Most positive, negative surprises

[Linus]

Each season is an uncertain story with lots of surprises. So I would like to hear what people think are the biggest positive and negative surprises so far this year.

 

On the positive side I will start with honorable mention for Pelfrey and Rosario but my choice is Trevor May. For a guy who couldn't throw it over last year he is having a great season.

 

On the flip side, a surprising number of choices given the Twins good season to date. Honorable mention goes to both Santanas,Vargas, Mauer and Suzuki. However my winner (loser) is Oswaldo Arcia. The Twins need left handed power in the worst way and he has done nothing. Pretty much terrible on both sides of the ball.

 

Who are your choices?

[Otto von Ballpark]

Positive surprise, I think it's a group award for the starting staff, with a special emphasis on Pelfrey thanks to his peripherals.

 

Negative surprise is harder, because a few guys were serious regression candidates so they aren't really surprises.  That said, Danny Santana was pretty awful with the bat, so he gets my on-field choice, with Ervin Santana's suspension as my off-field choice.

 

Arcia has been disappointing, no doubt, but we knew he'd be bad on defense and he was injured for awhile (same as 2014), and his offense while healthy was pretty much as expected too.  It would be nice to have him back and contributing at that level again, but frankly, given what we know about his total contributions, I am not sure it's that big of a deal.

 

[twinsnorth49]

Big Pelf is the most surprising positive for me and without a doubt E. Santana is the biggest negative. This team could be a pair up or more on the Royals with him in the lineup.

[USAFChief]

Pelf on the positive side, along with honorable mention to the entire rotation.

 

Mauer on the negative. Easily, for my money.  

[Steve Lein]

The starting rotation as a whole is the positive. Pelfrey has been good, May has taken a huge step forward.

 

Phil Hughes and Joe Mauer would be my negatives. Hughes isn't a disaster and has been turning it around, but has been nothing close to what he accomplished last season to this point. As for Mauer, as long as he is not hitting near .300 with a high on-base percentage, he's a disappointment to me. That's his set of skills that has allowed him to be so valuable in the past. He's basically been replacement level, or at least definitely below average, at 1B for the Twins this season on the whole.

[gunnarthor]

I think the biggest positive is that the negatives seem to outweigh the positives and yet they have a winning record.  Nolasco, Santana, Santana, Vargas, Mauer, Arcia have all greatly underperformed hopes/expectations.  Suzuki and Escobar have come back to Earth.  Hughes is having a good season but not a great one.  Meyer was demoted to the bullpen.  Hicks failed again.  Buxton to the DL.

 

Pelfrey has really performed better than expected but I thought May, Hunter, Perkins, Gibson, Plouffe and Dozier would be solid. No real surprises in those names.  Milone has been better but not significantly so.  He is what he is.

[jimmer]

Most positive is our record so far. Honorable mention, lots of rookies being promoted.

 

Negative was Mauer's poor start.

[Linus]

I think the biggest positive is that the negatives seem to outweigh the positives and yet they have a winning record. Nolasco, Santana, Santana, Vargas, Mauer, Arcia have all greatly underperformed hopes/expectations. Suzuki and Escobar have come back to Earth. Hughes is having a good season but not a great one. Meyer was demoted to the bullpen. Hicks failed again. Buxton to the DL.

 

Pelfrey has really performed better than expected but I thought May, Hunter, Perkins, Gibson, Plouffe and Dozier would be solid. No real surprises in those names. Milone has been better but not significantly so. He is what he is.

Ooh I forgot about Nolasco. He's been so meaningless he slipped off my radar.

[TheLeviathan]

Positives:  1.  Nice steps forward by May and Gibson  2. Aggressive prospect promotion  3. Eddie Rosario

 

Negatives:  1.  Mauer  2.  The Bullpen after Perkins  3.  Regression from Santana, Suzuki, Vargas, Arcia, and Hughes.  (It was bound to happen to some, but all of the biggest risks seemed to have gone the wrong way)  4.  Hicks isn't a starting CF 

[Mike Sixel]

Positive surprises:

Record, Pelfrey

 

Most positive not surprises:

Plouffe, Dozier

 

Negative surprises:

Mauer, Santana the pitcher, Buxton getting hurt again, Arcia being this bad....

 

Not listing the other negatives.....

[RealTwinsFan357]

My biggest positive has to be Dozier (although not unexpected) or Pelfrey...on the negative side, I'm torn between Mauer and Arcia-I really thought Mauer would bounce back this year and Arcia would break out (maybe even hit .270 with 25-30 HR)

[jimmer]

Mauer is starting to turn it on.  .837 OPS in the last two weeks, .954 OPS in last week. And he went 2-4 today.  

