Gardenhire…. the Rebuttal

Before I left to go on my little adventure to Tennessee, Beth and I got into a debate over the merits of Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. Never one to let a sleeping dog lie, I dwelled on this subject for 5 days, and am now back with my rebuttal to a few of Beth’s counterpoints. My counter-counterpoints, if you will.
1)I’m not sure who Ryan thought Gardy should put there [the number two spot in the order]. Joe Mauer. Instead of Span – automatic out – Mauer, wouldn’t it be awesome if you always knew that, when Span got on base, there would be no outs when the MVP hit? Mauer makes good contact, drives to the gaps and can come through in situations when the pressure is high. Essentially, he is the prototypical 2 hitter. Also, he hits lefties almost as good as he hits righties. I think Morneau has grown accustomed to the clean up role, so another reliable hitter, like Jason Kubel or Michael Cuddyer, depending on the handedness of hte pitcher should move up to the third spot in the lineup. In my wildest dreams, I thought Delmon Young would come around and become the perfect three hitter for this lineup. There is still hope.
2) Conversely, I think using pitchers for shorter periods can be useful. If Jose Mijares only faces one batter, he can likely pitch nearly every other day. As a strong lefty reliever, this could be important. If you pitch one pitcher, say, Mijares, for one hitter in a 5 pitch at bat, and you pitch, say, Matt Guerrier for an entire inning with 5 pitches per at bat, that is 5 vs 15 pitches. Now, Mijares and his one day rest goes in the next day. Guerrier gets a couple days off. Mijares warms up twice, throwing about 40 pitches each. Guerrier goes once. Over the course of, say, a three day period, Mijares has thrown almost 100 pitches because of his 2 batters, while Guerrier who pitched an inning, has thrown about 55. So, do we really want a bullpen full of pitchers throwing 100 pitches every 3 days? No, no we don’t. Stop messing with the bullpen, keep pitchers in there.
3) Who was the manger when Mauer and Morneau got called up? The point here was that players that came up through the Twins system were better off than players who had to receive tutelage from Gardenhire. So thanks for that Beth!

I think we can all agree, though, that the Twins will be in a lot of trouble if they lose Joe Mauer, no matter what your opinion of the manager is. So hopefully, before Christmas, the Twins make Gardenhire continue to look good for the next several years by locking up Joe.