Twins Daily Awards 2026: Most Valuable Player

[MeleMouth]

19 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Tied for 15th on the team in WAR with Jeff Hoffman and Austin Martin. Bell plays absolutely zero defense (half time player) and was one of the worst baserunners on the team. He was one of the reasons this team finished below .500.

The case for Bell would start with his being 1st in producing runs above average and an above-average clubhouse guy. However, his wRC+ and WPA were both mediocre.

[mrmpls]

3 hours ago, Brandon said:

Clemens extra value comes from playing good defense at multiple positions.  His ability to play CF was discovered out of necessity.  And he continually moved where needed.  

Morris and Gomez were probably under consideration until their last month or so of the season.

My vote would be for any of the top 5.  

im a Kody fan but in reality his Defense at 2b was below average 

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75 Attempts37 Attempts1 Attempt5 OAA0 OAA-5 OAAClemens, KodyOuts Above Average on Responsible Plays for 2026OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE

BOX PLOTS - STARTING POSITION

▾

                     Box Plots - Starting Position                     Box Plots - Ending Position                 

Lineup Position	Attempts	Success Rate	Estimated Success Rate	OAA
2B	248	77%	78%	-3
1B	117	80%	78%	1
RF	33	97%	91%	2
LF	27	93%	92%	0
CF	19	95%	92%	1

 

	Field Location	Attempts	Success Rate	Estimated Success Rate	OAA
[+]	ALL 2B	248	77%	78%	-3
[+]	ALL 1B	117	80%	78%	1
[+]	ALL RF	33	97%	91%	2
[+]	ALL LF	27	93%	92%	0
[+]	ALL CF	19	95%	92%	1
	ALL	444	81%	81%	1

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[Cris E]

4 hours ago, Andy MacPhail said:

I'm sorry but Keaschal few good plays in the OF, Buxton makes looks very routine. I know that Buck didn't look good playing injured, but he was elite when he was healthy. His stats were on top of the teams totals even considering his incomplete playing time. IMO, if we remove entirely Buxton's impact on the team (no matter how incomplete it was) compared to Keaschal, Clemens, Lee or Bell's; the team would suffer the most. That's the definition of team's MVP.

In fact the team would have improved if we removed half of Buxton's season,  I love the guy, but he was terrible, far below his standard and the team average, for much of the season. His last 22 games from June 27 to Aug 25 he posted a .483 OPS. I know I've written before about the source of the hope that he and Shelton were seeing, but the team needs to be better about benching injured guys. (Royce Lewis was just as bad for almost as long: .476 OPS  in 34 games between Aug 18 and the end of the year.  How about the end of the year for Morris: 9.37 ERA in his last 17 appearances after Aug 18. Did everything suck after that Field of Dreams game or what?) 

[Cris E]

Forgot to add: Keaschall going away, Bradley in second and BB in third.

Byron's half season was on a historic pace (25 HR by Father's Day) while the others did a lot of fine work with some normal ebb and flow that really feels like they were laying a foundation for really excellent futures. If we were a real playoff team my standard would be who was getting us to the World Series, but we're a young, improving team and these two showed real growth that points towards all-star ceilings.