One striking aspect of the remarkable 2008 Twins season has been the production from players the organization clearly found wanting last year.

Another is how little the team got from the players brought in to take their places.

Alexi Casilla, for example. Handed the second base job late last summer when the Twins shipped Luis Castillo to the Mets, Casilla proceeded to commit gaffe after gaffe.

So the Twins traded for Brendan Harris and made Casilla an early cut in spring training.

Harris played his way off second base and into a part-time role on the left side of the infield. Casilla is the regular second baseman and No. 2 hitter — and hitting over .300.

Then there’s Denard Span. The former first-round draft pick showed so little during his time in the minor leagues that the front office made acquiring center fielders a priority — trading not only for Carlos Gomez but Jason Pridie, Dustin Martin (a low-level minor leaguer) and even Craig Monroe as well.

Span outplayed Gomez, at least statistically, in spring training but was returned to Triple A anyway, at least in part because there was legitimate reason to doubt the validity of his exhibition numbers. Span has since displaced Gomez at the top of the lineup. His on-base percentage is more than a hundred points higher than Go-Go’s.

Brian Buscher was given a brief look in 2007 (82 at-bats, interrupted by a nasty infection), after which the Twins signed Mike Lamb — whose skill set is a match for Buscher’s — to a two-year contract.

Lamb sits at the end of the bench today, around only because the Twins are obligated for his 2009 salary. Buscher plays, and deserves to (against right-handers, at least).

Nick Punto in 2007 had about as lousy a season as possible. The front office spent the winter acquiring infielders to push Punto to the bench in 2008 — Lamb, Harris, Adam Everett. Now Punto’s hitting better than .280 and hasn’t sat out a game in more than a month.

All this suggests that the Twins wasted resources importing veteran castoffs because they failed to accurately assess the talent at hand.

Another interpretation — one held, it appears, by the front office — is that Span, Casilla and Buscher needed the challenges the imports provided.

Certainly the imports allowed the Twins to make all four (including the veteran Punto) earn their playing time. None of them were handed jobs this spring; the first three opened the season in Rochester, and Punto opened it on the bench.

Injuries and ineffectiveness gave each a chance, and each took full advantage.