2005 Minnesota Twins season

Coming into the year, the 2005 Minnesota Twins were favored to go on and win their division. However, a weak offense and injuries (most notably to Torii Hunter) prevented this from coming to fruition. This led manager Ron Gardenhire to reshuffle his coaching staff following the season. The team finished sixteen games behind the World Champion Chicago White Sox. The Twins have never won four straight division titles in their 104-year franchise history.

2005 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record83–79 (.512)
Divisional place3rd
Other information
Owner(s)Carl Pohlad
General manager(s)Terry Ryan
Manager(s)Ron Gardenhire
Local televisionWFTC
FSN North
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Dan Gladden)
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Regular season

The Twins got off to an average start. However, the Chicago White Sox had a fantastic start to the season. The Twins tried to stay close in the standings, but their offense was insufficient. The Twins (83-79) finished in 3rd place behind the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The White Sox went on to earn the division title, their first trip to the playoffs since 2000, and their first World Series title since 1917.

Standings
AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9963 0.611 — 47–34 52–29
Cleveland Indians 9369 0.574 6 43–38 50–31
Minnesota Twins 8379 0.512 16 45–36 38–43
Detroit Tigers 7191 0.438 28 39–42 32–49
Kansas City Royals 56106 0.346 43 34–47 22–59

Record vs. opponents
2005 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Baltimore —8–102–61–63–54–22–43–37–114–67–312–64–69–108–10
Boston 10–8—4–34–26–44–26–44–29–106–43–313–67–27–1112–6
Chicago 6–23–4—14–514–513–54–611–73–32–76–34–23–64–212–6
Cleveland 6–12–45–14—12–613–63–510–93–46–37–34–63–34–215–3
Detroit 5–34–65–146–12—10–94–68–111–51–55–45–24–24–39–9
Kansas City 2–42–45–136–139–10—2–76–133–32–42–73–52–83–69–9
Los Angeles 4–24–66–45–36–47–2—6–46–410–99–94–515–41–512–6
Minnesota 3–32–47–119–1011–813–64–6—3–34–66–46–03–64–28–10
New York 11–710–93–34–35–13–34–63–3—7–27–38–117–312–611–7
Oakland 6–44–67–23–65–14–29–106–42–7—12–64–511–85–510–8
Seattle 3–73–33–63–74–57–29–94–63–76–12—4–26–134–610–8
Tampa Bay 6–126–132–46–42–55–35–40–611–85–42–4—6–28–113–15
Texas 6–42–76–33–32–48–24–156–33–78–1113–62–6—7–39–9
Toronto 10–911–72–42–43–46–35–12–46–125–56–411–83–7—8–10

Roster
2005 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Offense

Australian Glenn Williams came up for his cup of coffee and played in thirteen games from June 7 to June 28. He hit safely in every game, earning the Twins record for the longest hitting streak to start a career. When he was sent back down, he took with him 17 hits and a .425 batting average. He'd never return to the major leagues, but is working on an active 13-game hitting streak...

Joe Mauer led the team with a .294 batting average, Justin Morneau led the team in runs batted in with 79, but Mauer hit only 9 home runs and 55 RBI, while Morneau hit only .239.

These problems were endemic to the team. No starter batted over .300 or hit over 25 home runs; however, Matthew LeCroy managed to hit 17 home runs in part-time duty.

The team's offensive struggles led to an uncertain lineup, with many defensive positions lacking regular starters. The team experimented by bringing in Seattle Mariners infielder Bret Boone to fill the void at second base, but he lasted for only 53 at-bats, hitting .170. The weak hitting led to hitting coach Scott Ullger being reassigned to third base coach after the season was over.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
HRJacque Jones23
RBIJustin Morneau79
Avg.Joe Mauer.294
RunsJacque Jones74

Pitching

Twins pitchers performed well in 2005. The staff was led by All-Star Johan Santana (16-7, 2.87 ERA, 238 strikeouts) and All-Star closer Joe Nathan (43 saves, 2.70 ERA). However, the weak hitting prevented any other starter from winning ten games. (Jesse Crain, in a stellar year out of the bullpen, did go 12-5.) The anemic offense also may have cost Santana a second Cy Young Award, as he finished with only sixteen victories.

The top end of the rotation—Santana, Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse, and Carlos Silva—pitched well. Many bullpen pitchers had outstanding years, in particular Crain, Juan Rincón (2.45 ERA), J. C. Romero (3.47), and Matt Guerrier (3.39).

Silva in particular had what seemed to be a breakout year, walking only nine batters during the entire season to set a modern-era record (over 188.1 innings, a 0.43 rate). Silva induced 34 double plays to lead the majors, and won the May 20 game throwing just 74 pitches over nine innings. No pitcher has thrown as few pitches in a nine-inning win since 1957.

In early May, the pitching staff was shaken when Major League Baseball announced that Juan Rincón would be suspended for ten days for violating the sport's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Rincón pitched well both before and after this occurred.

Team Leaders
StatisticPlayerQuantity
ERAJohan Santana2.87
WinsJohan Santana16
SavesJoe Nathan43
StrikeoutsJohan Santana238

Defense

Like his predecessor Tom Kelly, Gardenhire emphasized baseball fundamentals like defense. Despite Hunter's injury, he still won a Gold Glove in center field. Joe Mauer established a reputation as an outstanding defensive catcher, with a .993 fielding percentage. Morneau, not known for his defense, surprised many with a .994 average at first. Luis Rivas was a solid defensive second baseman, but his offensive shortcomings became too much to bear, leading the team to experiment with Boone and Nick Punto at the position. In contrast to Rivas, Michael Cuddyer saw a majority of the time at third base. Jason Bartlett and Juan Castro split time at shortstop, with Castro being the superior defensive player. Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones both had .985 fielding percentages in the corner outfield positions. Lew Ford saw time at all three outfield positions.

Notable Transactions

Miscellaneous
Twins 40th Anniversary of 1965 World Series.

Other post-season awards
  • Calvin R. Griffith Award (Most Valuable Twin) – Johan Santana
  • Joseph W. Haynes Award (Twins Pitcher of the Year) – Johan Santana
  • Bill Boni Award (Twins Outstanding Rookie) – Jesse Crain
  • Charles O. Johnson Award (Most Improved Twin) – Carlos Silva
  • Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest Player of the Year) – Travis Hafner
  • Bob Allison Award (Leadership Award) – Mike Redmond
    • The above awards are voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA
  • Carl R. Pohlad Award (Outstanding Community Service) – Ron Gardenhire
  • Sherry Robertson Award (Twins Outstanding Farm System Position Player) – David Winfree
  • Jim Rantz Award (Twins Outstanding Farm System Pitcher) – Francisco Liriano

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Phil Roof and Rich Miller
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League Stan Cliburn
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Riccardo Ingram
A Beloit Snappers Midwest League Kevin Boles
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Ray Smith
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Nelson Prada

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elizabethton[3]

References

  1. "Bret Boone Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  2. Associated Press (July 10, 2005). "Twins 3, Royals 2, 12 innings". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  3. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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