Minnesota Twins: The 40 Best Players In Team History (No. 1-5)

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Apr 11, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins hall of fame player Rod Carew (center) holds out a ceremonial first pitch brought to him by former teammate Tony Oliva that he threw to first baseman Joe Mauer (7) before the game between the Twins and the Chicago White Sox at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports /

Wins Above Replacement has become a powerful stat to measure the value of a player. Here are the all-time best Minnesota Twins based on WAR (numbers 1-5).

The Minnesota Twins have had some good players in their history. From Hall of Famers to fan favorites, there are plenty of big names that have come through to play in the Twins Cities. In an effort to figure out who is the best Twins player of all-time, we have taken a look at the Twins career leaders in Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

WAR is a sabermetric tool to help determine the overall value of a baseball player. It is a way to calculate a player’s total contribution to the team, which shows how truly valuable they are. Position player WAR is complex to calculate, as is pitching WAR.

Without all of the calculations, the concept is fairly simple. Position player WAR is meant to show how many more games the team wins with that certain player in the lineup instead of his replacement. The same concept roles into pitching. It is meant to reflect how many more wins that pitcher is responsible for during innings they pitch compared to someone else.

With that said, the 40 players on this list have the best WAR numbers during their Twins careers. Only their WAR during their time with the Twins is included. So that means there is no David Ortiz, Carlos Gomez or anyone else that had more success elsewhere. This list is strictly who was the best in a Twins uniform.

The greatest five of all-time starts with a Twins pitching and broadcasting legend.

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