RRosternomics
𝕏

Twins MIN

‹ ›

GM: Terry Ryan

Overview

WINDOW ↘ cooling
cheap & winning · year 4 in this regime · payroll 0.71× league · TAB +9.5
+9.5TAB — talent above budget4th/30
+14.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars15th/30
-2.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/30
22%dead money %11th/30
0.568win %6th/30
39.6roster fWAR12th/30
+11surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/30
$48Mpayroll $M20th/30

2004: made playoffs · 92–70. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFTorii Hunter 126GLew Ford 46GJacque Jones 2G
LFLew Ford 81GShannon Stewart 71GMichael Restovich 12G
RFJacque Jones 141GLew Ford 10GMichael Cuddyer 8G
SSCristian Guzman 145GNick Punto 11GAugie Ojeda 7G
2BLuis Rivas 109GMichael Cuddyer 48GAugie Ojeda 20G
3BCorey Koskie 115GMichael Cuddyer 43GTerry Tiffee 12G
1BJustin Morneau 61GMatthew LeCroy 23GMichael Cuddyer 10G
STARTERSJohan Santana 6.9WARBrad Radke 4.9WARCarlos Silva 2.5WARKyle Lohse 0.9WARTerry Mulholland 0.5WAR
CHenry Blanco 114GPat Borders 38GJoe Mauer 32G
DHJose Offerman 33GMatthew LeCroy 29GLew Ford 25G
BULLPEN★ Joe Nathan 44svJuan Rincon 16hJ.C. Romero 16hAaron Fultz 5hGrant Balfour 4hJoe Roa 2hJesse Crain 2hMatt Guerrier 0h
CHenry Blanco 114 · Pat Borders 38 · Joe Mauer 32
1BJustin Morneau 61 · Matthew LeCroy 23 · Michael Cuddyer 10
2BLuis Rivas 109 · Michael Cuddyer 48 · Augie Ojeda 20
3BCorey Koskie 115 · Michael Cuddyer 43 · Terry Tiffee 12
SSCristian Guzman 145 · Nick Punto 11 · Augie Ojeda 7
LFLew Ford 81 · Shannon Stewart 71 · Michael Restovich 12
CFTorii Hunter 126 · Lew Ford 46 · Jacque Jones 2
RFJacque Jones 141 · Lew Ford 10 · Michael Cuddyer 8
DHJose Offerman 33 · Matthew LeCroy 29 · Lew Ford 25
SPJohan Santana 6.9 · Brad Radke 4.9 · Carlos Silva 2.5 · Kyle Lohse 0.9 · Terry Mulholland 0.5
BP★ Joe Nathan 44 · Juan Rincon 16 · J.C. Romero 16 · Aaron Fultz 5 · Grant Balfour 4 · Joe Roa 2 · Jesse Crain 2 · Matt Guerrier 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

2004 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Johan Santana 25 arb 346.9 1.6 +10.3
Brad Radke 31 FA-elig 344.9 10.8 -2.3
Lew Ford 27 – 1543.4 – –
Joe Nathan 29 arb 733.0 0.4 +4.6
Torii Hunter 28 FA-elig 1382.6 6.5 -2.1
Corey Koskie 31 FA-elig 1182.5 4.5 -0.1
Carlos Silva 25 pre-arb 332.5 0.3 +4.0
Juan Rincon 25 arb 772.4 0.3 +3.7
Cristian Guzman 26 arb 1451.8 3.7 -0.7
Shannon Stewart 30 FA-elig 921.6 5.5 -2.8
Joe Mauer 21 pre-arb 351.2 0.3 +1.8
Luis Rivas 24 arb 1091.1 1.5 +0.4
J.C. Romero 28 arb 741.1 0.8 +1.0
Kyle Lohse 25 arb 350.9 0.4 +1.2
Augie Ojeda 29 – 300.9 – –
Justin Morneau 23 – 740.8 – –
Michael Cuddyer 25 arb 1150.8 0.3 +1.1
Nick Punto 26 arb 380.7 0.3 +0.9
Terry Mulholland 41 – 390.5 – –
Henry Blanco 32 FA-elig 1140.4 0.8 -0.1
Terry Tiffee 25 – 170.3 – –
Jose Offerman 35 FA-elig 770.3 0.5 +0.0
Grant Balfour 26 arb 360.3 0.3 +0.1
Jacque Jones 29 arb 1510.1 4.3 -4.1
Aaron Fultz 30 arb 550.1 0.6 -0.4
Pat Borders↔ SEA 41 – 190.1 – –
Alex Prieto 28 – 160.1 – –
Jesse Crain 22 – 220.0 – –
Joe Roa 32 FA-elig 480.0 0.3 -0.3
J.D. Durbin 22 – 40.0 – –
Brad Thomas 26 arb 30.0 0.3 -0.3
Jason Kubel 22 – 23-0.0 – –
Carlos Pulido 32 FA-elig 6-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Seth Greisinger 28 – 12-0.1 – –
Joe Beimel 27 – 3-0.1 0.5 -0.7
Jason Bartlett 24 – 8-0.1 – –
Doug Mientkiewicz↔ BOS 30 FA-elig 78-0.1 1.7 -1.9
Matt Guerrier 25 – 9-0.2 – –
Matthew LeCroy 28 arb 88-0.2 0.3 -0.7
Michael Restovich 25 – 29-0.2 – –
Rob Bowen 23 – 17-0.3 – –
Michael Ryan 26 pre-arb 36-0.6 0.3 -1.3

Key additions (new vs 2003)

PlayerfWAR
Joe Nathan3.0
Carlos Silva2.5
Joe Mauer1.2
Augie Ojeda0.9
Nick Punto0.7
Terry Mulholland0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 2003)

Player2003 fWAR
A.J. Pierzynski3.6
LaTroy Hawkins2.6
Kenny Rogers2.5
Eddie Guardado1.4
Rick Reed1.2
Bobby Kielty0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

2004 payroll
$47.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 2004, 2004–2010. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Brad Radke319.000$10.8M$9.0M$9.0MFREE AGENT
Torii Hunter287.000$6.5M$8.0M$10.8M$12.0MFREE AGENT
Shannon Stewart309.000$5.5M$6.0M$6.5MFREE AGENT
Corey Koskie316.000$4.5MFREE AGENT
Doug Mientkiewicz306.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Henry Blanco327.000$750kFREE AGENT
Jose Offerman3514.000$500kFREE AGENT
Joe Roa329.000$320kFREE AGENT
Carlos Pulido3210.000$305kFREE AGENT
Pat Borders4116.000—FREE AGENT
Terry Mulholland4118.000—FREE AGENT
Seth Greisinger286.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Jacque Jones295.000$4.3MFREE AGENT
Cristian Guzman265.000$3.7MFREE AGENT
Johan Santana254.000$1.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Rivas244.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
J.C. Romero285.000$820kFREE AGENT
Aaron Fultz304.000$550kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Beimel273.000$535kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Nathan295.000$440kFREE AGENT
Kyle Lohse253.000$395kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matthew LeCroy284.000$340kARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Rincon253.000$330kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Cuddyer253.000$308kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Punto263.000$308kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Grant Balfour263.000$305kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Thomas263.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Augie Ojeda294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Carlos Silva252.000$340kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Ryan262.000$305kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Mauer210.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lew Ford271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Prieto28–—
Michael Restovich25–—
Matt Guerrier250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Morneau231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Bowen231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.D. Durbin220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Bartlett240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Tiffee25–—
Jason Kubel220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jesse Crain220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Twins 2004; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.