Angry Ranting

In the back of my mind, I knew the Twins were going to resign Nick Punto. I think we all knew the Twins were going to resign Nick Punto. I was anticipating no small degree of frustration out of the inevitable signing, because I figured the roster spot could be used better, especially given the presence of Matt Tolbert, essentially a younger, smarter version of the same player.
On that same note, I knew there were plenty of Twins fans that love Nick Punto. He hustles, he’s good in the field and he’s an all around likable guy. Even then, people that like Nick Punto have to agree with me; his resigning yesterday was absolutely absurd. Let’s reflect on a few things:
As it stands right now, Nick Punto will be making more than everyone except Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. He’ll be making more than the entire starting rotation. He’ll be making more than 4 times what another free agent infielder will be making this year. Mark Loretta signed with the Dodgers for about a million dollars, and as it happened, put up much better numbers than Punto last year. And the previous 5 years.
Let me illustrate exactly what it is that frustrates me so much about the deal. On the one hand, the Twins felt Nick Punto was worth 4 million plus a year, despite all evidence to the contrary. They over paid for this specific player after so many years of letting free agents who play positions we are not strong at simply walk away. Or, of course, they use that as a reason behind trades. Naturally, the money isn’t the same, but I’m mostly concerned with why we went so hard after Punto. I can’t help but think that Ron Gardenhire influenced Bill Smith’s decision making. After an offseason in which the team tried to remake themselves into a younger, more traditionally talented team with strong hitters and a talented young pitching staff, the team appears to be reverting back into a team that just hopes it can luck its way into the playoffs again. It’s not going to work. Make no mistake, the Twins were in contention this year only because the rest of the division was bad.
The second problem I have with this is that people are going to allege that Nick Punto showed some sort of loyalty. He met, reportedly, with 16 teams! He’s making 4 times what a similar (if better) player is making, which indicates that meeting with these teams actually drove his price up. If he was loyal, he would have signed with the Twins a month ago at a similar, maybe slightly greater salary. Geting a 3 million dollar raise despite 2 more seasons mediocre (generous) seasons indicates that this offseason, he was out for the money. If he even tries to say that he stayed with the Twins out of loyalty, bullshit. I say bullshit. He was saying it would be hard too leave the Twins this offseason, but not that hard, if it took 4 million dollars a year (in a RECESSION!) to keep him here. Of course, I’ve long thought Punto wasn’t that smart, so maybe he does think that this is loyalty, fleecing his team like this.
So, in short, the Twins made a terrible error, both in baaseball terms and financial terms, and Nick Punto is jsut plain terrible, as a player and now as a teammate, inasmuch as he will prevent the team from spending extra money on someone who might help. Oh, and this indicates that the Twins intend on his starting at short next year, which will mean abysmal offensive production, until someone steps on his face sliding into first base. Of course, then he’ll just be a waste of money, instead of a waste of space.