While I among of Ron Gardenhire’s most outspoken critics, I feel that my credibility would be ruined if I didn’t state when I actually agreed with his moves. His faults lie in game to game strategy, development of young hitters, favoritism, bullpen management, and a menagerie of other flaws, but one of his greatest strengths is his insistence on protecting his players from injury. Justin Morneau has been kept out of the lineup because of concussions concerns, and yesterday Gardenhire pulled Kevin Slowey, fresh off an elbow induced missed start in them middle of a no hitter thanks to his high pitch count.
It was a very tough decision, no doubt, but one that was absolutely the correct one to be made. The best part was that he acknowledged the situation. Gardenhire stated that he “would have booed him too” for pulling Slowey in the middle of the no-no, indicating that he struggled with the decision. It was one he made with the health of Kevin Slowey in mind, and it’s impossible to argue with it.
Oh, and all you that were in favor of knocking Slowey out of the rotation, or trading him to Seattle in order to get Cliff Lee… still feel the same? We’re going to have Slowey now for a few more years, thanks in part to Smith not trading him and Gardy being unwilling to ruin his arm in an effort to gain a mere statistic.
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