Minnesota Twins: best starting pitching staff in team history

The Minnesota Twins have had excellent pitching over the team history,
but which starting pitching staff was the best?

As the Minnesota Twins plan to make a splash to bring in likely multiple starting pitchers over the offseason to add to some exciting young arms that are either up in the majors already or within a year or arriving, it’s a fun thing to look at some of the best staffs in Minnesota Twins history.

A discussion about the end of the Minnesota Twins run in the 1960s in a Daily Dip post earlier this week mentioned the elite arms in the 1970 staff. That led to a Twitter question about which Twins starting staff was the best in team history. Of course, questions like that often lead into excellent Baseball Reference rabbit hole!

This is the result of that rabbit hole, so first of all, thank you to Matt Johnson, @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter for this suggestion!

1970 staff – Jim Perry, Jim Kaat, Bert Blyleven, Luis Tiant, Dave Boswell

The careers of the top four in this rotation is what sparked the interest. You have a teenage future Hall of Famer in Blyleven, who threw 164 innings on the season with a quality rookie season, but he didn’t really have a chance for Rookie of the Year with Thurman Munson‘s excellent season for the Yankees, nearly getting a unanimous ballot.

The staff had two guys who are near Hall of Famers in Jim Kaat and Luis Tiant. Tiant only threw 92 2/3 innings on the season, but Kaat and Jim Perry combined to throw 509 innings between the two of them.

The reason that this staff is mentioned first and not on the list is not just because they were the inspiration to doing this list, but also because while the overall pitching numbers for the 1970 staff were amazing, much of that was from an exceptional bullpen, with four bullpen members throwing 110+ innings, with three posting an ERA of 2.55 or lower.

Among the primary starters, none had an ERA under 3 with two of the primary relievers also making double digit starts on the season as well, so the starting staff itself wasn’t the focus of the success of the seasn’s pitching success, as great as the names in that front four were.

So, which rotations did make the top 5? Let’s start out with one that actually replaced one of its previous season’s biggest pieces and simply got better

5. 1991 staff – Jack Morris, Kevin Tapani, Scott Erickson, Alan Anderson, David West

While the 1991 team won the World Series in arguably the greatest World Series that’s been played, the pitching staff as a whole really was a cast of guys who had average to even poor seasons on the mound. The ace of game 7, Morris, was the third starter by a significant amount in regular season results, and outside of the top 3, the rotation really struggled.

As far as the comparisons to other great staffs, the 1991 staff is tied with the 1992 staff and 1965 staff with an exactly league average opponents’ OPS allowed by the starting staff, as each of the 3 teams had an exactly 100 OPS+ allowed. However, the 1991 staff sets apart due to the front three being much better than league average and pulling up the rest, whereas both of those squads were more of an average team all around. In fact, the front 3 produced the third-most bWAR of any front 3 in Twins pitching staff history.

Leading that staff in the regular season (and the 1991 team’s regular season bWAR leader) was Kevin Tapani. The 27 year-old was one of three pitchers from the 1989 trade of Frank Viola that played key roles in the 1991 team with closer Rick Aguilera and West being the other two. Tapani went 16-9 on the season with a team-leading 2.99 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Tapani was never a strikeout master, but he really kept guys off base to keep damage limited, throwing 244 innings with a 40/135 BB/K ratio.

Morris was the veteran that was brought in. Though Twins fans remember fondly his performance in game 7, his 1991 season was really the third-best among the starters in that season, as he threw 246 2/3 innings with an 18-12 record, a 3.43 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 92/163 BB/K ratio.

Erickson was the revelation on the season. He won 20 games, going 20-8, tossing 204 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and a 71/108 BB/K ratio. His high walk rate would come to bite the team in the playoffs, but he spun excellent starts all season long, leading the team in shutouts with three.

Lefties Alan Anderson and David West rounded out the final two spots in the rotation, though lefty Mark Guthrie also made 12 starts on the season. Paul Abbott, Tom Edens, Denny Neagle, and Willie Banks also made starts on the season.

The starting staff combined for a 3.77 ERA and 1.31 WHIP, striking out 5.2 per 9 innings.

4. 1966 staff – Jim Kaat, Mudcat Grant, Jim Perry, Dave Boswell, Jim Merritt, Camilo Pascual

While the staff that got the team to the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers was excellent, the 1966 team was just a tick better overall. The 1966 staff finished tied with the 1972 staff for the best overall opponents’ OPS+, tallying an 87 OPS+ allowed by the starting staff in the 1966 season, as the entire staff racked up the second-most innings of any starting staff in team history.

The 1966 staff was led by a pair that is still popular around the team today, as Jim Kaat and Mudcat Grant combined to hurl 553 2/3 innings between them, striking out 315 combined hitters. Kaat threw 304 2/3 innings with a 2.75 ERA and 205 strikeouts and 19 complete games. Grant threw 249 innings with a 3.25 ERA and 110 strikeouts.

