Let me help sort out a few things.

Nick Punto v. Brendan Harris: Punto could be Gardy’s love child for all I know, but there isn’t a single solid argument for benching him and playing Harris at shortstop — only emotional ones.

On offense: Punto’s numbers are .285 average, .341 on-base, .399 slugging. Harris’ are .261/.319/.388. Punto has struck out about once in every six at-bats; Harris about once in every four. Punto has one extra-base hit every 12 at-bats; Harris one every 11. Harris has drawn 9 more walks than Punto in 135 more plate appearances. Punto has 11 steals, Harris 1.

On defense: The best defensive metric readily available is zone rating. Among AL shortstops who qualify to be among the league leaders (according to STATS, Inc.)  the top three shortstops are Cabrera (.841), Betancourt (.834) and Bartlett (.833). To qualify, a player needs to have played the position in two of every three of his team’s games. Punto’s ZR in 388 innings is .844; Harris’ is .762 in 462 innings.

Among “qualifying” shortstops in the AL, the lowest ZR is .808. Harris doesn’t come close to that. If you remember back to the mid-80s, it’s like the Smalley v. Gagne debate at shortstop. One got to balls (Gagne), the other didn’t (Smalley).  To his credit and the Twins benefit, Roy found other ways to contribute.

Despite his regular Web Gem appearances, I have been among those skeptical of Punto’s overall fielding prowess and, as an everyday player, I suspect he’d be a middle-of-the-pack shortstop by the numbers. But right now there’s no reasonable measure for anyone to make the argument that Harris should be in the lineup and Punto should be sitting. Yes, Punto has made some errors and takes some maddening ABs (the bases loaded/one out pop fly against Detroit on Saturday was a classic groaner), but the garbage he takes is disproportionate to what he deserves.

At third base, by the way, Brian Buscher has a ZR of .781 and Harris .780. Those numbers would put them at the bottom among qualifying third basemen, ahead of only Kansas City’s Alex Gordon. So don’t be thinking that Buscher, for all of his fielding faults, is the lesser option compared to Harris. Neither is exactly championship caliber, which is why I avert my eyes any time a ball is hit toward third (and Gardy looks for chances to play Tolbert).

Someone commented in Monday’s post that they “want some answers to why Harris has been benched.” You need any more?

Joe Mauer, wuss?: When Joe Mauer gets a day off, there are complaints about his toughness, his durability, his manliness, whatever. Innings caught is a reasonably objective indicator of durability. Mauer is second in the AL to Oakland’s Kurt Suzuki. (I’m assuming we’d swap ‘em straight up, right?) Mauer is also second in the percentage of runners caught stealing and he’s third in the league in hitting. He’s also hitting .371 against lefties. I’m trying to figure out exactly what he does that warrants the derision that he seems to get, and the derision directed at people who are unwilling to nitpick criticisms. Struck out with the bases loaded and one out Saturday? Ohmyfreakinlord. Not enough big hits? Not enough home runs? I guess those people really want him to be St. Joe.

Glen Perkins, Rookie of the Year: Only if the voters are all from Stillwater. Yes, he’s 12-4. But the Twins have lost five games in which Perkins has been given a lead of at least three runs. On Sunday, in a game the Twins needed against Detroit, he suffered another mid-game meltdown and couldn’t get through the sixth inning. Perkins has had a nice season despite his inability to be a bulldog with a lead, but to mention him as among those in the ROY running is silly. Of the Twins current five starters, I see him as the one most likely to lose his spot in the rotation as younger talent develops or the Twins look elsewhere to bolster their staff in 2009 and 2010. Would I mind if he proves me wrong on that one? Not at all.

Carlos Gomez should have been sent to the minors: Gomez is exactly where he should be right now — playing center field more often than not and batting ninth. I think some of the “he shouldn’t be here” venom comes, understandably, from the painfully excessive amount of time it took Gardy to decide that Gomez didn’t have to bat leadoff and play every day to protect a tender psyche. Yes, it’s been excruciating to watch Gomez at the plate much of the time. But, again, using the zone rating measure, Gomez is the best center fielder in the majors. Using the less meaningful Range Factor statistic, the difference between Gomez and the others is even greater. There isn’t another center fielder in baseball who has more than three putouts/assists per nine innings. He simply gets to balls that others don’t. Do some of you people miss Jason Tyner, or what?

Yes, I think the Twins would be better off at this point if Gomez had been in the lineup for, say, 20 fewer games. But I also think they’d be worse off right now if he’d spent time in the minors. Go back and look at Curtis Granderson’s early-career numbers and look at the player he has become. That’s what I see for Gomez in a couple of years, in part because of the Twins being willing to give him a major-league apprenticeship. Sometimes it’s inconvenient to be patient.

Free Matt Tolbert: Some people are romanticizing the work that Tolbert did before he head-firsted his way to the disabled list in May. The truth? His numbers are .264/.309/.352 in 99 plate appearances. I guess he really gets after it and battles his tail off.

Hey Toronto: Nice job. You guys gotta be wishing you were in the AL Central, right? Sometimes geography’s a bear.

other people are here too

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 8:41 am and is filed under From the Dome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.