Jason Kubel was the Twins' best player in the second half of last year, finally shaking off the rust and the after-effects of his knee injuries - and all of this while Gardenhire constantly made him ride the pine for no reason at all. It seemed like Gardy did everything he could to sabotage Kubel, playing him when he's slumping and making him ride the pine whenever he had a good game or two.

Here we are again this year and Kubel is already riding the pine more than Craig Monroe, a guy who's season last year was a total failure.

Why? Because Gardy has his favorites (witness: Nick Punto) and if you're not one of his favorites, he's not going to play you. Forget what's best for the team, you only get to play if you're one of Gardy's favorites.

Gleeman?

I was screaming about this all last season and I unfortunately saw it coming with some of the comments Gardy made in spring training but yes, I've seen Gleeman's post.

For those who haven't: www.aarongleeman.com/2008_03_30_baseballblog_archive.html#6074872841636627859

Kubel should get 500+ ABs this year but he won't under Ron Gardenhire. He'll end up leaving the Twins as soon as he's eligible (or he'll be traded for a player not anywhere near his worth) and he'll be the next David Ortiz. He'll be a star for his next team after looking like nothing on this team all because of management and a few injuries.

I wouldn't recommend Gleeman.

i agree with you. monroe has looked painfully similar to rondell white in his first several games. play kubel!

Like him or not, he's one of the more respected Twins bloggers. Personally, I enjoy his insights.

I think it'll be hard for even Gardy to ignore Monroe's performance tonight, 3 K's against LHPers. That's just plain awful.

I don't think Gleeman gives any more insight than you can find in here every day...what he's writing has been said in here for the last year or so...In this case he's right, but it's hardly a breaking news opinion...

I'm no fan of Gleeman but that doesn't mean he's not right in this case.

Sure, I absolutely agree any information found on any of the more prominent blogs can be found on this forum. You just have to tolerate filtering through the emotional knee-jerk reactions, certain abrasive personalities, and masturbatory rhetoric to find it here. I favor blogs for the conciseness of information -- Gleeman isn't my favorite, but I do read his blog regularly.

It seems to be a pretty shared opinion amongst Twins fans and bloggers, we all would like to see Kubel be an everyday player. The platoon is my only complaint I have with the season, though to be honest, I'm just glad to be watching baseball again. :)

I think everybody, and there dog know that Kubel should be playing over Monroe..... I hope that if Cuddyers injury means DL that Kubel takes the spot.....

ok, here's his chance, 15 days...as for being the next Ortiz, that is such a laugh and a half...it's one of those things you hear and when Kubel is the next koskie or cordova, the posters go into hibernation for a while...when Kubel hits 15 hr's again and strikes out 50 times, I want a big frickin' apology from every one of you Kubelites out there!

Monroe has been quite disappointing, but he did earn the spot based on his Spring Training. Although again, I can't figure out why Ruiz isn't being looked at...size and talent wise he's closer to Ortiz than anything.

Though I agree with you, isn't masturbatory rhetoric an example of masturbatory rhetoric? Keep both hands on the keyboard when you're in here! : )

Will Kubel ever post numbers like Ortiz? Of course not. But he has the potential to be a great player and I'd hate to see him wasted here, only to succeed when he's given a chance elsewhere.

Those in favor of printing up "Free Jason Kubel" T-shirts, say Ay!

Gleeman was recommending that we get Geoff Jenkins, TOny Clark or Cliff Floyd during the offseason. WHen I questioned his rationale in the comments section he then 'big timed' me by suspending my account. I thought that was cowardly of him and I do not like how his site is now more about HIM and his musings on life than it is Twins baseball. Hearing him blather on about Elisha Cutbert is pretty nauseating and enough to keep me from visiting his site anymore. Frankly I don't think he's any better than I am. Had he had the balls to carry on with me I would have slashed him to ribbons. He knew it so he suspended my account.

If you want to see it here it is:
www.aarongleeman.com/2007_10_14_baseballblog_archive.html
Toggle down about 2/3 of the way down until you find the link "comments (62)" and hit that. Then go down about halfway and you will see our exchange. I am ewen21 of course!

Aaron needs to drop a few pounds, too. I could probably not only talk circles around him here and make him look foolish, but I would probably also be able to dismantle him in about 2 seconds flat in hand to hand combat. Yet this guy makes a living doing this stuff. Whatever.

I don't know who this guy is and I don't think Kubel will become Ortiz but I do think he is good enough to get into the lineup.... Hes got a good bat, good power, and is better then most people think in the OF.... My point is he is better then a bench player and on most teams would be starting and the worst part is its not like he is getting pushed aside because we have a better guy in the minors he is being pushed beside for an under achieving old guy making more money....

Quotes from ewen21 on Gleeman's blog:
-Any intelligent rebuttals would be nice at this point.
-You are a dunce.
-How obtuse are you?
-Any one of them with a brain would laugh in your face
-To think otherwise is to be foolishly stubborn.
-Give me a break.
-Man, I am trying to enjoy some baseball but this silliness is just a little too much to shrug off.
-Yeah.....sounds brilliant.
-Did you consider skill sets or do you just crunch numbers??
-But you are a HUGE disappointment lately.

You manage to avoid swearing but all you do is insult people and treat everyone around you like they're an idiot. It's not too surprising that you got banned from a forum with some actual moderation.

wait a second...you want a 30 year old career minor leaguer to get a look but not Kubel...a guy who has a career .320 minor league BA to get a shot? yeah hes not in the minors i know, and he is like 3 years removed from hitting .350 in a season in the minors...but he busted his knee dude and now he is healthy that is why people want him to play...he was a big time prospect before his knee injury. take a look at his work in the minors before he got hurt...

The headline for today's game preview was all about getting Craig Monroe playing time... thankfully, it wasn't at the expense of Jason Kubel. He responded to the playing time by going two for four with a sacrifice fly, an RBI single and a grand slam. Kubel now leads the team with 8 RBI.