Biggest suprise this season

[harvey lee]

I was thinking the other day who was the biggest suprise for the Twins player who excelled this season.

Maybe

Valencia-has done a great job offensivly and defensivly since coming up. Its been a while since we had a very good 3rd baseman.

Young- Delmon has had a great bat this season.

Larino- Didn't pitch just to bad after a surgery that could have ended his career.

Kubel- also a preety solid bat.

My pick-Valencia.

[paceman]

I agree Harvey - Valencia is really surprising me. I will also give Rausch a nodd. IMO he did a great job as the closer the first half of the season...

[Twins23]

100% agree with you both. I could not agree more, Valencia has done a great job at the plate, and in the field. Delmon's bat has greatly improved from last year but he still is a little sketchy in the field. Liriano has done great handling batters this year and I think is the best pitcher on this team as of this moment.

[greebs]

#1 - Valenica in a landslide. He goes from apparently not even good enough to beat out punto, tolbert, and harris to our everyday 3b and as of today, I believe he has the highest batting avg. on the team. Serious rookie of the year candidate if he's able to meet minimum amount of at bats or whatever their criteria is.

#2 - Crain. He's gone from one of the most critiqued players on the team to their most reliable reliever.

#3 - Liriano. He's not consistent but has come a long ways from last year.

#4 - Delmon. Overall hitting stats higher than I think anybody really expected him to achieve. Always had the potential but having a very nice season at the plate. Defense of course is very shaky.

#5 - Pavano. Think that most expected decent numbers but few expected him to do as well as he's done.

#6 - Butera. Only from the fact that it's somewhat surprising that he's not in the minors. Very solid defensively; however, it's time to not automatically pair him up with Pavano every time and get ready for (hopefully) the playoffs where young Drew should not need to see any playing time.

[Jarrod32]

On the short list that was presented, I'll probably vote for Valencia. But in five minor league seasons, he has a combined .298 average, so not a complete surprise. He also projects at some point to hit mid-teens in home runs per year. Might be a couple years, though...he is only 25.

I'm gonna vehemently disagree with Delmon being on this list. The guy hit .288, .290, and .284 in his last/first three full seasons in the major leagues. He was 24 years old coming into this season (he will turn 25 in a couple weeks).

What Delmon is doing this year was completely and entirely predictable, and even completely and entirely expected. Anyone who thought he was a 'bust' coming into this season is either foolish or impatient. No player under the age of 26 can ever be considered a 'bust'.

[SledNeck]

Danny V!

ROY in my opinion

[zepman]

Valentia...no doubt!! Kid is going to be a stud!!

[Canon Guy]

I agree with you Harvey.

I'll also throw in my most disappointing player. For me it's Denard Span hands down.

[Twins23]

agreed

[zamboni]

Valencia by far.

Duensing is $$$$$$$ as well

[mnwild]

Valencia is my choice, now we have a bat at 3b for a couple of years and hopefully with that Punto will get the boot.

[CodyDawg]

What is cool is that we can have this debate. I bet it is a very short thread on a Cleveland Indian or KC Royals board, eh?

Valencia is the biggest surprise. The reason is that he came out of nowhere.

[PierBridge]

So far Danny V and his defense in particular. Also if you watch him in Batting Practice like I have a few times he's got some serious power and may be 20-30 guy some day.

Pavano WAS a big surprise to me early. I didn't think he was going to be that good he's come back to earth recently but he's still quite good.

Just to nitpick a little Kubel wouldn't be on my list especially after last years career year!

[soldoncass]

Valentia and Young tied for biggest surprises. V...nobody really expected him to contribute before Sept. call-ups. Young actually came into spring training looking like he wanted to work /play this year.....first time he showed any ambition. Those are the GOOD surprises.....the Bad would be Span's offense is down a little, and ALL THE INJURIES we have had.....AND we have enough depth to overcome them (so far).

[Big Tom]

I would add Billy Smith's performance and the free agent signingings and trades to the surprise list. Granted the new revenue stream from Target field allowed it but Billy Smith changed my opinion of him this year.

He went from picking up castoffs on the way down to a saavy evaluater of free agent talent. Thome, Hardy and Hudson have performed well. Capps and Fuentes haven't panned out yet but I'm happy we have them with Nathan iffy for next year. Keeping Duensing may have been the best non-trade in the club's history. He's been better than Cliff Lee since the dealine.

Finally, the depth we have gives me confidence heading into the playoffs regardless of who we face.

