When Sano went down with the injury, I honestly thought that the Twins would miss his bat too much to make up for it.  I didnt think Escobar's superior defense would make enough of a difference to balance out the offense lost.  I didn't anticipate Escobar's offensive contributions (be honest, did you?).  Therefore, this Mauer/Buxton fan has to cast his vote for Escobar.  Though I agree with those who have stated choosing just one person feels impossible

 

Seems like a lot of recency bias happening here, with people forgetting how good Sano was early and how terrible Rosario was defensively. 

August and September numbers mean more to some. I seem to recall a high priced Yankee who was referred to as "Mr May" in a not so subtle jab.

 

With that being said I will go

1. Dozier

2. Rosario

3. Mauer

4. Everyone

 

 

Dozier.

 

 

Buxton playing defense at a young Puckett/Torii Hunter level all year was probably the most consistently good player.

ah...he's playing defense at a higher level than both of those guys, ever played.

 

The twins as a team, fielding over all would be below average without Buck.  With his defense up the middle, the Twins are now talked about as a top 5 defensive team in AL.  It's incredible the difference his presence makes on the rest of the team.  Now that he has hit consistently for a number of months...well there is my answer.  B. B.

 

 

This is my order as well. While his offense struggled in the beginning of the season, he's come on strong. But his defense, wow, has been the most rock solid and consistent throughout the season. A lot of the plays the left side of the infield made would not have been recorded for outs without him at first.

Although, I might give Buxton a tie with Mauer and wouldn't question it at all if he were the MVP. I would question it if anyone else were chosen above either of those two.

 

Not convinced. It's still Dozier by a whisker over Buxton.

 

Dozier.

 

Yup. (But his reign probably ends in 2018, giving way to Buck).

 

August and September numbers mean more to some. I seem to recall a high priced Yankee who was referred to as "Mr May" in a not so subtle jab.

 

With that being said I will go

1. Dozier

2. Rosario

3. Mauer

4. Everyone

 

Impossible to leave Buck out of top three.

1. Buxton

2. Dozier

3. Santana

4. Mauer

5. Sano

 

Buxton playing defense at a young Puckett/Torii Hunter level all year was probably the most consistently good player.

 

Buxton actually is transcending what is considered Gold Glove-worthy at the CF position.

 

MR. BYRON BUXTON. And, he's just getting warmed up folks!

 

Yep. I held off for this year because of his slow start offensively. But, I'm making book that youth will be served starting in 2018. Short of Mike Trout, we may very well be having this same debate next year about Buxton- but as league MVP, not just Twins MVP.

 

Seems like a lot of recency bias happening here, with people forgetting how good Sano was early and how terrible Rosario was defensively. 

 

Sano won't even play in 70% of the games. I can't vote for him for MVP because of that (for a position player).

 

Buxton playing defense at a young Puckett/Torii Hunter level all year was probably the most consistently good player.

No one found the wall and timed  jump better than Puckett and Hunter was pretty awesome as well but if they were all on the same team in their prime Buxton is the center fielder, no doubt.   I would take Pucket's arm and maybe Tori's as well, but Buxton is just so much faster.

 

Seems like a lot of recency bias happening here, with people forgetting how good Sano was early and how terrible Rosario was defensively. 

Well yes, except recency would have Polanco and Escobar higher in the discussion.   3rd base would win it since it combined Sano's first half and Escobar's 2nd half but not how it works.  Sano was great and would be 1st half MVP.   Like I said earlier, in the first half I would put Kintzler in the discussion also but just not enough to carry the title for either over 162 games.

I'll admit a bias. Of the candidates, I've only spoken to Dozier. I also believe he could have/should have been team MVP in 2013-15 (instead of Mayer, Hughes, Sanó respectively) but I vote Dozier. He's got a career high OBP, over 30 homers, and he has been out there every day again this season. Buck and Miggy might win the next ten team MVPs between them, but the second baseman deserves this one by a minute amount.

 

Buxton playing defense at a young Puckett/Torii Hunter level all year was probably the most consistently good player.

Puckett was very good, I'd say Hunter was even better, but Buxton's defense tops these two.  I'd betcha anything Torii, and Puck if he were able, would say the same.

40 for 162. Old time Vikings fans will know what I mean.

Buxton. He is currently 10th in the AL in WAR.

Whoa, he is up to 8 now.

Without Sano and Santana the season is done early again.  Ultimately Santana is the only one who played consistently well all season so I'm going with him.

 

You can pick any of the bunch being mentioned regularly in the thread as they're all deserving in their own way and I won't argue, but Santana is my pick.

Buxton.

2nd: Dozier

3rd: Santana

My pick: Brian Dozier

 

But I think the fact that there are so many legitimate choices speaks to how good this team has become.

 

Whether is was coincidence or real impact, the mild "sell off" at the trade deadline seemed to spark this team and gel them together at the same time and the team responded accordingly.

 

An on-field celebration at Yankee stadium would be sweet.

 

Not convinced. It's still Dozier by a whisker over Buxton.

Not convinced. It's still Mauer or Buxton by a whisker over Dozier.

 

(Personally, I don't care, really don't. In this season I'm really not sure just one person alone made the difference in this team winning ... I think every player made the difference and think without just one of them ... pick one of the main ones you'd put in this category, and without any one of them, we might not be here. It was a team effort.)

It's good there are legit arguments for more than one player. Real good.

 

It's good there are legit arguments for more than one player. Real good.

Yep ... there's no "I" in team.

Bartolo Colon.

 

 

I'm going to partially cop-out here and say no to Santana, no matter how valuable, because I sort of look at this as every day players voting.

 

That being said, despite so many good arguments for so many candidates, it comes down to Buxton and Dozier.

 

HUGE turnaround for Buxton and elite defense that bolstered the staff. Dozier put up yet another outstanding season and with quality production across the board including leading the team in R/HR/RBI.

 

Hem and haw....Dozier because the team seemed to take off, and so did he, after his comments at the deadline.

When I think about a team MVP, I ask myself "Who's absence would have hurt the team the most?".

 

I think the answer to that has to be Byron Buxton.

Think I gotta go with Buck or Flauer.  I reallythink Buxton's defense is irreplaceable and Mauer was pretty clutch all year.  He played great defense and hit pretty much like his old self. 

I'm going to get tier-ry-eyed on this one:

 

Tier 1: Dozier/Rosario

Tier 2: Mauer/Buxton

Tier 3: Santana

Tier 4: Sano/Polanco

 

Very even. Should make a point system voting thread on this...

 

Think I gotta go with Buck or Flauer.  I reallythink Buxton's defense is irreplaceable and Mauer was pretty clutch all year.  He played great defense and hit pretty much like his old self. 

And I'm pretty sure we all know how you feel about Dozier already  .