RRosternomics
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Twins MIN

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President of baseball ops: Derek Falvey · GM: Thad Levine

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.84× league · TAB +5.0
+5.0TAB — talent above budget11th/30
+5.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/30
-3.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag6th/30
38%dead money %16th/30
0.525win %11th/30
37.1roster fWAR11th/30
+16surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/30
$110Mpayroll $M19th/30

2017: made playoffs · 85–77. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFByron Buxton 137GZack Granite 24GMax Kepler 13G
LFEddie Rosario 138GRobbie Grossman 18GEhire Adrianza 17G
RFMax Kepler 138GRobbie Grossman 35GEddie Rosario 16G
SSJorge Polanco 130GEhire Adrianza 29GEduardo Escobar 16G
2BBrian Dozier 152GEduardo Escobar 9GEhire Adrianza 9G
3BMiguel Sanó 82GEduardo Escobar 79GEhire Adrianza 9G
1BJoe Mauer 125GKennys Vargas 40GMiguel Sanó 9G
STARTERSErvin Santana 2.8WARJosé Berríos 2.7WARAdalberto Mejía 1.0WARKyle Gibson 1.0WARBartolo Colon 0.2WAR
CJason Castro 108GChris Gimenez 59GMitch Garver 13G
DHRobbie Grossman 62GKennys Vargas 30GMiguel Sanó 25G
BULLPEN★ Matt Belisle 9svTaylor Rogers 30hTyler Duffey 12hTrevor Hildenberger 12hRyan Pressly 6hBuddy Boshers 3hAlan Busenitz 2hDillon Gee 1h
CJason Castro 108 · Chris Gimenez 59 · Mitch Garver 13
1BJoe Mauer 125 · Kennys Vargas 40 · Miguel Sanó 9
2BBrian Dozier 152 · Eduardo Escobar 9 · Ehire Adrianza 9
3BMiguel Sanó 82 · Eduardo Escobar 79 · Ehire Adrianza 9
SSJorge Polanco 130 · Ehire Adrianza 29 · Eduardo Escobar 16
LFEddie Rosario 138 · Robbie Grossman 18 · Ehire Adrianza 17
CFByron Buxton 137 · Zack Granite 24 · Max Kepler 13
RFMax Kepler 138 · Robbie Grossman 35 · Eddie Rosario 16
DHRobbie Grossman 62 · Kennys Vargas 30 · Miguel Sanó 25
SPErvin Santana 2.8 · José Berríos 2.7 · Adalberto Mejía 1.0 · Kyle Gibson 1.0 · Bartolo Colon 0.2
BP★ Matt Belisle 9 · Taylor Rogers 30 · Tyler Duffey 12 · Trevor Hildenberger 12 · Ryan Pressly 6 · Buddy Boshers 3 · Alan Busenitz 2 · Dillon Gee 1

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.

