I like to stay positive about the Twins, but in recent weeks I’ve become increasingly agitated about the play of Michael Cuddyer.
Yes, he’s coming off of an injury. Sure, he seems like a swell guy. He’s charming and personable and positive. Does good work in the community, is better at public speaking than most of the Twins, and can do magic tricks. People like Cuddy.
But given the way he’s played of late, he should be benched (at least some of the time) or sent to Rochester to work out whatever is going on. I know we aren’t exactly flush with players with all the recent injuries, but surely Kubel and Monroe could cover right field for a while. If Denard Span hadn’t gotten injured, I suspect the Twins would’ve called him back up by now– that’s surely what I would’ve done.
I’m no expert on this stuff. I honestly haven’t been reading other Twins blogs or looking at very many articles about the team this year. I talk to Kevin (that husband of mine) and to my Dad and to the occasional other friends who are fans. I go to a lot of games and I watch almost all of the games on TV (and when that’s not possible, I listen on the radio). Kevin and I took to calling Cuddy “Rally Killer” a couple of weeks ago.
Lots of Twins have slumped and done their share of rally-killing. We were at that wacky extra-innings game against the Rangers where Justin couldn’t manage a simple game-winning sac-fly not just once, but twice . . . it was maddening. We’ve all seen Justin make that face he makes and swear after at-bats that didn’t turn out the way he wanted or we wanted far too many times, but he’s also getting hits and he’s making plays in the field and he definitely intimidates pitchers. His average is good; we’ve been joking that Justin has decided to hit for average not power and that Joe-Ma is gonna have to start hitting for power to make the world truly topsy turvy for us all.
Cuddy’s even been making some boneheaded plays in the field of late. And somehow the charm and upbeat personality he has in interviews doesn’t play so well when he’s playing so poorly. I’d suggest the Cuddyer be honest with fans (and players and coaches) about the things that aren’t working and let us know he knows how awful it’s been and that he’s working on it. Positivity is good, but there are times when it helps to show people that you share their concerns or are at least aware of them and not just blowing them off as unjustified.
I also can’t help but wonder if Cuddy is having more problems with his injury than he’s letting on. The way these things usually go is that suddenly Cuddy will start playing better a week or a month from now and then we’ll see a story in the paper or on the Twins website about how he’d been more hurt than he was letting on (to us and even the coaches) all this time and now that he’s finally better, all is well. I hate that kind of story and that kind of behavior– if you’re having an issue, tell your freaking coaches and work on it and go back on the DL if necessary or do rehab or see a doctor or whatever it takes. Don’t just try to tough it out and have the team suffer as a result.
‘Course it could just be that Cuddy’s just messed up post-injury for some reason that isn’t actually that he’s hurting. Yes, players do struggle sometimes for non-injury related reasons and this could be that. But again– that’s when you work your butt off and take your lumps as needed. That’s also when sometimes a coach needs to make a tough call and bench a player or send ‘em down or just plain do something to shake things up and snap a guy out of whatever is going on.
I’m no coach, I’m no player, I’m just a frustrated fan. I’ve seen plenty of slumps in my day, but this has gone on too long and is driving me crazy. At least maybe move Cuddy down in the lineup? Or something? Acknowledge that there’s something wrong?
Am I crazy? What do you guys think? What would you do if you were the manager or hitting coach or Cuddy?
