Anybody who has been to a Twins game with us — but particularly MC Creme Fraiche — will note that we ostensibly always want to see more Brendan Harris. If he’s not in the lineup, we are sad. But if there’s anything we like in these tough economic times, it’s being less sad. Lately, Harris has been playing a lot. And he’s been playing well. The first part is primarily because Nick Punto is on the DL and many of the Twins’ other middle infielders couldn’t currently hit the broad side of Jose Mijares with an oar. The second part? Well, Harris has always played pretty well when he’s been here — making his in-and-out lineup shuffle all the more curious. Thankfully, though, Ron Gardenhire — who never really seemed to care for Harris from the start — is beginning to see it our way. From Joe C’s notebook:

Twins manager Ron Garden- hire is warming to the idea of keeping Brendan Harris in the everyday lineup, even if that means unseating Nick Punto at shortstop.

With Punto on the disabled list because of a right groin strain, Harris reeled off a career-long 12-game hitting streak before going hitless Monday against the Athletics. He then went 3-for-4 with a double in Tuesday night’s blowout victory, putting his average at .290.

Before Tuesday’s game, Gardenhire said he planned to speak to Punto, who is batting .187 and is eligible to return from the DL on Friday.

“I’m going to find a way to keep Harry’s bat in the lineup,” Gardenhire said. “He’s swinging really good. He played the heck out of shortstop [Monday].“

Harris goes from buried to getting a nickname?

Of note: there still exists a perception that Punto is a defensive whiz, while Harris — the second part of Gardenhire’s quote notwithstanding — is sometimes a liability. But if you are enchanted with fangraphs, which we are, you’ll note that both men have the same rating of right around average. Harris’ bat makes him an overall asset, while Punto’s bat makes him an overall liability. In fact, Harris has the sixth-highest Wins Above Replacement score on the team this season behind Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span, Joe Crede and Michael Cuddyer. Punto is in negative territory, above only Matt Tolbert, Alexi Casilla and Delmon Young, among position players. In this case, the stats don’t lie: Harris is an above average player who should be in the starting lineup five of every six games. Punto is a functional utility player who might be a decent solution at second base by default but should otherwise be nothing but a spot starter.

While this is perhaps hardly breaking news to many Twins fans who are equally enamored with Harris over Punto, it is nice to see that a permanent change could be in the offing. It would at least make the trade with the Rays seem less lopsided. It’s certainly a better idea than the one offered by a caller on KFAN this morning: he wants Delmon Young to bat second. Short of jumping directly into the inflatable Blue Bunny ice cream bucket during the Dome promotion instead of trying to throw a ball in there, we’re not sure there’s a worse idea out there.

To kick-start the conversation: Who else has the Harris love, and can you think of other Twin Cities athletes, past or present, who have been similarly and perhaps strangely kept from playing in favor of others?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.