Perry led the staff in ERA with a 2.54 in 184 1/3 innings, while Dave Boswell made an impressive showing at 21 years old, striking out 173 over 169 1/3 innings, and 1966 was one of his best seasons as far as control as he walked 65.

When veteran Camilo Pascual struggled to open the season to the tune of a 4.89 ERA on the season, 22 year-old Jim Merritt moved from the bullpen to the rotation, and he put up excellent numbers through the rest of the season.

While the 1966 staff was solid, the bullpen was certainly top heavy. Al Worthington and Pete Cimino threw 156 innings between them, striking out 160 between them. They were the only two bullpen members with an ERA under 3, however.

3. 2004 staff – Johan Santana, Brad Radke, Carlos Silva, Kyle Lohse,
Terry Mulholland, Seth Greisinger

The mid-2000s Twins had two key cogs that really led to them being an elite overall staff in that era, Johan Santana and Brad Radke. While Santana was an elite starter, Radke was a consistent arm that would take the ball every fifth day and gave the Twins above-average 200 innings 9 of his 12 seasons with the team.

The 2004 staff had the best numbers of any of that era’s staffs, though much of that has to do with the incredible season that ace Santana had. He went 20-6 over 34 starts, throwing 228 innings with a 2.61 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 54/265 BB/K ratio.

Radke was the only other starter under a 3.5 ERA, though Silva and Lohse did combine for 397 innings, so the front 4 gave excellent innings for the team. It’s also notable to remember that this was in the peak of the offensive era of the late-90s and early-2000s, so the starters had an opponents’ OPS+ of 93, one of the best over the history of the franchise, so compared to other pitching staffs in the leagues, they were quite a bit ahead of league average.

Overall the staff had a 4.08 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, and a 2.92 K/BB as a staff. The front three of Santana, Radke, and Silva was the top producer among top 3’s in franchise history with 18.3 bWAR combined, though that leaned heavily on Santana’s 8.6 bWAR.

Interestingly, the 2004 staff was led by a threesome in the bullpen as well, as closer Joe Nathan was one of the elite in the entire game, with 44 saves, a 1.62 ERA, and 89 strikeouts over 72 1/3 innings, leading the pen. Juan Rincon and J.C. Romero were the primary setup men. Rincon and Romero combined for 18 wins, over 150 innings, striking out 175 hitters.

1. 1967 staff – Dean Chance, Jim Kaat, Jim Merritt, Dave Boswell, Mudcat Grant

The 1967 staff is incredibly unique in a few aspects. One major one – outside of the 5 primary starters and 5 primary relievers, only 3 1/3 innings were thrown by 2 pitchers on the entire season. That amount of health of a team’s primary opening day pitching staff is incredible as is the consistency of performance for that level of players to remain the same guys from opening day.

From essentially the moment they arrived in Minnesota until the 1972 team mentioned here, the team overall had better than league-average pitching, and in fact, some of the best in the entire game for roughly an 8-year stretch from about 1963-1970. While there are some elite staffs in that time, the 1967 team ranks as the best in a fairly runaway fashion.

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The 1967 team has the most innings thrown by starters of any team since the team moved to Minnesota, yet also put up some of the best ratio statistics, with the best K/9 of any staff in team history, with a K/9 of 7.0 and a K/BB of 3.06. Among staffs considered for this article, only the 2005 Twins had a better K/BB ratio.

Beyond the excellence of the entire depth of the staff, the front three of the 1967 staff ranks among the best in team history, with the best ERA (2.78) of any front 3 in team history, the best K/9 (6.9), and the 2nd best K/BB and bWAR of a front 3 in team history.

That front three was all in their 20s, with Jim Kaat being the elder of the group at 28 years old. He made 42 appearances with 38 starts, throwing 263 1/3 innings as he completed 13 of his starts with a sparkling 42/211 BB/K ratio, a 3.04 ERA, and a 1.18 WHIP.

Dean Chance had been acquired the previous offseason, and he was near-dominant in his first season in a Twins uniform, making 41 appearances, 39 of them starts, completing 18 of them, and throwing 283 2/3 innings. He posted a 2.73 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 68/220 BB/K ratio.

Lefty Jim Merritt was the surprise on the season, making 37 appearances, starting 28 games, completing 11, and throwing 227 2/3 innings. He led the rotation with a 2.53 ERA, 0.993 WHIP, and he posted a 30/161 BB/K ratio.

Dave Boswell rounded out a strong foursome at the top of the rotation, throwing 222 2/3 innings, with a 3.27 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, striking out 204, but also walking 107. Mudcat Grant was the team’s 5th starter, only throwing 95 1/3 innings in what would be his final season with the team.

The 1967 team was buoyed by an elite bullpen, with closer Al Worthington and Jim Perry working as swing man as the primary two bullpen arms used, racking up 222 2/3 innings between them.

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The other staffs considered were pretty much every one from the 1960s through the 1972 staff, the 1992 staff, and the 2004-2006 staffs.

What do you think of the order? Any ones you would have changed? Comment below!!