In 2003, the Minnesota Twins won their second consecutive American League Central Division championship, but they failed to get past the New York Yankees in their AL Division Series matchup. The Twins made a mid-season trade for Shannon Stewart and installed Johan Santana into the starting rotation, caught fire after the All-Star game to [...]

I started a feature last year during the 2006 season writing features about the top 40 Minnesota Twins as rated by their cumulative Value Over Replacement Player or VORP. I got about half way through the list and then the season started, my wife had a baby, and so forth. So, I [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 20th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Rick Aguilera. (Note: After the 2007 season, Aguilera's VORP total is now 21st All-Time.) Aguilera is the ninth pitcher and third reliever covered in this series. He has the [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 21st highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Eric Milton.
Eric Milton was a left handed starting pitcher with the Minnesota Twins from 1998-2003. The major prize of the Chuck Knoblauch trade, Milton was thrust into the starting rotation as [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 22nd highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Brian Harper.
Brian Harper was a catcher with the Minnesota Twins from 1988-93. Harper was an unlikely member of this list. He kicked around with five different teams before he hooked [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 23rd highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Torii Hunter.
Torii Hunter is the current center fielder for the Minnesota Twins. Hunter is known for his engaging personality, his fielding prowess, and his spotty, yet occasionally spectacular output. Hunter [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 24th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Earl Battey.
Earl was the first Twins catcher, having come West with the Senators in 1961. He had five very good seasons to start his Twins career, but quickly faded and was [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 25th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Eddie Guardado.
Eddie was a failed starter who, as a reliever, became a key part of the resurgent Twins of the first part of this decade. Eddie was a colorful character who [...]

SBG looks at the player with the 26th highest VORP total in Twins History, Gary Gaetti.

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 27th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Larry Hisle.
Larry Hisle was a power hitting outfielder for the Minnesota Twins during the mid 1970s. Hisle was somewhat of a surprise success story for the Twins, considering his career before [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 28th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, the 1965 AL MVP, Zoilo Versalles.
Zoilo Versalles was a shortstop for the Minnesota Twins during the 1960s. Versalles as I mentioned above, won the 1965 AL MVP for the AL Champion [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 29th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, César “Pepito” Tovar.
César Tovar was, for lack of a more precise term, a player for the Minnesota Twins from 1965-72. Tovar famously played all nine positions in one game for the [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 30th highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Scott Erickson.
Scott Erickson was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins from 1990-95. If you are old enough to remember the 1991 season, it is really hard to believe that Scott Erickson [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 31st highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Joe Mays.
Joe Mays was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins from 1999-2003 and 2005. Mr. Mays had one glorious season in 2001 under the dull Minnesota Teflon sky. That season [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 32rd highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins (to date), Joe Mauer.
Joe Mauer, in case you are living under a rock, is the current catcher for the Minnesota Twins. He’s been in the majors since 2004. Despite playing [...]

The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 33rd highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Dave Boswell.
Dave Boswell pitched in the major leagues as a teenager and had a promising career, but he was out of the majors before the age of 27.

The TOP 40 VORP here at SBG continues with the 34th highest VORP total for a Twins player, Steve Braun.
Steve Braun played for the Twins for six seasons, from 1971 to 1976. He accumulated a total of 107.3 VORP with the Twins. He was Michael Cuddyer before Michael Cuddyer.

6’2 208 LBS. Batted Right and Threw Left. Born 1942.
Member of the Twins from 1979-1981
VORP as a Twin: 102.2 Rank: 35th

Twins Record

Year
Ag
W
L
G
GS
CG
SHO
GF
SV
IP
H
R
ER
HR
BB
SO
HBP
WP
BFP
IBB
BK
ERA
lgERA
ERA+
WHIP
VORP

1979
36
20
13
37
36
10
2
0
0
263.7
268
108
99
19
83
157
3
2
1101
4
1
3.38
4.4
130
1.331
64.6

1980
37
16
13
38
34
8
0
2
2
243.3
252
119
109
24
69
149
5
2
1022
5
1
4.03
4.37
108
1.319
33.8

1981
38
3
9
19
13
2
1
5
5
94.3
98
49
44
8
34
55
0
1
404
7
1
4.20
3.96
94
1.399
3.8

Twins
39
35
94
83
20
3
7
7
601.3
618
276
252
51
186
361
8
5
2527
16
3
3.77

1.337
102.2

Career
222
209
612
527
140
33
43
17
3839.3
3635
1608
1433
290
1198
2556
71
89
15996
121
29
3.36
3.71
110
1.259

Jerry Koosman was traded from the New York Mets for Greg Field and a player to be named later after 14 seasons in the Met organization. Koosman paid immediate dividends in 1979, winning [...]

