Old friend alert: Where in the world are the former Twins?

We love old friends. Players who once spent time in Minnesota, whether it was the bulk of their career or a cup-of-coffee are always special. They are “one of us,” and once you join that club, its hard to get thrown out. We have a lot of old friends around baseball, some in the minors, some in foreign leagues, but many still in the big leagues. In fact, lets see how many are still playing in the majors, and where at.

Some simple rules apply. I went through all 29 other 40-man rosters and counted players that played for the Twins. For a player to be counted, he must have a MLB appearance with the Twins. That means guys like Nick Burdi and Dereck Rodriguez, who never made it to the majors, don’t count. Meanwhile, guys like Ronald Torreyes, who got a September cup-of-coffee do count. Its not fair, but thems the rules. I did go off memory, so I probably missed one or two. Here is the complete list of “old friends” playing around the league, as far as I can count it, sorted by their new homes.

AL EAST

BALTIMORE (2)

Kohl Stewart, Tommy Milone

BOSTON (3)

Martin Perez, Trevor Hildenberger, Juan Centeno

NEW YORK (3)

Aaron Hicks, David Hale, Zack Granite

TAMPA (5)

Oliver Drake, John Curtiss, Aaron Slegars, Chris Herrmann, Ryan LaMarre

TORONTO (0)

none

AL CENTRAL

CHICAGO (1)

Adalberto Mejia

CLEVELAND (0)

none

DETROIT (4)

C.J. Cron, Niko Goodrum, Johnathan Schoop, Hector Santiago

KANSAS CITY (1)

Randy Rosario

AL WEST

HOUSTON (1)

Ryan Pressly

LOS ANGELES (1)

Jason Castro

OAKLAND (2)

Liam Hendricks, Robbie Grossman

SEATTLE (1)

Matt Magill

TEXAS (3)

Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Danny Santana

NL EAST

ATLANTA (1)

Shane Robinson

MIAMI (1)

Brandon Kintzler

NEW YORK (4)

Stephen Gonsalves, Wilson Ramos, Rene Rivera, Eduardo Nunez

PHILADELPHIA (5)

Francisco Liriano, Blake Parker, Anthony Swarzak, Logan Forsythe, Ronald Torreyes

WASHINGTON (3)

Ryne Harper, Kurt Suzuki, Fernando Abad

NL CENTRAL

CHICAGO (0)

none

Cincinnati (0)

none

MILWAUKEE (2)

Mike Morin, Logan Morrison

PITTSBURGH (2)

Nik Turley, John Ryan Murphy

ST. LOUIS (0)

none

NL WEST

ARIZONA (1)

Eduardo Escobar

COLORADO (2)

Tim Melville, Drew Butera

LOS ANGELES (1)

Brusdar Graterol

SAN DIEGO (1)

Brian Dozier

SAN FRANCISCO (0)

none

So, which team has the most old friends? My guess would have been someone like Arizona or Texas, where it feels like a ton of our guys end up. That isn’t the case, but at least there are a few playing in Arlington. The actual teams with the most old friends are the Tampa Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies, with five each. There are actually six teams with no former Twins on their 40-man roster this spring. There are a total of 50—almost enough to field two entire baseball teams.

Which of these old friends would you want back? Which do you think is most valuable, and who is most expendable? Who did I inevitably miss? Let us know!