What Gardy wants, plus a programming note
Posted on July 14th, 2008 – 9:58 AMBy La Velle
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire on Sunday talked about how he’d like to improve his team before the July 31 deadline for trades without waivers. I ran out of room to post his comments in today’s paper, mainly because I found out yesterday afternoon that the Twins have placed a call into the Mariners about third baseman Adrian Beltre.
Gardenhire said he would be in touch with general manger Bill Smith over the All-Star break about potential moves. He didn’t sound like anything was close, but at least the Twins are looking at options now.
When asked if he had a wish list, Gardenhire: “The one thing we had a hard time with in the first half was left-handed pitching,’’ he said. “When (Michael) Cuddyer comes back, that’s always gong to help, but if you have to make adjustments we need to hit lefties better than we did this half.
“You always look at your bullpen to make sure you are O.K. there. We about murdered them the first half.’’’
I agree. Those are the two areas that should be addressed.
I still rank getting someone to help them with the eighth inning above getting a third baseman. But, I must admit, you wonder what’s in store for Justin Morneau the rest of the season after Detroit manager Jim Leyland intentionally walked him four times after he went 5 for 5 with a homer on Thursday.
Leyland won’t be the only manager to avoid Morneau and pitch to Jason Kubel, Craig Monroe or whoever bats behind the big Canadian. Cuddyer, if his hand is healthy, can help. And, as of now, no one knows when Cuddyer is coming back. His hand isn’t getting better, which is a growing concern. He was really down in the dumps in Detroit because he couldn’t do anything other than run and get treatment.
Thursday’s workout will be important. That’s when Cuddy will try to grab a bat. If he’s still having trouble, he may not be back until August.
Anyway, I’ll make my usual Monday appearance with KFAN’s P.A. and Dubay at 11:05 a.m. today. BUT I’m also filling in from Noon-3 p.m. after that!!! We’re going to have a pretty good show.
We’re tying to get Justin Morneau on for five minutes during the noon hour. Class AAA Rochester manager Stan Cliburn will come on about 1:20 to talk about prospects. And Ken Lipshez of the New Britain Herald will follow Cliburn to talk about the Class AA Rock Cats.
During the final hour, we expect to check in with the T-Wolves’s Kevin Love as he prepares to play in the Las Vegas summer league. If you have nothing to do….
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