One aspect of the ongoing Nick Punto mystery is the fog it has cast over the other problems with the Twins. Because the lack of offensive contributions from Nick Punto have been so glaring and so long lasting and his every day appearance in the line up so inexplicable; it is easy to focus on Nick as the source of all the Twins’ offensive woes.
We tend to forget that fixing the Nick Punto problem earlier this season, would not necessarily have fixed the Twins. If Nick had been removed from every day status (as any normal human filling the position of manager would surely have done) then the other positional offensive weaknesses would have been easier to target.
Left field is one position that has been a revolving door of players. It needs to be filled with an everyday player with reasonable fielding skills, a bat with a little pop, and the ability to get on base – this sounds a lot like Joe Mauer. Moving Joe to left field solves his injury problem and his future longevity issues while filling one of the holes that has been hidden by the ground fog of Punto’s failed offense.
Removing Nick Punto at third base requires that position to be filled. The Twins have a player with almost a full season of major league experience at third. Their experienced player has the much-desired pop in his bat and a respectable batting average. Who might this answer to the Nick Punto problem be? Michael Cuddyer.
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2 comments:
Might work -
These ideas make some sense. The Mauer move would likely have the effect of boosting his (Mauer) batting average and keeping his bat in the line up on a regular basis. The question is would this be enough to cover the hitting of a new catcher? Can we come close to matching Cuddyers bat in right field, 270 BA w/20 homeruns (Kubel in in '08 )? If the answer to even one of those questions is yes, I think the moves has merit.
What you didn't factor in...
You have to look at the zero expectation factors for ’08. Gone will be thoughts of a divisional win and a wild card spot, the pain and angst of Gardie’s decision making will be gone it doesn’t matter, along with Torii Hunter. We can’t easily replace his stick in centerfield and we won’t. Let’s start getting our minds around a third or fourth place finish. So for ’08 our starting centerfielder is Tyner and I can live with that if the Twins actually do something smart like moving Mauer to left and Cuddy to third. This would be the consistent “does nothing” move by Terry Ryan whether he has the salary to improve the team or not. Sit back and relax the Twins aren’t about to make any moves that will cost money until 2010 because as Bud Selig said yesterday “the Twins are doing it the right way”.
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