2017 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Brian Dozier 30 arb 1526.0 6.0 +14.4
Byron Buxton 23 pre-arb 1404.4 0.5 +14.4
Joe Mauer 34 FA-elig 1412.8 23.0 -13.4
Ervin Santana 34 FA-elig 332.8 13.5 -4.2
José Berríos 23 pre-arb 262.7 0.4 +8.8
Eddie Rosario 25 pre-arb 1512.6 0.6 +8.1
Miguel Sanó 24 pre-arb 1142.4 0.6 +7.6
Jason Castro 30 FA-elig 1102.1 8.5 -1.5
Max Kepler 24 pre-arb 1471.9 0.5 +5.9
Jorge Polanco 23 arb 1331.9 0.5 +5.8
Eduardo Escobar 28 FA-elig 1291.3 2.6 +1.9
Chris Gimenez 34 FA-elig 771.1 0.9 +2.8
Kyle Gibson 29 arb 291.0 2.9 +0.5
Adalberto Mejía 24 pre-arb 211.0 0.5 +2.7
Robbie Grossman 27 arb 1190.8 0.6 +2.3
Ehire Adrianza 27 pre-arb 700.8 0.6 +2.0
Trevor Hildenberger 26 – 370.8 0.3 +2.3
Brandon Kintzler↔ WSN 32 FA-elig 450.6 1.8 +0.4
Tyler Duffey 26 pre-arb 560.6 0.5 +1.6
Matt Belisle 37 FA-elig 620.6 2.0 -0.2
Dillon Gee↔ TEX 31 arb 140.5 1.6 +0.2
Kennys Vargas 26 arb 780.4 0.5 +0.8
Taylor Rogers 26 pre-arb 690.4 0.5 +0.6
Jaime García↔ ATL 30 FA-elig 10.2 0.4 +0.3
Zack Granite 24 – 400.2 0.2 +0.4
Bartolo Colon↔ ATL 44 FA-elig 150.2 6.7 -6.1
Alan Busenitz 26 – 280.1 0.2 +0.1
Phil Hughes 31 FA-elig 140.1 13.2 -12.9
Ryan Pressly 28 arb 570.1 1.2 -0.9
Chris Heston↔ SEA 29 – 10.0 0.0 +0.1
Aaron Slegers 24 – 4-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Danny Santana↔ ATL 26 arb 13-0.0 0.1 -0.1
John Curtiss 24 – 9-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Justin Haley 26 pre-arb 10-0.0 0.5 -0.7
Randy Rosario 23 – 2-0.1 0.0 -0.2
Glen Perkins 34 FA-elig 8-0.1 6.5 -6.7
Drew Rucinski 28 pre-arb 2-0.1 0.5 -0.8
Tim Melville↔ SDP 27 – 1-0.1 0.0 -0.3
Dietrich Enns 26 – 2-0.1 0.1 -0.4
Nick Tepesch↔ TOR 28 arb 1-0.1 0.2 -0.6
Gabriel Moya 22 – 7-0.1 – –
Jason Wheeler 26 – 2-0.1 0.0 -0.4
Craig Breslow↔ CLE 36 FA-elig 30-0.1 1.0 -1.5
Mitch Garver 26 – 23-0.2 0.1 -0.6
Alex Wimmers 28 pre-arb 6-0.2 0.0 -0.6
Buddy Boshers 29 pre-arb 38-0.2 0.3 -1.1
Michael Tonkin 27 arb 16-0.2 0.5 -1.4
Adam Wilk↔ NYM 29 – 3-0.2 0.0 -0.9
Héctor Santiago 29 FA-elig 15-0.3 8.0 -8.9
Felix Jorge 23 pre-arb 2-0.3 0.0 -1.0
Nik Turley 27 – 10-0.3 0.1 -1.2
Niko Goodrum 25 – 11-0.3 0.1 -1.2

Key additions (new vs 2016)

PlayerfWAR
Jason Castro2.1
Chris Gimenez1.1
Ehire Adrianza0.8
Trevor Hildenberger0.8
Matt Belisle0.6
Dillon Gee0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 2016)

Player2016 fWAR
Eduardo Núñez1.3
Fernando Abad0.5
Trevor Plouffe0.4
Logan Schafer0.1
Pat Dean0.1
J.R. Graham0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

2017 payroll
$110.2M
2018 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2017, 2017–2023. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2017; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.

current $ guaranteed $ arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent club option player option mutual option vesting option

Guaranteed / signed (9)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Joe Mauer3413.000$23.0MFREE AGENT
Ervin Santana3411.104$13.5MFREE AGENT
Phil Hughes319.113$13.2MFREE AGENT
Jason Castro306.104$8.5MFREE AGENT
Bartolo Colon4418.061$6.7MFREE AGENT
Glen Perkins3410.010$6.5MFREE AGENT
Matt Belisle3711.019$2.0MFREE AGENT
Craig Breslow368.129$1.0MFREE AGENT
Jaime García308.047$444kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Héctor Santiago295.016$8.0MFREE AGENT
Brian Dozier304.100$6.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Gibson293.056$2.9MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eduardo Escobar284.128$2.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Kintzler325.003$1.8MFREE AGENT
Dillon Gee315.108$1.6MFREE AGENT
Ryan Pressly283.053$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Gimenez344.163$950kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (35)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Ehire Adrianza272.131$600kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Sanó241.095$572kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Rosario251.120$552kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robbie Grossman272.060$552kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Max Kepler240.152$548kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Duffey261.042$542kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Tonkin272.005$542kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Taylor Rogers260.145$542kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kennys Vargas262.000$540kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge Polanco230.105$540kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Haley260.000$535kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Rucinski280.034$535kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Byron Buxton231.064$535kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adalberto Mejía240.001$535kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
José Berríos230.074$415kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Buddy Boshers292.026$342kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trevor Hildenberger260.000$295kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Tepesch282.136$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alan Busenitz260.000$248kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Zack Granite240.000$196kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nik Turley270.000$143kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mitch Garver260.000$132kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Curtiss240.000$117kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Niko Goodrum250.000$91kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Santana262.111$86kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Slegers240.000$85kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dietrich Enns260.000$76kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Wimmers280.038$44kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Wilk290.000$39kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Rosario230.000$26kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Melville270.015$14kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Wheeler26–$6k
Chris Heston292.140$5kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Jorge230.002$3kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gabriel Moya220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Twins 2017; 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.