6’2 208 LBS. Batted Right and Threw Right. Born 1967.
Member of the Twins from 1992-1999, 2002
VORP as a Twin: 101.3 Rank: 36th

Twins Record

Year
Age
W
L
G
GS
CG
GF
SV
IP
H
R
ER
HR
BB
SO
HBP
WP
BFP
IBB
BK
ERA
lgERA
ERA+
WHIP
VORP

1992
25
3
2
10
7
0
0
0
46.3
43
20
17
5
17
38
1
0
194
0
0
3.3
4.07
123
1.295
7.4

1993
26
6
6
44
10
0
8
2
114.3
131
72
62
15
41
85
3
5
506
4
0
4.88
4.42
91
1.504
2

1994
27
2
0
24
0
0
8
0
48.3
56
36
34
10
18
32
3
3
219
2
0
6.33
4.85
77
1.531
0.2

1995
28
4
8
20
18
0
0
0
97.7
107
68
61
18
42
68
3
4
442
1
0
5.62
4.72
84
1.526
1.2

1996
29
5
1
43
0
0
19
6
68.7
61
24
23
2
25
57
5
4
292
8
0
3.01
5.15
171
1.252
29.3

1997
30
2
3
67
0
0
21
1
82.3
77
43
40
7
31
74
2
5
349
4
0
4.37
4.66
107
1.312
14.1

1998
31
6
5
77
1
0
17
1
96.7
90
41
39
16
41
89
5
6
413
3
1
3.63
4.7
129
1.355
26.3

1999
32
2
8
75
0
0
56
24
87.3
93
42
42
15
28
82
2
6
377
2
0
4.33
5.07
117
1.385
24.6

2002
35
0
1
5
0
0
3
0
4
10
7
7
2
1
3
0
0
23
0
0
15.75
4.42
28
2.75
-3.8

Twins Totals
30
34
365
36
0
132
34
645.7
668
353
325
90
244
528
24
33
2815
24
1
4.53

1.412
101.3

Career
37
47
509
36
0
195
44
795.7
800
427
396
114
319
672
30
42
3471
37
1
4.48
4.66
104
1.406

Mike Trombley was drafted in the 14th round of the 1989 draft out of Duke University. He started at low A Kenosha in 1989 and moved up after just twelve appearance [...]

6’0 175 LBS. Batted Left and Threw Right. Born 1938.
Member of the Twins from 1963-1966
VORP as a Twin: 100.5 Rank: 37th
Record as a Twin

Year
Age
G
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
CS
BB
SO
BA
OBP
SLG
TB
SH
SF
IBB
HBP
GDP
VORP

1963
25
156
497
88
129
21
5
33
80
3
3
63
101
0.260
0.342
0.521
259
9
2
4
0
8
33.8

1964
26
149
510
61
144
20
3
25
75
5
2
44
112
0.282
0.338
0.480
245
2
5
3
1
10
31.5

1965
27
148
522
81
149
25
4
20
86
14
7
51
79
0.285
0.347
0.464
242
0
6
6
1
6
28.2

1966
28
120
356
52
85
7
4
20
47
1
2
33
66
0.239
0.302
0.449
160
0
2
5
0
14
7.0

Totals with Twins
573
1885
282
507
73
16
98
288
23
14
191
358
0.269
0.334
0.481
906
11
15
18
2
38
100.5

After Twins
390
963
105
217
27
8
23
103
15
4
96
171
0.225
0.294
0.342
329
1
5
17
0
18

Career
963
2848
387
724
100
24
121
391
38
18
287
529
0.254
0.320
0.434
1235
12
20
35
2
56

Jimmie Hall was signed by the Washington Senators in 1956. Hall was in the Army for a period of time, leaving the Army in 1962. Hall [...]

Geoff Zahn was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins from 1977-1980. At the end of the 2006 season, he was 38th in VORP in Twins history. He currently ranks 40th.

Matt Lawton was an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins from 1995-2001 and at the end of the 2006 season, he had the 39th highest VORP in Minnesota Twins history. He has since fallen out of the TOP 40.

Rich Rollins had the 40th highest VORP in Twins history at the end of the 2006 season. He has since fallen out of the TOP 40. This profile was written while he was still in the TOP 40.