Greatest Twins Teams of All Time: 2010

[Matt Braun]

Join us in argument as we count down the greatest Twins teams in history, as voted on by the Twins Daily writers. Today: the number 10 ranked team.

Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo

2010 was much of the same for the Twins of this era: the team that won the 7th-most games of all franchises in the 2000s kicked off the 2010s with a new logo and yet another trip to the playoffs. Manager Ron Gardenhire won AL Manager of the Year. By wins, this was the team’s best performance since 2006—an impressive outcome considering this was now their third-straight Johan Santana-less season. They didn’t replace him—who could have—but they did shock the system with an impressive influx of young and old talent. 

Oh, and they had a new place to call home. Carl Pohlad had wanted out of the Metrodome since the 90s, but an extensive political battle kept the team grumpy yet covered by a roof. It’s not a good sign when the Wikipedia article for the stadium includes a history that starts 16 years before the field opened. The fight included an attempt by MLB to contract the Twins in 2001—a move that died a quick death when Hennepin County judge Harry Crump shot down the ploy just days following MLB’s decision hit the news.

Then, less than nine years later, Minnesota opened the beautiful limestone-centric Target Field, bringing outdoor MLB back to the state. 

Lineup:

While the Twins of the 2000s cloaked themselves in piranha vernacular, the 2010 team preferred to bop. Joe Mauer’s transcendent 2009 season gave the lineup two former MVPs and the best duo of lefties in the game. Neither of those was Mauer, though: Justin Morneau was the scariest batter in baseball that year, hitting a hilarious .345/.437/.618, and 39-year-old Jim Thome wasn’t far behind, topping the 1.000 mark himself over 340 plate appearances. Rookie Danny Valencia hit 300 in his first taste of the bigs. Six regulars hit above a 100 OPS+. The team finished 2nd in MLB in batting average, 2nd in OBP, and 7th in slugging. 

Perhaps the most significant positive development, though, was Delmon Young. The team made an uncharacteristically brash challenge trade for the former 1st overall pick just four years after he was drafted. He rewarded their boldness with two mediocre hitting seasons. Perhaps sensing that it was now seven years since he went number 1—and that goodwill in sports lasts about the same length of time as a House of Representative term, Young turned in a career year, posting a 124 OPS+ and 112 RBIs, netting him down-ballot MVP votes. 

A gaggle of veterans—two newcomers in Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy, two old-guard hitters in Michael Cuddyer and Denard Span, and Nick Punto—rounded out a supremely deep lineup.

The bad news? Morneau’s story isn’t as simple as his outright dominance: the 29-year-old suffered a concussion against the Blue Jays on July 7th and never played another game the rest of the year. His play dropped in the following seasons. He led the NL with a .319 batting average in 2014 as a final show. Still, he never fully recovered from the concussion and subsequent injuries in the years following what could have been one of the greatest hitting seasons in Twins history. 

Pitching:

2010 was prime Rick Anderson’s Rick Anderson-ness. The longtime pitching coach famously preferred teaching a philosophy of limiting walks and pitching to contact—a strategy that worked for years until every pitcher became a nuclear flamethrower—and the 2010 Twins reflected his beliefs. Their rotation of Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, and Kevin Slowey struck out batters at the 10th-lowest rate, but their habit of seldom walking anyone (5.6% BB rate!) made them a roughly average group.

The 2010 Twins were a bullpen team. Despite All-Star closer Joe Nathan missing the year with Tommy John surgery, Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares, and swingman Brian Duensing, helped push the group to the 8th-best ERA in MLB (3.49). Adding Matt Capps at the deadline and Brian Fuentes on waivers in August only deepened the stable. 

Playoffs:

Unfortunately, because this is a Twins team in the 21st century, their ultimate fate was a sweep at the hands of the Yankees. Games one and two were reasonably close. Game three wasn’t. That was it for the 2010 Twins.