 

He's also batting .400/.517/.523 with RISP and .346/.451/.467 with men on base.

 

Yes, he's been disappointing, but not in all aspects and not recently.

[Halsey Hall]

Positives:  I'm not surprised, but pleased with Pelfrey and Roserio. Negative is not getting rid of Poof.

[Craig Arko]

Pleasant surprise, just that they have hung tough for this long.

 

Disappointment, that Arcia did not (yet) take the next step forward.

[spinowner]

 

I think the biggest positive is that the negatives seem to outweigh the positives and yet they have a winning record.  Nolasco, Santana, Santana, Vargas, Mauer, Arcia have all greatly underperformed hopes/expectations.  Suzuki and Escobar have come back to Earth.  Hughes is having a good season but not a great one.  Meyer was demoted to the bullpen.  Hicks failed again.  Buxton to the DL.

 

Pelfrey has really performed better than expected but I thought May, Hunter, Perkins, Gibson, Plouffe and Dozier would be solid. No real surprises in those names.  Milone has been better but not significantly so.  He is what he is.

I do not agree that Hicks has failed again.

[TheLeviathan]

I do not agree that Hicks has failed again.

He has, his bat is still a mess.

[brvama]

While there've been several surprises, for me the biggest positive surprise is the starting pitching, specifically Pelfrey. While May and Gibson have been very good, I thought they would be better but they've still have exceeded my expectations.

 

The negative surprise has to be Ervin Santana's suspension. That came completely out of the blue and definitely started the season on a very bad note. Expectation was that he would help improve the rotation. Ironically, his suspension has resulted in a positive surprise.

[Old Twins Cap]

Biggest surprise:  The Twins have a winning record, without anyone compiling a career year, though Dozier is having a strong campaign and should/would be the first half MVP.

 

Starting pitching has been pretty good, likely above average in AL, and they have had just enough to keep Twins in games.  No one, again, really stands out, but Gibson has been solid and Pelfrey borderline excellent given how awful he was as recent as last couple years.

 

On the bad side:  Arcia, Suzuki, Herman, Santana, Mauer. 

 

Gotta say it:  Arcia's body language, even when doing well, is terrible.  Leads with his ego, and when he fails, just caves like a beaten man.  Can't have that in MLB.  Trade him, once he wins some value back, Twins running a surplus in the OF.

 

Suzuki, not up to par offensively for a regular MLB catcher, and only average defensively, at best.

 

Herman, not up to par for a backup.  No signs he will improve.

 

Santana (SS) not looking great on defense and has a loopy swing and chases balls out of zone.  Could be a player though and has value.

 

Mauer, well, the decline is on.  How far does he slide this year?  No where to put him once others surpass his performance.  Will be an Achilles hill until Twins own up to a mistake in signing him for such a deal.

 

Never had less fun following a team on such an uptick.  Still, Rosario, Buxton, Gibson, May, Vargas -- there's real potential playing every day and contributing.  Took four full years, but the rebuild is finally on.

[Rosterman]

Negative first. Last year, the Twins held a pretty decent offense for a last place team. Sure, they failed to advance runners or have the clutch hitting, things which they have done more so this year. Expected this area to be a plus. It is, because theya re getting those runenrs advanced and home somehow, considering the lack of base-running skills, lots of strikeouts, not reallly drawing walks. Go figure.

 

The plus: The rotation. Thought the Twins might have a chance to be a .500 team if their starters would consistently pitch into the sixth inning. They have done that and more. No one starter is running way with a great won-loss percentage except for Nolasco (go figure) and we stil sit on the edge of our seat for every game as the Twins have no guy who has a good chance of stopping cold a losing streak (will Santana be that guy, or is Hughes on a turnabout).

 

Negative: The young guys. Santana and Vargas shined. We hoped Arcia would improve. Arcia did kinda improve, bt there seems to be some adjustments which he is getting tomkae at AAA. Wondering if Vargas needs more of the same. Hicks ahs improved, but not that much. Santana has to play shortstop. Wonder if we switched him to center again for two weeks and see if that is where he wants to play (and thus causing a longjam). We have yet to see Pinto again. Rosario has been a pleasant surprise. Gibson and May are showing that they will be anchors in the middle of the rotation for the next few years.

 

Negative: Bullpen. We go almost a week without getting Perkins in a game. Names like Boyer and Thompson get heavy use. Fien is solid, and lackluster arms of Pressly and Graham are doing their best. But we have ahd some real clinkers and it is scary when the call goes to the bullpen. So manya rms to choose from, but so little faith!

