Biggest Disappointment and Biggest Surprise so far?

Question

I'd have to say the biggest disappointment has been the Tigers vaunted offense and the NL West crapfest. The biggest surprise would have to be hands-down Carlos Quentin. I mean this guy wasn't even in the SPRING TRAINING lineup and now he's looking like a possible MVP.

What about you guys? It can be teams, players, managers, etc...

Answer 1

Biggest disappointment: so many injuries. Jeter and Rodriguez went down, and they rarely get hurt. Matsui's done for the season, Posada's probably done as well. Damon keeps getting injured. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have been gone most of the season. Losing Wang was a huge blow. Brian Bruney might be back soon. Shelley Duncan tore up his body.

It's tough to compete with so many injuries. The fact that the Yankees are still in it is exciting.

Biggest Surprise: Jason Giambi's 'Stache.

Answer 2

Biggest Disappointment

Team: Atlanta Braves. Maybe it's just because this is my team, but you can't argue they have been extremely disappointing. We had a World Series caliber lineup going into the season. Chipper was flirting with .400 for almost the entire first half of the season (and that's playing hurt). We have battled remarkable amounts of injuries all year, including losing 3/5 of our initial starting rotation (all of those 3 were 20 game winners at some point and two are sure-fire HOFers). We lost our closer, our setup man, our backup setup man, our long reliever, our starting CF for a while, our starting LF for most of the year, and Francoeur has done horribly this year, which was highlighted with a demotion to AA for a few games. None of this was expected. Especially for a team that came out of Spring Training doing really well. Most Atlanta fans got even more excited after that.

Division: NL West. Last season they had the best division in the NL. The DBacks had the best record in baseball, and the Rockies had an unbelievable surge towards the end of the year to make the wild-card. Now all of their teams are below .500.

Player: Andruw Jones. I love the guy, but he has done awful this year. I think the numbers speak for themselves.

Biggest Surprise

Team: Tampa Bay Rays. Who would've thought they'd do this. Many predicted a 3rd place finish behind Boston and New York, but who could've predicted where they are now? They have a very cohesive, exciting team. Hopefully they keep doing well and destroying that two team race between Boston and New York that we have seen for so many years.

Division: NL Central. The Cards came out of nowhere. The Cubs have been doing better than expected. The Brewers have been dominating after their horrible start to the season, and I still predict the Brewers will win the division.

Player: Jason Giambi. Good for him. He admitted to steroids and apologized for it. He went through whatever they had to give him because he knew he deserved it. He started out doing badly, but he has torn people apart. He hasn't done this well in years. Obviously the talent was there, and it wasn't just the steroids. Good for him.

Biggest Disappointment Overall: You can't really name a category this and not mention Barry Zito. He has been the worst pitcher in baseball, and he is getting paid a whole lot of money. Mike Hampton is expected to be hurt by this point. This is Zito's second year at being awful.

Biggest Surprise Overall: Josh Hamilton. Came out of nowhere after all his troubles. to have 95 RBI at the all-star break. That's incredible.

I saved those last two from the original categories because I fell they were above (or in Zito's case, below) everything else.

Answer 3

Disapontment  

Teams: Tigers, Dodgers, Mets, Cleveland, Mariners

                          

Players: Varitek, Zito, Hoffman,  Andruw  Jones, Jeter, Garko, Santana, Rickie Weeks

Suprises:

Teams: Marlins, Rays, Twins, White Sox

Players: Ludwick, Mclouth, Cook, Harden, Quentin, Volquez, Lee, Saunders, Dempster, Wood, Bradley,Longoria

Predictions

MVP : AL - Josh Hamilton

          : NL- Hanley Ramirez OR Chase Utly   ( I didnt choose Berkman b/c look where his teams at there not even in contention )

CY Young:  AL- Saunders or Dice -K  ( Same thing goes with cliff lee )

                    NL- Webb

Rookie of the Year : AL- Jacoby Ellsbury or Evan Longoria

                                   NL-Geovany Soto

Answer 4

Disappointment: NL West.

Surprise: Rays.

Answer 5

tigers start and all star game

Answer 6

biggest surprise would be the minnesota twins,  everybody was saying the wouldnt even compete at a 500. level,,  now look at them they are a half game behind the sox for the division lead....  and they very young pitching, and a barely mediocore lineup

Answer 7

Disapointment- Mariners. They had such great pitching, maybe they will be good in 10 years.



Suprise- Not the Rays, the Brewers. They want to win NOW and they have shown it.

