Restoring the rosters: No. 12 - Minnesota

This is part of a series of articles examining what every team’s roster would look like if given only the players it originally signed. I’m compiling the rosters, ranking them and presenting them in a countdown from Nos. 30 to 1. No. 30 - Cincinnati No. 29 - Kansas City No. 28 - San Diego No. 27 - Milwaukee No. 26 - Baltimore No. 25 - Chicago (AL) No. 24 - Chicago (NL) No. 23 - Pittsburgh No. 22 - Detroit No. 21 - Tampa Bay No. 20 - New York (NL) No. 19 - Houston No. 18 - Oakland No. 17 - St. Louis No. 16 - Florida No. 15 - San Francisco No. 14 - Texas No. 13 - Cleveland 12th place certainly isn’t bad, but the Twins would be far higher if, instead of coming up with teams based on players drafted and originally signed, these rankings went strictly by major league debuts. Johan Santana, David Ortiz, Francisco Liriano, Jason Bartlett and Cristian Guzman came up with the Twins, but all began their minor league careers elsewhere. Rotation Matt Garza Scott Baker Kevin Slowey Nick Blackburn Glen Perkins Bullpen Pat Neshek LaTroy Hawkins J.C. Romero Grant Balfour Jose Mijares Peter Moylan Jesse Crain Moylan is the only one of the 25 players on the roster the Twins would lose if going to the “major league debut” standard. He was signed by the Twins in 1996, spent two years pitching in Rookie ball and then disappeared for eight years before impressing the Braves with his performance for Australia in the 2006 WBC and debuting later that season. The rotation options are essentially the Twins’ current group, with Garza subbing in for Liriano/Carl Pavano. That looks like a net win for this group. Anthony Swarzak is the primary alternative to Perkins in the fifth spot. Kevin Mulvey wouldn’t be, since he was part of the Santana trade with the Mets. The bullpen would be pretty strong with a healthy Neshek (he’s currently working his way back from Tommy John surgery). I’m throwing him into the closer’s role, given Hawkins’ lack of success in his most recent American League stints. Failing to make the cut was Eddie Guardado. Lineup LF Denard Span C Joe Mauer CF Torii Hunter 1B Justin Morneau RF Michael Cuddyer DH Jason Kubel 3B Danny Valencia 2B Matt Tolbert SS Luis Rodriguez Bench C A.J. Pierzynski INF Doug Mientkiewicz INF Terry Tiffee OF Jacque Jones There’s hope for Valencia as the future at third base, but realistically, the lineup is only six players deep. Without credit for Bartlett, Guzman or even Alexi Casilla, the Twins just don’t have any adequate middle-infield options. Rodriguez and the disappointing Trevor Plouffe were the shortstop candidates, and second base came down to Tolbert and prospect Steven Tolleson. Mientkiewicz might actually be the superior choice there. At least the top six is really nice. Mauer is about as valuable as anyone in the game, and Hunter and Morneau have also been among the AL’s best this year. Summary Of course, the Twins do deserve credit for finding and developing Santana and Ortiz, even if they may have actually held Ortiz back. The Twins under former general manager Terry Ryan were probably in the top five in baseball at scouting out and developing talent. Whether that’s going to hold true under Bill Smith remains to be seen, but the early returns aren’t especially encouraging. Whereas Ryan was a scout before becoming a GM, Smith is much more of an administrator. He’ll maintain the bottom line, but he may not pull off the coups that helped get the Twins to the playoffs four times in five years from 2002-06. He certainly hasn’t so far.