That’s why he’s useless and has to go. Do we keep him around and keep throwing him out there against lefties (by the way, those are ABs that Kubel could be getting)? Do we assume that the last 18 months have been a complete aberration and he’s going to wake up all of a sudden and start hitting like he was still in the brief peak of his career? Isn’t that pretty bone headed?

(For the record, Kubel’s not hitting much better against lefties. But he’s showed that he CAN do it, and his 51 AB this year aren’t really a big enough sample size to say anything.)

And by the way, I agree about that lineup. It’s optimal for our team right now. (Except I might switch Young and Harris. And kick everyone up a spot when Span comes in, and have him bat in front of Gomez.)

I like the looks of that lineup.

Bullpen: Nathan Grrreirrrrr Reyes Crain Breslow Bonser

Starters: Slowey Blackburn Baker Perkins Livan Horrendous (replaced by Liriano – oh, that money thing again)

14 pos players Mauer Morneau Casilla Harris Buscher Cuddyer Gomez Young Redmond Span Kubel Punto Lamb Macri

Lamb is wasted space w/ Macri up, so I can see them keeping a pitcher or just adding Liriano to the mix and putting Livan in the pen (ideally to EAT innings in games that dont matter!)

Lineup:

Casilla 2B Mauer C Morneau 1B Kubel DH Cuddyer RF Buscher 3B Young LF Harris SS Gomez CF

2-4, they need more ABs, plain and simple – they ARE the offense (not matter how many times Punto gets a leadoff dbl in the 6th inning, i dont care)

If he’s hitting .300 and playing adequate defense at all the infield positions, he’s a pretty valuable player. If he’s hitting .200 as the every day third baseman … he’s worse than useless. So now that he’s hitting a little (lot!) better and is being used correctly, there’s no reason to have a problem with him.

But you’re definitely right about Tolbert. We only need one of them. So I’d say we let Tolbert dick around in Rochester for the rest of the summer, then let Punto walk in the winter and replace him with Tolbert. But there should be exactly one of them on the 25 man roster at any given time. (Especially if we keep Span as a utility outfielder in favor of the hopefully-soon-to-be-deceased Monroe.)

Bass and Boof need to have their hands chopped off so they can no longer pitch. When was the last time Bass came in and didn’t give up a run? Oh, and with that in mind … why does Gardy keep bringing him in in the 8th inning against the middle of the other team’s lineup in 0 or 1 runs games? “Not a replacement for Neshek” is both true and possibly the most flattering thing that can be said about Brian Bass.

So yes, a good solid relief arm would be nice. That and a shortstop.

The problem is that all the contenders need/want relief help, so the market is going to be pretty ridiculous there. And there’s a huge shortstop shortage in MLB, so there’s no help coming there any time soon.

So I’d say the moves we need to make are pretty simple.

1) Kill Livan Hernandez. 2) Liriano. 3) Keep Perkins in the rotation, for Christ’s sake. 4) More Breslow. (Where did he go? Can someone give him that picture of Gardy and the goat that got Lew Ford and Jason Tyner so much playing time?) 5) Less Bass. 6) Less Boof. 7) Less Lamb. 8 ) Don’t let Everett back onto the team when his arm is “healthy.” 9) Bobby Korecky. 10) Use Nathan more often. 11) Use Span the same way we use Punto — sparingly, to give the good players a rest. 12) Kill Craig Monroe — when the veteran “slugger” you bring in to bash left handed pitching is batting .100 against lefties, you just have to admit it was a bad investment and cut your losses. Those losses being “at bats that could and should have gone to…” 13) Jason Kubel!

That’s not that many moves, really. What’s the market look like for killing Livan and Monroe?