I think Jason Kubel is going to be an important member of the Twins for years to come.

That’s why they should send him to Rochester RIGHT NOW!

He’s helping neither himself nor the team with the grand funk that he’s fallen into, highlighted by his three painful strikeouts over the last two games, and it would be foolish for him to slip to the neglected end of the bench. Nobody needs to see a repeat of what happened to him in ‘06.

What’s the precedent for this?

(Hint: He’s playing center field and has a 23-game hitting streak.)

In 2000, Torii Hunter started the season as the Twins’ every day center fielder after breaking into the regular lineup during 1999. He started with a batch of hits and then cooled considerably, cooled to the point where the Twins sent him to the minors. He spent from the end of May until the end of July in the minors, playing every day and regaining lost confidence. He was named Twins’ minor-leaguer of the month that June, put together a 16-game hitting streak, hit three grand slams and then came back to Minnesota — where he promptly went hitless in his first 13 at-bats, which dropped his average to .190 with no home runs.

Then he blossomed. He went 4-for-5 against Baltimore and 4-for-9 in three games against Detroit. There was a 12-game hitting streak and a couple of eight-gamers, and there was never any question that Hunter would be the center fielder well into the next decade. He got power cred with 27 homers in ‘01 (up from 5 in 2000) and the humble beginnings were left in the dust.

I’ll bet most people have long forgotten that chapter in Hunter’s biography.

Using that model, the Twins should send Kubel to Rochester right now. They should install him in the No. 3 spot day after day after day, challenge him to find his groove and get him back to the majors when Terry Ryan is confident that he can stay in the lineup every day. Paul Molitor should hop a plane to Rochester to impart hitting wisdom and Harmon Killebrew should make a cameo for encouragement.

That’s how vital Jason Kubel can be to the future of the Twins — whether it’s the second half of 2007 or the many years to follow.

(A final note: In June 2000, while Hunter was on minor-league walkabout, the Twins drafted this outfielder in the 12th round.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.