Let's play: 5 surprises!

A post at MLBTR this morning inspired me to examine what has surprised me the most about the Twins this season, the things I wouldn't have predicted in the offseason.

1. Drew Butera being the backup C all year.  In April, because of injury (Jose Morales) and needed seasoning (Wilson Ramos) and Bad Twins Management!1! (Red Dog!) , Butera "won" the backup catcher position (and by won I mean, "by default").  His previous 2 years in the minors were nothing to write home about (~.215/.288/..325).  As a matter of fact, they were pretty bad, hitting wise.  And so we expected Butters to maybe be one of the worst hitters in baseball in a presumed short time in the big leagues.  He hasn't disappointed as his slash of .194/.226/.306 is bottom 10 in the AL. 

But the Twins have this crazy idea that catchers should actually be able to catch.  You know, play defense and call games and stuff.  And by all indications, Butera seems to be excellent in that department.  He's 3rd in the league in Caught Stealing % at 38.7 and he has become the bondservant to the Cy Pavstache.  His exuberance and joy is a beautiful thing to behold.  Surprised he's here, yeah.  But, glad he's here too.

2. Carl Pavano.  The Pavstache has been in the bigs since 1998.  He had one great year in 2004 with the Marlins.  Otherwise, he's had a fairly mediocre MLB career.  I'd hope he'd have a solid year for us, but he's exceeded that expectation and he's been outstanding.  He's 2nd in the AL in wins, 5th in WAR for pitchers, and is 3rd in innings pitched.  His 2 month stretch where he went 10-1 with 4 CG's and 2 Shutouts led us to where we are now. 

3. HR's at cavernous Target Field.  I didn't see this coming.  We play in the bloody Grand Canyon!  Fair, unfair, good, bad...whatever.  Surprising is all.  Our new home is Petco North.

4. Bullpen additions.  You realize we have 79 saves sitting out there in the bullpen?   Yeah, I could see us adding a guy like Flores.  But Capps and Fuentes?  Didn't see that coming.  We got 3 closers and 2 setup guys now.  And really, we needed something more in other departments, like a starting pitcher or a position player to fit somewhere.  But, we got bullpen and more bullpen   At least we've turned games into 4 inning affairs.  Get the starter through 4, then setup setup closer closer closer, Twins win.

5. Jesse Crain.  Sometime in June, Jesse flipped a switch.  He got off the roller coaster of potential and hopped on the teacup ride of awesomeness.  He just started throwing breaking balls first, second and third, and relegated his 95mph fastball to an afterthought.  He comes in, and I'm just surprised it's him doing this.  Guerrier I could see doing this.  Crain, yeah maybe for 10 days, but then he'd have the Crainwreck: 4 batters faced, 4 batters reached, 3 runs scored scoreline and we'd say 'Oh, Jesse' and wonder what might ever be if he figured things out.  Well, he's figured things out, folks.  Woot.

Honorable Mentions: Blackburn demoted, DannyV's year, Jim Thome's year.

Things that haven't surprised me: Twins in first, Span's blahhhh-iness, Delmon's impactfulness, Duensing's year, Rauch losing the closer job, Punto's injuries, Ullger's ineptedness.