Kelly, Gardenhire and 30-start pitchers

Following up on Wednesday's post ... not that I expect to draw any real conclusions from this, but just to get the facts organized.

The Twins have, as we all know, had just two managers and two pitching coaches since 1986, when Tom Kelly inherited the managerial job from Ray Miller. The manager and coach have been a tandem: Kelly had Dick Such, Gardenhire has Rick Anderson.

Let's go year by year through the Twins during this period and chart the full-time starters using Joe Posnanski's 30-starts-a-season standard:

1986 (mostly Miller with Such): Frank Viola 37, Bert Blyleven 36, Mike Smithson 33
1987 (first full year of Kelly/Such): Blyleven 37, Viola 36
1988: Viola 35, Blyleven 33, Allan Anderson 30
1989: Anderson 33
1990: Anderson 31
1991: Jack Morris 35, Kevin Tapani 34, Scott Erickson 32
1992: John Smiley 34, Tapani 34, Erickson 32
1993: Tapani 35, Erickson 34, Willie Banks 30
1994: Nobody. Strike wiped out about a third of games. Jim DeShaies tied for the league lead in starts with 25.
1995: Nobody. Brad Radke led team with 28. Season shortened to 144 games.
1996: Radke 35, Frankie Rodriguez 33, Rich Robertson 31
1997: Radke 35
1998: LaTroy Hawkins 33, Radke 32, Eric Milton 32
1999: Milton 34, Radke 33, Hawkins 33
2000: Radke 34, Milton 33
2001: Joe Mays 34, Milton 34, Radke 33

End of Kelly/Such. They supervised 34 pitcher years of 30-plus starts from 15 different pitchers in 13 full seasons. Had 18 games not been lopped off the '95 schedule, Radke probably gets to 30. Even so, Radke has the most 30-plus start seasons, six; Milton is next with four.

2002: Rick Reed 32, Kyle Lohse 31
2003: Radke 33, Lohse 33, Kenny Rogers 31
2004: Johan Santana 34, Radke 34, Lohse 34, Carlos Silva 33
2005: Santana 33, Radke 31, Lohse 30
2006: Santana 34, Silva 31
2007: Santana 33, Silva 33, Boof Bonser 30
2008: Nick Blackburn 33
2009: Blackburn 33, Scott Baker 33
2010: Carl Pavano 32, Francisco Liriano 31
2011: Pavano 33
2012: Nobody. Scott Diamond led team with 27.
2013: Kevin Correia 31

Through 12 full seasons, Gardenhire and Anderson have supervised 24 30-start seasons from 12 different ptichers, four from Santana and Lohse, three each from Radke (giving him nine in all) and Silva. (I'm a little surprised Lohse and Silva had that many, frankly.)

One thing I note is the decline in peaks. Kelly's pitchers had seven seasons of 35 or more starts; Gardenhire has yet to have one. Kelly was clearly more willing to skip the fifth starter and get an extra start from the top of the rotation, which probably helps account for averaging more 30-start pitchers per year as well.

I also note the failure of the young guns of the post-Santana-Radke era to live up even to the Lohse-Silva standard. Bonser had one 30-start season, Blackburn two, Baker one, Lirano one, Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins zip ... these were the guys the Twins turned the rotation over to about eight or seven years ago, and they couldn't stay healthy and/or effective enough.