Most surprising Cub of 2008?

[Schwarber Fan]

For any number of reasons, who has fallen the lowest or risen furthest beyond your expectations?

[Vanilla Ice]

Can't be anybody other than Hill or Edmonds

[Mizzou]

Dempster, with Edmonds a close 2nd.

[Andy]

Edmonds. I knew there was a chance that Dempster could be decent - not as great as he's been, but decent.

 

Edmonds I was absolutely certain would be 2-3 weeks of crappiness and that would be that. Instead, he not only has become the best hitter on the team since his acquisition, not only has been better than I could've thought defensively, but has won over Cubs fans completely as well as pretty much severed his ties with St. Louis. In so many ways, Jimmy is the easy choice.

[CubmanPi]

I was torn between Edmonds and Dempster, with Hill not far off in third. Voted Edmonds. Vote totals so far exactly reflect my thoughts. I guess that means I agree.

[OleMissCub]

Dempster

[dew1679666265]

I had to go with Dempster. Can't go wrong at all with Edmonds, but I had no faith at all that Dempster would be much better than mediocre. I certainly didn't think he'd be one of the better starters in baseball.

 

I expected Edmonds to suck, but thought there was the slimmest of possibilities that he could be good again given that (unlike Dempster) he'd been good in the past. No expectations for either, but Dempster gets the vote because he had little prior starting success.

[Guest]

I went with Hill, though Edmonds would be my number 2. I know Dempster's been good but I don't think he's overperforming (relative to our expectations) anywhere near as much as Rich Hill underperformed.

[Mike Aller]

Jeff Samardjiza.

 

There are plenty of people having surprising seasons, but who saw him coming in, contributing, and dominating everything he touched so far at any point in this year?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Im going with Reed Johnson. I was for the Edmonds sighning from day one. granted, I didnt know exactly how much help hed give us, I would have accepted 2005-2006 numbers off the bench. Reed, on the other hand I didnt expect to make it to the all star break.

[evv98]

Dempster and Hill for me. I thought Hill would be the clear #2 on the staff this year and that Dempster would be back in the bullpen by now.

[dew1679666265]

Jeff Samardjiza.

 

There are plenty of people having surprising seasons, but who saw him coming in, contributing, and dominating everything he touched so far at any point in this year?

 

I didn't expect this performance from him this year, but I knew he was capable of it.

 

I just didn't think Demp was capable of what he's done to this point.

[NCCubFan]

I went with Dempster, because he's never shown any indication before of being this good as a starter. Edmonds is a surprise too, but I went with the season-long Cub.

[Skyballer]

Dempster just over Edmonds.

[Electron Blue]

Torn between Hill's futility and Dempster's success, I went with Dempster. I feel that a pretty good player's meltdown is more likely than a very average (to below average at times) player becoming dominant over an offseason, after a drastic role change, no less.

[soapy]

tough call between Dempster, Edmonds and Hill. Hill is easily the biggest dissapointment. i voted Dempster simply because he's been here the entire season. i was very adamantly opposed to (and probably pretty vocal about it) moving Dempster to the rotation. i thought that had dissaster written all over it. even when he started off strong, i kept waiting for him to implode. at this point my only concern with him is tiring out as the season winds down.

[Sorianos hop]

Surprise? - Mike Fontenot. This guy has come up with huge clutch hits off the bench all season.

 

Disappointment? - Rich Hill. I guess the Playoffs really messed this guy up. Too bad, I really liked him and he does a great Kip impersonation.

[aeaasie]

Dempster, with Edmonds a close 2nd.

 

ditto

[aeaasie]

Dempster, with Edmonds a close 2nd.

 

ditto