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I simply think that you are giving too much credit to the winning teams of 2002-04. Outside of four or five players, they were team's full of role players that were able to play great together. What happened was pretty simple, they had good seasons with the Twins, got too expensive, and now most of them are out of the league or in role playing roles for non-contending teams.
The team in 2006 was actually talented, Mauer was the first overall pick and Cuddyer and Morneau were both top prospects in the league at one point. Castillo is a veteran and better hitter than any Twins infielder from 2002-2004. Then Nathan, Santana, Liriano are among the top pitchers in the league, while Radke and the bullpen are all great as well. They came together and won faster than expected.
As for 2005, I would hardly call that running a team into the ground (even though you were clearly being sarcastic to an extent). First of all, the team finished above 500, second of all one of the team's that finished ahead of them won the World Series. With all of the young players on that team, that was not a bad season.
A lot of Minnesotans dislike Gardy, really I can't understand it. I mean maybe after Rivas and Guzman never really improved, and then the disappointing finish to 2005, but I think 2006 showed that he is not a bad manager.
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