Gardy gave Span high praise after the game today. Asked what Span has done wrong…Gardy could not come up with an answer and said that he has learn a lot from the first time he was up this year and has adjusted well.
It sounds to me that Gardy wants and is going to keep Span in the lineup.

Then again, Cuddy could have a setback. Cuddy has had these nagging injuries for a year and a half now. So I am not going to really worry about the roster move and the lineup move until that bridge passes.

With the way Gardenhire has been complaining about the overuse of the bullpen I seriously doubt Bass will be going anywhere.

I’d assume Gomez will get starts in center against lefties, and other than that, he’ll be a pinch runner and defensive replacement. They’d probably rather he play every day in Rochester, but he’s more useful to the big club than Ruiz (without Gomez, there’s no decent CF backup, and Cuddyer’s bat offset’s Ruiz’s), and in a pennant chase, that probably trump’s Gomez’s development.

So, when Cuddyer comes back, where does he hit in the batting order? Do you put him right back in the 5-spot ahead of Kubel, just to split up the lefties, or see if he hits first before moving your second-best power bat further down the order?

If we get rid of Bass, which I recommend, it would just be to upgrade to somebody better, like Humber.

So the odd man out is Ruiz, who is no great loss and has plenty of options left. He’ll be back in three weeks when rosters expand anyway.

I don’t think you just send Gomez to the bench full time. Between the Dh spot and the three outfield spots, that’s four spots for five guys. Gardy will probably play the hot hand and mix guys up according to match-ups. The two guys out of five who will play everyday at this point are Span and Cuddyer. There’s plenty of work left for three guys and two spots if you use platoons and what not.

If they’re going to make a run, it’s time to sit Gomez the vast majority of games. He’s absolutely killing the team with horrible AB’s (18 K in 82 AB in July compared to 22 TB – BRUTAL), and hasn’t even been a threat on the bases (hasn’t had a steal since June 30, and the team only has 5 steals since the ASB).

When I assumed the team wasn’t going anywhere, and this was a transitional year, I thought nothing of leaving the kid out there and letting him learn. Now, however, not only is the team still very much in the hunt and there is a better option on the roster, it’s time to either bench him or send him to Rochester to play every day.

Eep, with Cuddyer done for the year, not a problem anymore, unfortunately.

And I honestly don’t know whether he will be able to make adjustments. But I think a lot of it is psychological. He seems to be the easiest out with the bases loaded. And he’s not such a bad hitter with no one on base. He fought off a tough pitch with two outs and nobody on in the 4th and got a single. I just wonder why he can’t do that when the pressure is on.

If he just slowed it down a little more and tried to make contact rather than trying to drive the ball, he’d be much more successful. But he’s got such a high motor, he might never learn to slow down and let the game come to him, as Span does.