What reason do you have to believe that Kubel is going get that much play at DH? Yeah, he played there last year, because the Twins didn't have a hitter of Thome's caliber on the bench and the other two outfielders aside from Cuddyer and Span were Gomez (who plays a phenomenal CF) and Delmon Young, who the Twins have tried to get to produce but have failed. Delmon Young appears to be the backup to me at this point with Kubel being the primary LF and Thome being the primary DH.

 

Thome will take a backseat with a lefty on the mound and when Mauer needs a day off from catching.

Because he's their full time DH and the only reason he didnt play more DH last year was because of the injuries to Mauer. Kubel cant play the field as is a much better version of Thome in every way possible.

 

Kubel 80-100 games

Moreneau 10-15

Mauer 10-15

 

That leaves around 30 games for a rotation of Thome and whoever else needs to play when there is a LH pitcher.

I guess we'll see, but I think Thome's going to play a significant amount of the time in Minnesota.

The thing that interests me about the whole Kubel/Thome DH situation is that neither of them can hit lefties very well. I dont think they will bench both of them in all the games vs. lefties.

 

Kubel vs. LHP 2009: .243/.299/.345

Thome vs. LHP 2009: .209/.314/.429

 

And against righties, Kubel was way better, so I don't know why you'd even want Thome in there.

 

Kubel vs. RHP 2009: .323/.397/.619

Thome vs. RHP 2009: .262/.383/.498

 

Kubel is horrible at defense and is much better served as DH, I dont know what their plan here will be.

Young vs RHP 2009 .271/.301/.383

Young vs LHP 2009 .310.321/.512

 

 

Young vs RHP 2009 .271/.301/.383

Young vs LHP 2009 .310.321/.512

 

Interesting. Then it would make sense to have Kubel in the OF & Thome as DH vs. RHP, then Young in OF vs. lefties. Although, I wouldnt expect a team like the Twins that counts on playing such fundamental baeball all the time to play a butcher in the OF like Kubel for over 100 games.

The thing that interests me about the whole Kubel/Thome DH situation is that neither of them can hit lefties very well. I dont think they will bench both of them in all the games vs. lefties.

 

Kubel vs. LHP 2009: .243/.299/.345

Thome vs. LHP 2009: .209/.314/.429

 

And against righties, Kubel was way better, so I don't know why you'd even want Thome in there.

 

Kubel vs. RHP 2009: .323/.397/.619

Thome vs. RHP 2009: .262/.383/.498

 

Kubel is horrible at defense and is much better served as DH, I dont know what their plan here will be.

To draw some more fans and pinch hit Thome and DH him on getaway games. I dont see him staying off the DL this season either.

Interesting. Then it would make sense to have Kubel in the OF & Thome as DH vs. RHP, then Young in OF vs. lefties. Although, I wouldnt expect a team like the Twins that counts on playing such fundamental baeball all the time to play a butcher in the OF like Kubel for over 100 games.

 

I could see it. The upgrade offensively from Young to Thome is far more influential than the downgrade defensively from Young to Kubel.

Interesting. Then it would make sense to have Kubel in the OF & Thome as DH vs. RHP, then Young in OF vs. lefties. Although, I wouldnt expect a team like the Twins that counts on playing such fundamental baeball all the time to play a butcher in the OF like Kubel for over 100 games.

 

Delmon Young is garbage defensively. -25.6 UZR/150 in 2008, -14.9 in 2009. He's overall better than Kubel (-18.7 over 275 games in the outfield in his career), but it's not worth sitting Kubel.

I agree with witesox....Kubel's getting better and better as his knee is bothering him less than after the reconstruction.

 

Some Twins' fans I know would argue that he's actually better than Young because Delmon has so many bad habits on the field that haven't been corrected since his days with TB...the same "lazy" habits which have caused Gardy and Smith to look into possibly dumping him the last two offseasons.

 

Some theorize Smith is "forcing" him on the fans simply because the Garza/Bartlett deal looks so one-sided and he stills hopes to get some return out of his investment.

 

 

Count Branyan as another player on this list who was looking for a multi-year deal -- the first of his career -- but hasn't gotten one, and won't. The Mariners tried to re-sign him for a single year in November, but he turned them down, and GM Jack Zduriencik subsequently continued his quest to assemble a team that allows no batted ball to fall to the earth by trading for Casey Kotchman in January. The White Sox, who once seemed to be composed entirely of first baseman/DH-types, could actually now use a first baseman/DH-type, and they might represent one of the last options for one of 2009's breakout players.

www.espn.com

 

 

How many time do the Twins play the Sox? That's how many games Thome will play this year.

I just kinda skimmed this thread, but have any of these "projections" of how awesome the Twins are taken into account the fact that no one knows how Target Field is gonna play? Hitter's Park? Pitcher's Park?

 

We know the Twins team has always been built around playing to the strengths of the Metrodome, we have no idea how the lack of the quick turf and playing your home games outside (and some times in the cold) when you're used to only playing road games outside....

I agree with witesox....Kubel's getting better and better as his knee is bothering him less than after the reconstruction.

 

Some Twins' fans I know would argue that he's actually better than Young because Delmon has so many bad habits on the field that haven't been corrected since his days with TB...the same "lazy" habits which have caused Gardy and Smith to look into possibly dumping him the last two offseasons.

 

Some theorize Smith is "forcing" him on the fans simply because the Garza/Bartlett deal looks so one-sided and he stills hopes to get some return out of his investment.

 

 

Count Branyan as another player on this list who was looking for a multi-year deal -- the first of his career -- but hasn't gotten one, and won't. The Mariners tried to re-sign him for a single year in November, but he turned them down, and GM Jack Zduriencik subsequently continued his quest to assemble a team that allows no batted ball to fall to the earth by trading for Casey Kotchman in January. The White Sox, who once seemed to be composed entirely of first baseman/DH-types, could actually now use a first baseman/DH-type, and they might represent one of the last options for one of 2009's breakout players.

www.espn.com

 

I am all for the Branyan possibility, at this point, I think he is the best option to DH vs RHP,unless Johnny Damon could become a reality, but I highly doubt it. Kotsay should be nothing more than a 4th OF.

I think Branyan would be a great fit. Seeing as this is probably the DH thread, along with 60% of all the other ones, I wanted to post this about versality

 

C: A.J., Castro, Flowers, and they're even having Retherford take reps at C.

1B: Konerko, Kotsay, Flowers - really anybody.

2B: Beckham, Teahen, Alexei, Nix, Vizquel, Retherford, Lillibridge,

SS: Alexei, Beckham, Vizquel, Nix, Lillibridge,

3B: Teahen, Beckham, Vizquel, Nix, Retherford, Lillibridge

RF: Quentin, Rios, Kotsay, Jones, Teahen

CF: Rios, Jones, Pierre, Alexei

LF: Pierre, Quentin, Jones, Kotsay

 

We do not need a DH that can play the field. We do not need to keep that spot open for rotation to maintain versatility. We have plenty of that. We need a DH who hits the damn ball.

You could probably add Viciedo and Jordan Danks into that depth chart as well.