A few posts ago, I indicated that I’ve been working on a “Who’s Fault Is This Mess?” post. This isn’t it. That subject is still simmering in my mind. Actually, a better word might be “festering”.

But a couple of things caught my eye over the noon hour Thursday as I was glancing through some of the national online media web sites. These, in particular, were from SI.com. First, there’s a column from SI writer Joe Sheehan in which he lists the MLB “All-Disappointment” team. Since I’m a fan of what pretty much has to be absolutely the most disappointing team in baseball this season, I had to click that link! I expected to find just two words… “Minnesota Twins”.

But no.

Sheehan went down the line, position by position, with his list of the most disappointing MLB players this year (with an occasional “honorable mention” for some positions). Here’s his list, which you can read all about for yourself by clicking here :

C : Yorvit Torrealba, Rangers (Sheehan does mention in the introductory paragraph that Joe Mauer is one of the guys he’s giving a “pass” to based on injuries)

1B: Albert Pujols, Cardinals (1B Honorable Mention: Aubrey Huff, Giants)

2B: Dan Uggla, Braves

SS: Hanley Ramirez, Marlins

3B: Chone Figgins, Mariners

OF: Carl Crawford, Red Sox

OF: Alexis Rios, White Sox

OF: Nick Markakis, Orioles (OF Honorable Mention: Austin Jackson, Tigers)

DH: Adam Dunn, White Sox

SP: Chris Carpenter, Cardinals

SP: Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies

SP: Edinson Volquez, Reds

SP: John Lackey, Red Sox

Closer: Joakim Soria, Royals

Closer: Matt Thornton, White Sox

Not a single Twin on an “All Disappointment” Team!? Hard to believe, isn’t it? Maybe we’re being too hard on our guys!

Disappointing AND Overrated?

Then I saw that a list had been made of the 16 most overrated players, based on a vote of 185 MLB players. You can’t read a Twins blog or participate in a Twins chat without someone going on and on about how overrated this guy or that guy is, so certainly their peers must recognize the obvious, right?

Nope.

Here are the 16 (or you can click here to page through the list): 

1. Alex Rodriguez – Yankees

2. Joba Chamberlain – Yankees

3. Derek Jeter – Yankees

(Yes, by this time I was seeing a pattern emerging. I’m apparently not the only person who thinks anyone wearing a Yankee uniform automatically is overrated until they prove otherwise… and perhaps even then. Players seem to feel the same way.)

4. Jayson Werth – Nationals

5. Jonathan Papelbon – RedSox

6. Nick Swisher – Yankees

7. BJ Upton – Rays

8. David Ortiz – RedSox

9. AJ Burnett – Yankees

10. Manny Ramirez – no longer gainfully employed to play baseball

11. Carlos Beltran – Mets

12. Alfonso Soriano – Cubs

13. Evan Longoria – Rays

14. JD Drew – RedSox

15. David Wright – Mets

16. Albert Pujols – Cardinals

Now a few things stood out about this list.

Five of the top nine most overrated players, according to their peers, are Yankees.

Three of the 16 are RedSox, while the Rays and Mets each had a pair of representatives. (The Rays actually had three, if you count ManRam against them, since he was with the Rays when he quit the game rather than face up to another failed drug test.)

Only one player on the most overrated list was also on Joe Sheehan’s All-Disappointment team… Albert Pujols (and yet, you just know someone is going to step up during the offseason and pay this guy bajillions of dollars over the next ten years).

Then, there’s the most obviously notable thing about this list (at least for our purposes here)… there are no Twins on this list either!

I can really only draw one conclusion from this. Since our players are not overrated and are not disappointments, clearly it was our expectations of the Twins players that were out of whack to start the year. So if we, as a fan base, are disappointed, it’s not the players’ fault, it’s our fault for expecting them to play better than they have!

Whew… I’m glad we got that whole “who’s fault is this mess?” thing cleared up.

- JC