Fire Gardy

Remember when Gardy refused to DH Jason Kubel because he didn’t think a young player should be a DH, and needs a position in the field until he’s too old and decrepit to play in the field? Well, he finally got over that with Kubel, who has become our standard DH.

Apparently, though, he’s REALLY over it, because it appears that he’s decided the proper use for Delmon Young, all of 23 years old, is as a platoon DH against left handed hitters. He’ll start in place of Kubel at DH this afternoon, the second time thus far in the young season this has happened (although last time, Cuddyer was the DH and Young started in LF, but the concept remains the same).

Like Mauer and Morneau, Kubel could be good enough to face left handed pitching. With enough right handed bats off the bench, though, a platoon isn’t a terrible thing for him, even if it lowers his value. (He’s no longer an every day player.)

But it lowers Delmon’s possible value even further; in Spring Training it was apparent that Young had worked hard on his defense, and sitting on the bench most nights is not a good way to develop his bat or keep him happy. In typical Gardenhire fashion, it’s much more important to keep Cuddyer happy, given that he’s six years older and over the course of his career has proven that the performance you can expect from him is just about the same as what you could pessimistically expect from Delmon Young.

While having too many viable starters is a much better problem to have than having too few, before the season started there was at least some hope that Gardy would manage to shuttle the guys in and out effectively. Thus far, the only players who have sat on the bench are Jason Kubel and Delmon Young, who also happen to be the two guys with their names carved in stone above the door on Gardy’s doghouse.

There’s not an easy solution to this problem, unless someone goes down with an injury. But given that Gardy’s strategy seems unsatisfactory, I’m going to put forward a strategy that could be better for the team now and down the road.

Gardy’s strategy: Gomez and Span play every night. Kubel is the DH against RHP, bench against LHP. Cuddyer plays every night, either in RF or DH against LHP. Young sits most nights, can play LF or DF against lefties.

My strategy: Gomez and Span play every night. Kubel is the DH against RHP, Young is the DH against LHP. Against RHP, split the time between Cuddyer and Young in RF; don’t alternate games, but attempt to go with the hot bat. Additionally, Delmon Young is a right fielder; he should only play LF if Cuddyer is also on the field, which should never happen.

It’s possible that Gardy’s plan is, in fact, to alternate Young and Cuddyer in the outfield against RHP, and not to do it every game but to attempt to ride a hot bat. If it is, it only appears that he plans to play Cuddyer every day because it just so happens that he got the first turn at it. (Though I’d prefer it if when Cuddyer and Young both play, that Young is the DH; also that Young never plays LF, basically setting Span as the every day LF.)

Is it too early to worry about Young’s playing time this season? Probably. But given that Gardy doesn’t like to have his team figured out until June, and in a tight race like the AL Central is bound to be in 2009, it’s almost certainly better that we pay attention to this kind of thing in the hopes that Gardy notices that Cuddyer isn’t sitting down often enough.