You mean you don't want their numbers to be what Papi's were prior to meeting Manny? Actually those are real good compared to the guy who played in the band box Hefty Bag park prior to finding his pal Manny.
This actually not remotely looking at the whole picture. He's always been big, and he's always had power. His production was due to injuries, not having regular playing time, and inconsistency. He got injured 3 out of 4 of his first big league years, a monster minor league season sandwiched in between.
He raked in the minors (
Minor League Player of the Year and all that). Moved up really fast, and was probably promoted too quickly. Started out hitting well, but quickly broke a bone in his wrist. After rehab and eventually getting regular time, he became one of the better rookies in the league.
Started slow next spring training (1999) and farmed out to the minors. But he led the PCL with 110 RBI, and tied for first with 68 extra-base hits (35 doubles, three triples and 30 home runs). Hit so well they were forced to bring him back up.
Had a slow start the next year (2000) on a bad team, but started to rake in the second half to salvage the season.
In 2001, he fractured his wrist requiring surgery. Had to become a singles hitter because he lost the snap in his swing.
The Twins tried to get DH David Ortiz to shorten his stroke and punch balls up the middle and to the opposite field. The results were decent: a .282 batting average, 10 homers and 63 RBIs in 415 at-bats.
In 2002 he had knee issues, got scoped in early 2002, so he missed a lot of the first half of that season as well. He struggled when coming back, but salvaged the season with a big second half, ending with 32 doubles, 20 homers and 75 RBIs, in only 125 games.
GM Terry Ryan responded by releasing him so "t
he team wouldn’t have to pay him $2 million, money they could use to keep Torii Hunter (the Twins let him sign somewhere else in 2008), and to keep shortstop Jose Morban on the roster." Ryan's called it the biggest mistake of his career.
He's always been big, and he's always had pop. If he wasn't injured all the time, and got regular at bats (without Tom Kelly shuffling him around), he would have put up a lot better overall numbers. Poor management by Tom Kelly on this one.