Tomorrow is Nick Punto Day!

I wonder why they never gave him an inside track as the regular SS. Not that he’s a modern day Barry Larkin or anything, but so long as he’s around and making as much as he is, doesn’t that seem like the best place to play him? Maximize his best asset (defense) and minimize weak and/or inconsistent bat?

I think for a brief period (back in his arbitration days) he was the presumptive starter one year, but he used to have some durability problems and sure enough he got hurt. Jason Bartlett proceeded to emerge, beat down the paper tigers/Juan Castros of the world, and assume the job. But after Bartlett was dealt, I don’t recall Punto ever getting strong consideration. I wonder if his versatility has been his curse in this regard?

Last year he turned 200. That’s plenty.

For the next 200 years, February 12th is Nick Punto Day!
… just gotta get Nick to move his birthday from Nov. 8th.

Just look at him in the picture up top…..Who else gives that much every play?

To short, to small, to slow, to big of heart? Love LNP…..

But I just loathe the idea of Nick Punto day. I think Ill hang out at Acme Packing tomorrow. :)

Career OPS + of 73. But I don’t hate him because of that. Lots of decent utility players have similar or lower career OPS + . Denny Hocking, for example, had a career OPS+ of 69. And I never hated Denny Hocking. The difference between Punto and Hocking in my opinion is two-fold:

1. Approach: Hocking respected the game and did everything with sound fundamentals. He was nothing if not fundamentally sound. Punto deviates from fundamentals as often as he follows them. Sometimes I think the few times he does things in a fundamentally sound way, he does it by accident. Punto’s supposed to be one of the veteran leaders on this team. Every kid coming up who sees him sliding into first or fouling a bunt off his face has to totally disregard the hours of extra work Gardy’s staff does on the “little things”. Punto’s very existence on this team and in this line-up renders “the Twins way” a total farce.

2. Playing time: Hocking was never given a starting job at any one position. A couple of years, he was kind of like a starter because he started 2/3 of the games. But he did so at nearly every position on the diamond. Punto has been handed several starting roles out of spring training (one at second—05, one at third—07, on at short—09). In each case, he has failed so miserably, he had to be replaced. In one case—07, he was allowed to start more than 120 games at third while sucking so bad for his position, he was arguably the worst player at third in the history of the game (OPS+ of 53 at a position where average is 110). In another case—09—he started almost a half a season while being arguably the worst short stop in Twins history, and that’s saying something (OPS+ of 39 when average is 90).

I guess I can’t really blame Punto for getting opportunities when he doesn’t deserve them. That’s on Gardy, primarily. If he was just another Hocking—a bench player and nothing else—I suspect nobody would have a problem. He probably would be universally beloved as a gritty underdog. If he never got regular starting duties at any one position, Punto would be one of the better utility guys in Twins history. But he’s not. Gardy makes comments like he’s “the second best athlete on the team,” with guys like Morenau and Cuddyer on the team. And he’s been rewarded with big contracts for his position (all-star dollars) for being below replacement level for most of his career. That’s not an underdog, that’s a guy who’s possibly the most overrated player in the game.