I don’t know. I find it hard to imagine that a major league hitter would somehow be “confused” by hitting 5th instead of 6th, or something.

(Or maybe this goes hand in hand with Gardenhire’s desire to ensure that none of our players are “major league” caliber hitters.)

Just one question. Does Gardenhire think there’s a rule that because you normally bat your catcher third that you then have to bat your catcher third in every game? I don’t know how else you explain batting Redmond third. He should be batting eighth with everyone else up one spot in the order.

Mike Lamb: 39% Craig Monroe: 31%

I don’t know how valuable that information is…

Joe Mauer: 36% Justin Morneau: 27%

But given that both Mauer and Morneau have had a rough year within the last three years, the collapse rate calculation probably punishes them more than it should.

What do the Twins do in practice? I think you guys have touched on this before, but it’s an organizational philosophy on hitting and one that is outdated. We teach our guys to hit it to the gaps, move runners over (i.e. “productive” outs), hit for average, and there’s a complete lack of plate discipline. Lamb, Harris, Young, and even Monroe are all hitting significantly worse than their career numbers. As you explained, Lamb could just simply be declining, as with Monroe. Maybe Lamb really can’t handle playing everyday. It’d be interesting to see what Lamb’s and Monroe’s collapse rates were for this season. Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription to BP.

As for Young and Harris, I think you could put more blame towards the coaches, like Gardenhire and Vavra. For Harris, his minor league numbers and his first full season in the majors last year do not point to the type of production he’s giving us this year. And at age 27, he should be improving, not declining. Similar situation with Young, although I think his potential has been overblown, his track record does not indicate a .692 OPS in the majors. However, if you look at his numbers in AAA and the majors, they’re not that great. He was a below average corner outfielder last season.

And then there’s guys like Morneau and Cuddyer, who have seemingly lost all home run power. Morneau is a guy who should be hitting 40-45 homers a year, but I think they’re teaching even him to hit to the gaps and hit for average. I would take a 30-40 point drop in average to see a 30-40 point increase in slugging. And I’m hoping Cuddy has just been thrown off this year because of injury. I’m fearing that we gave him a contract based on one good year, and that we’ll pay for this going forward by getting fairly average production from right when we need him to be one of the guys who’s above average.

Bottom line is that it starts in the front office and with the coaching staff. I honestly think they all need to go, with the exception of Rick Anderson.