The Rays are not a suprise, because I had them to win the AL East. I said that in March.

Answer 8

Dissapointment: Barry Zito (giants fan)

Surprise: Jonathan Sanchez

Answer 9

biggest surpise is Josh Halmtion and Carlos Quetin

the biggest disappointment   that the media  makes out a team ( tigers ) to win it all and they that team stinks,, but then again that happens almost every year so far,,

But the biggest surpised so far overall for the majors that it is the year of the under dog,,

Both the Royals and tthe Rays are making some noise in the AL and the NL it is the Cubs

Answer 10

Disappointment: Yankees, Tigers

Surprises: Rays, Twins

Answer 11

the Braves even know i love them to death they are the Disappointment but Tampa may go to the post season and i hope they do that team worked to death and deserves a trip to the World Series

Answer 12

Disappointment: NL West. Going into the season, all the "experts" were calling it the strongest division in MLB. So much for that!

Surprise: The Rays. I mean, we all knew they had talent. But who knew they were gonna be this good? They've shown everyone that they're ready to be actual competitors instead of just the easy team to beat.

Answer 13

Biggest surprises:

Team - Tampa Bay Rays. No one thought they'd be as good as they've been. If they make the playoffs, it will be a true stunner, even to Rays fans.

Player - Josh Hamilton of the Rangers. His comeback is a great story.

Manager - Joe Madden, Rays. He's done very well up to this point. He should get a lot of manager of the year votes.

Disappointments:

Team - Seattle Mariners. What happened to this team? They went down the crapper fast. I could sorta see the Rockies falling off, especially with Tulowitzki being injured. But I didn't see the M's being this bad. Close second is the Tigers. They stumbled out of the gate.

Player - Andruw Jones, Dodgers. If he keeps playing like this, Dodgers fans are gonna find him and pelt him with rocks after a game. (Note: As a Yankees fan, I'm so happy we didn't go after him in free agency.) Close second is Jose Reyes of the Mets. I thought he'd be h**l bent on having a great season.

Manager: Sadly, Joe Torre of the Dodgers. Sure, you eased your stress by about 100 points being away from the Steinbrenner glare, Mr. Torre. But that team hasn't been inspired by your calm demeanor. (Note: I love Joe Torre and thought he'd help the Dodgers to at least fight for a playoff spot. But that whole division is dreck.)

Answer 14

Disappointment- Either the Rockies or the Mariners, both were expected to be very good/acceptable and they are both terrible, Tulowitski faded away and their pitching has not been there and the Mariners are all-around miserable.

Surprise- Rays, without a doubt, they went from being the worst team in all of baseball for the last 10 years and are now one of the best, I still can't believe that a majority of people doubt that they will make the playoffs, They will beat out the Red Sox.

Answer 15

Dissapointent: Has to be the Mariners, Indians, Rockies, and Padres...All of these teams were projected to be contendors yet all these teams are more than 10 games under .500  

Also the diamondbacks who were suppose to be the best team in the NL yet are under .500.

Surprise: Has to be Josh Hamilton and Carlos Quentin...both no names last year on low budget NL teams...Now both superstars on AL teams...Nobody saw this coming.

Answer 16

biggest disappointment-the Cleveland Indians biggest surprise - Chicago Cubs

Answer 17

Biggest Dissapointment

Team-Detriot Tigers, they have an All-Star line-up and rotation.

Player- Andruw Jones of the Dodgers, hes been hitting what .170 the whole year and has hit what 1 homerun he's supposed to be hitting over .300 and hit at least 21 hr by now

Manager- Joe Torre of the Dodgers, he hasnt done anything to turn around the Dodgers.

Biggest Suprise

Team- Tampa Bay Rays, they cam out of nowhere to be leading the AL East for almost the whole first half of the season.

Player- Geovany Soto, who has ever heard this guys name before this guys played and now look hes an allstar.

Manager- Joe Madden of the Tampa Bay Rays, his team came out of nowhere.

Answer 18

Biggest Disappointment would go to the NL West

Biggest Surprise...everything in the AL...The Rays, The AL Central at the beggining of the year were suppose to belong to the Tigers and Indians...and the White Sox and Twins were suppose to be in the basement

Answer 19

Disappointment is the Seattle Mariners. When they acquired Bedard, I seriously thought they could contend in the West and possibly nab a playoff spot. Now they have the worst AL record. Such an incredible difference from where I thought they would be.

Surprise is also the Seattle Mariners for the same reasons.