 

Management: Whatever we do when we sit in our armchairs and rpetend to know how to general manage a team, one realizes that it is a tough job. Kudos to Terry Ryan. He is still old school, but there does seem to be a plan. Paul Molitor seems to be doing a solid job as being a manager. Working his butt off to run a professional team. And his crew seems to be dojg their homewrok and trying to work with the players as mucha s possible. They must be doing something right as no one expected the Twins to be above .500 at mid-season.

[Patrick Midthun]

Positive: Pelfrey

Negative: Mauer

[Jham]

 

Negative first. Last year, the Twins held a pretty decent offense for a last place team. Sure, they failed to advance runners or have the clutch hitting, things which they have done more so this year. Expected this area to be a plus. It is, because theya re getting those runenrs advanced and home somehow, considering the lack of base-running skills, lots of strikeouts, not reallly drawing walks. Go figure.

 

The plus: The rotation. Thought the Twins might have a chance to be a .500 team if their starters would consistently pitch into the sixth inning. They have done that and more. No one starter is running way with a great won-loss percentage except for Nolasco (go figure) and we stil sit on the edge of our seat for every game as the Twins have no guy who has a good chance of stopping cold a losing streak (will Santana be that guy, or is Hughes on a turnabout).

 

Negative: The young guys. Santana and Vargas shined. We hoped Arcia would improve. Arcia did kinda improve, bt there seems to be some adjustments which he is getting tomkae at AAA. Wondering if Vargas needs more of the same. Hicks ahs improved, but not that much. Santana has to play shortstop. Wonder if we switched him to center again for two weeks and see if that is where he wants to play (and thus causing a longjam). We have yet to see Pinto again. Rosario has been a pleasant surprise. Gibson and May are showing that they will be anchors in the middle of the rotation for the next few years.

 

Negative: Bullpen. We go almost a week without getting Perkins in a game. Names like Boyer and Thompson get heavy use. Fien is solid, and lackluster arms of Pressly and Graham are doing their best. But we have ahd some real clinkers and it is scary when the call goes to the bullpen. So manya rms to choose from, but so little faith!

 

Management: Whatever we do when we sit in our armchairs and rpetend to know how to general manage a team, one realizes that it is a tough job. Kudos to Terry Ryan. He is still old school, but there does seem to be a plan. Paul Molitor seems to be doing a solid job as being a manager. Working his butt off to run a professional team. And his crew seems to be dojg their homewrok and trying to work with the players as mucha s possible. They must be doing something right as no one expected the Twins to be above .500 at mid-season.

I'd disagree on Boyer.  He went from out of the league, to struggling mightily early, to being at least serviceable, and occasionally downright nasty.  Thompson started great, but has been an absolute mess of late. But overall, I'd say the bullpen is a net positive surprise. 

I hate to say that Buxton and Sano are "disappointments" but both have slipped down prospect rankings in their returns from injuries.  They have both had nice years, but both seem to have some significant question marks.  Particularly, the idea that Buxton has Trout upside and Sano, Cabrera upside seems extreme.  Austin Jackson and I dunno, Trevor Plouffe, may be a more apt comparisons, and the thought of waiting like we have for that is disappointing to me.

[stringer bell]

Positives: #3 Promotion of top prospects. We've seen Meyer, Rosario, and Buxton. I suspect we'll see Sano at some point.  #2 Rotation. While the peripherals still seem to say the Twins are outpitching their abilities, the expectation for the starters has been raised. We don't expect bad starts and we expect at least six innings. Expectations are most often being met or exceeded. #1 Brian Dozier. Dozier has moved close to elite, he is second among all second basemen in OPS and third in WAR (if you value that number). I thought he should have been club MVP the last two years. This year there is no doubt.

 

Negatives: #3 Disappointments in young players. D Santana, Vargas, and Arcia haven't done well. In SSS, top prospects Meyer and Buxton haven't set the world on fire.   #2 Bullpen. Perkins has been outstanding, Fien is okay as an 8th inning guy, but would fit better in the seventh, Boyer has been good, after that, mediocrity and worse. Leads don't feel safe until the ball is in Perkins' hand. #1 Mauer. As much as Dozier has improved, Mauer has slipped. The last week or two have offered a ray of hope, but he doesn't look anything like a batting champion. I'm disappointed, too, with his defense. He's been at first a year and a half and still is not close to making instinctual plays. Witness a recent non-throw to second for any easy force or cutting a ball that had a good chance of getting a runner at the plate.