For a while, he was CUDD-yer. Then, people were instructed that it was cud-DYE-er. Now, fully recognized by his goofy last name, Michael Cuddyer had his breakout season in right for the Twins this season. He was the perfect spoil to Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer’s left handedness, although he wasn’t quite the deep threat a team would like to have batting clean up. But then, who was?
While Cuddyer would have been best served batting fifth, what with his propensity for striking out, Justin Morneau, the power hitter, struggled batting fourth. Joe Mauer would be better off batting second, leaving third AND fourth in the order open, if we did it that way. There were more fitting players to plug into second than into third, so Mauer moved into the three spot. Then, of course, Ron Gardenhire preferred to go left-right-left. All of these factors led to the Twins needing Cuddyer to bad fourth. It’s a good thing he pulled though.
As I’ve established through my other positional breakdowns, it doesn’t seem likely that the Twins will undergo a whole lot of change to the roster this off-season. Mauer will bat third. Morneau will bat fifth. And Torii Hunter, as I mentioned in a previous post, but not yet in this one, will bat sixth. That means Michael Cuddyer again will bat fouth. And the Twins will again hope that their once prized prospect will play to his potential.
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