

I've never pretended I didn't have a bias on this blog, so I'm going to narrow the scope of these all-decade previews now that I'm past my favorite team, the A's - who finished an unfortunate 6th in winning percentage in the 2000's (the decade, not the millennium), so I can't even go under the pretense of lightening up after the top five. The Twins had a nice run in the middle of the decade in question, winning the AL Central division four out of five years from 2002-06, then again in 2009, although they only have one playoff series win to show for all their division titles. Here's how their aggregate roster looked during the decade, organized by games played per position, with years active with the team to the right.

Over his thousand-plus games with the Twins in this decade, Torii Hunter earned a reputation as one of the best fielding outfielders in the game, with seven straight Gold Gloves from 2001-07 (plus two All-Star appearances in that span). Slugging Canadian first baseman Justin Morneau took home an AL MVP award in 2006, kicking off a run of four straight All-Star nods (only three of which take place during the decade in question), before concussion troubles started to take their toll. Jacque Jones split his Twins tenure about 60/40 between left field and right field, and he put up the sort of unspectacular consistency (he never made an All-Star team or got any awards consideration) that helps fill out a lineup. Shortstop Cristian Guzman (note the lack of "h" in his first name) led the major leagues in triples in three of his five seasons in Minnesota. The versatile Michael Cuddyer played all over the diamond during his Twins tenure, the majority of which came in right field and third base, but since Corey Koskie (another Canadian) is entrenched at the hot corner, it makes sense place Cuddy in the outfield. Despite just barely cracking 600 games in the decade, Joe Mauer is the only position player on this all-decade team to show up among the Twins' all-time leaders in wins above replacement (he places fourth), as he continued with the team into the next decade, even though he moved from catcher to 1B/DH. During his first six seasons, he won three batting titles, made three All-Star teams, won three Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves, in addition to being named the 2009 AL MVP (when he also won the coveted Triple Crown).

Clocking in at ninth all-time in WAR for Twins players, Brad Radke's career straddled this decade and the previous one, and while he may have pitched better in the earlier of those (his lone All-Star appearance, finishing 3rd in AL Cy Young voting in 1997) he definitely played for more winnings teams in the later one. Despite starting his career often pitching out of the bullpen, Johan Santana places 18th in all-time Twins WAR, thanks to a tenure that included TWO Cy Young awards (2004 and 2006), two top-10 finishes in MVP voting, a Gold Glove award, and a run of three straight All-Star appearances in the three years prior to being traded to the Mets. Kyle Lohse averaged a 4.72 ERA in his five full seasons with the Twins, embodying the role of innings-eater before a disastrous 2006 saw him demoted to the bullpen. Speaking of the bullpen, consistency in that area was a big reason for Minnesota's success in this decade, and no one was more consistent than Joe Nathan, who never saved fewer than 36 games in a season with the Twins in this decade (which included four All-Star appearances and two top-5 finishes in Cy Young voting). While Nathan leads the charge with more than 400 games, it's crazy that four additional relievers totaled 300 or more relief in the decade, with only J.C. Romero benefitting from lefty-specialist bonus... which itself is somewhat offset by the fact that he was primarily a starter (if an ineffective one) during his first two years with the team).