Concluding thoughts:

This is a very worthy addition to the list. The 2010 team won the 7th-most games of any Twins team in history, and—considering some “luck” modifier—absolutely could have won even more had Nathan and Morneau enjoyed good health. 

The more I look at it, the more I see a team reminiscent of modern baseball. After acquiring Capps, the bullpen had six regulars with an ERA+ over 120, giving them a hearty amount of reliable relief arms; they could shut down games only needing four or five-inning starts. The rotation was missing a starter, though; the team axed Slowey, Blackburn, and Baker for the postseason, instead calling on Duensing to make the critical start in Yankee stadium down 2-0. It didn’t go well. If they had just one more sturdy starting pitcher, they could have moved Pavano to game three—a much better option than Duensing, who performed worse as a starter in 2010.

Ultimately, this is the Jim Thome Season to me. His walk-off vs. the White Sox and absolute missile vs. the Royals are both singed deep into my memory banks, still crystal-clear over a decade later. Ironically, that this season came one year after Brett Favre led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game, considering Thome’s legendary run with Cleveland. 

“Jim Thome’s swan song with a 1.000 OPS, peak Mauer, Liriano was still good, Orlando Hudson, JJ Hardy, good Delmon. If only Morneau and Nathan had stayed intact.” -Hans Birkeland

“The inaugural Target Field team won 94 games, but it’s easy to wonder how far these guys would have gone if Justin Morneau, who was having another MVP season, not suffered a career-altering concussion.” -Tom Froemming

 

What do you think of the 2010 Twins? Were they ranked too high or too low? Do you have any special memories of them? Leave a comment below and start the discussion.

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[ashbury]

The 1930 squad would be better remembered today if they hadn't had to deal with the juggernaut Philadelphia A's who also beat a great Cardinals team in the World Series that year.  And they won just as many games as the 2010 edition, in a shorter schedule to boot.  Bump Hadley, General Crowder, and of course Joe Cronin, all deserve to be held up as franchise icons.  They should be number #10.

[Doctor Gast]

Very interesting, Just think of the team we would have had if we still had Santana, the concussions problems that effected our top players starting with Morneau, that really hurt and losing Nathan all elite players. Very impressive what they did w/o them. The 2 players that really stuck out to me, were Thome & Valencia (I had high hopes for him).

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, ashbury said:

The 1930 squad would be better remembered today if they hadn't had to deal with the juggernaut Philadelphia A's who also beat a great Cardinals team in the World Series that year.  And they won just as many games as the 2010 edition, in a shorter schedule to boot.  Bump Hadley, General Crowder, and of course Joe Cronin, all deserve to be held up as franchise icons.  They should be number #10.

I wasn't  around yet to see them play  but I'll take your word for it  ...

[sweetmusicviola16]

3 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I wasn't  around yet to see them play  but I'll take your word for it  ...

24 team won the WS, and the 25 and 33 teams won the AL Pennant. 30-33 teams all won 90 or more games. We were a dynasty.

[TopGunn#22]

(It didn't hurt having Walter Johnson at the top of their rotation).  Yeah, 2010 will ALWAYS be the year of Morneau.  He was having another MVP season and that concussion ended his season and even with the N.L. batting title later, it was clear he was never quite the same hitter.  His power had been sapped.  

With the way Mauer and Morneau hit LH pitching, having a Mauer, Morneau and Thome 3-4-5 wouldn't have mattered.  And Thome in his limited plate appearances was still "vintage" Thome.  What might have been if Morneau had played the entire season healthy.  Having one of the top closers in the game in Nathan would have made a great bullpen even better.

It further makes the point that the Pohlad's have never made a BIG trade at the deadline to bring one or two guys in that could have made a difference.  When your deadline deal claim to fame is Shannon Stewart, that kind of says it all.  Maybe we would have still lost to the Yankees, but we'll never know, will we.  

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, TopGunn#22 said:

(It didn't hurt having Walter Johnson at the top of their rotation). 

(Barney was managing, not pitching, by that time. And I didn't really mean to do a threadjack, with my little flight of whimsy.)