[PierBridge]

The Twins have always ran the business side to perfection. By not caving into to the notion that some miracle signing that cost us young talent draft picks and money other wise known as the future may put us over the top "ha/ha Rangers and Lee" That in itself is why we are one of the BEST TEAMS in baseball AGAIN.

I think we did pick up some older fledgling cast-offs again this year like the past few and we got lucky most of them are producing.

My 2 cents!

[Nick Kuhn]

Valencia for sure. Remember last off season when there was a lot of talk about how we needed a 3rd Basemen? I'm sure there will be no such talk this off-season.

[mainbutter]

I'll be the lone voice here for a different guy. It's easy to say that you're impressed with valencia, because his performance has been DARN impressive!

My pick?

JASON REPKO!

Sure, he can't hit worth a darn, but for a guy who's career has been laden with injuries, he sure can rob opposing teams of RBIs, base hits, and extra bases better than any outfielder. I mean that literally, if I had to pick a #1 outfielder based on how they have performed this season defensively, it would be Repko. At first I thought he was going to be a space-filler in an injury-laden team, but he has really come through with a few great plays that won us games. A stolen RBI is *ALMOST* as good as one batted in!

[Big Tom]

The Twins have always ran the business side to perfection.

I think we did pick up some older fledgling cast-offs again this year like the past few and we got lucky most of them are producing.

Step away from the Kool-Aid

1. Tori Hunter not re-signed or more importantly not traded for anything??? Allowed to leave for compensation draft choices???

2. Johann Santana, one of the premier pitchers in baseball traded for what??? Pathetic.

You're saying Thome, Rauch, Hudson and Hardy are similar to Craig Monroe, Adam Everett, Sidney Ponson, Rondell White, Joe Crede etc. Look at the stats.

I see a huge difference this year in talent acquired and it's not just because these guys had good years. They weren't cast offs to begin with and it shows.

[Cicada]

FTD guy, you may be overmedicated from the same KoolAid. I don't remember the situation Rausch was in, but Thome had declining numbers for the last couple of years, Hardy was sent to the minors with his previous team, and Hudson wasn't starting for his last team when the Twins acquired him. It might be fair to say that they were in the same situations as the guys you mentioned. Luckily for Twins fans, the results are better this year. I guess I'm not as impressed with the Band-Aid brothers, Hudson and Hardy.

My suprise guy is Thome. His statistics were about what I expected unitl Morneau got hurt. At that time, he became a more regular player and really stepped up his game to where he is looking like the Thome of old.

I agree with PierBridge, we underestimate the front office of this team. There is a reason other teams in the league look to the business model the Twins practice.

I don't remember exactly what happened with Hunter. Seemed to me they wanted to have every opportunity to re-sign him and therefore did not trade him away. The Angels then threw out a huge contract that the Twins, at the time, couldn't, or to be fair, wouldn't match.

I agree that the Santana trade wasn't what it could have been. Getting into a pee-ing match over a player and settling on the Mets trade terms wasn't best, but at least they got something for him. Wasn';t Gomez supposed to be the next best centerfielder?

Those are two instances in recent history where the Twins got burned. Wait one guy out and get what you can for another. You must not remember the Twins of Calvin Griffith. The team ended up being the Triple-A team for the rest of the league. Geez, can you imagine if there had been an internet when Calvin ran the team?

[mainbutter]

My suprise guy is Thome. His statistics were about what I expected unitl Morneau got hurt. At that time, he became a more regular player and really stepped up his game to where he is looking like the Thome of old.

Every athlete wants to go out on a high note, they don't want to slowly age and deteriorate into uselessness. I think Thome saw his chance to really do something for this team and for himself with a more regular role in the DH position and has COMPLETELY capitalized on it!

He's motivated, and I'm sure eyeing 600 career home runs is no small part of it. He won't overtake A-Rod, but making it to the 600 club would be a huge accomplishment.

He is playing the game because he wants to, not for the money. The $1.5-$2.25 million is piddlywinks compared to when he was pulling in nearly $15 million a year. He's made his fortune and another couple million (especially after taxes) aren't going to add anything to his lifestyle at all. He wants to play, he wants to drive in runs, he wants to win, he wants a world series ring. Having a guy who is focused on those things can really turn up the whole team's goal-oriented motivation. I give Jimbo two big thumbs up for his performance this year.

I think Thome has been essential to our team this year and hopefully will keep things up this month and next

[soldoncass]

I vote THOME....again. Anyone want to "correct" your vote?

[SledNeck]

Blackburn's return. as of now, blackie is by far our best pitcher and absolutely lights out.