A Calmer Outlook on Bartlett March 31st, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Jason Bartlett was sent to AAA Rochester today, and it’s caused quite a bit of outrage among Twins fans who believe that Ron Gardenhire and the Twins’ organization in general have something personal against Bartlett. It’s true that the Twins haven’t exactly shown much confidence in him since the beginning of last season. He was promptly sent to the minors after struggling the first 6 weeks of last season, and this season he hasn’t been given the starting nod, despite not having any viable competition.
My guess is that the decision is completely based on Bartlett’s hamstring injury of a week ago. He probably isn’t going to be ready for the start of the season, so the Twins could put him on the DL or they could send him to AAA. Sending him to AAA gives the team more options. If Castro & Punto play well at SS early on then Bartlett can stay in AAA and get some at bats. If Castro & Punto struggle at SS early on, then the Twins can call up Bartlett without waiting for his 15 days on the DL to run out.
I’d rather see Bartlett spend a week or two in AAA getting some at bats until the Twins decide they need him than see him put on the DL for two weeks or see him rushed to the big-league squad where he’d likely start the season off rusty and not 100%. I’m gonna give Gardenhire the benefit of the doubt on this one and say that sending Bartlett to AAA was the better decision.
Edit: It looks like I posted my thoughts just a couple hours before the Star Tribune published its story on the matter which pretty much counters everything I speculated.
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3 Comments
Kris wrote: April 1st, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Yeah, seems odd that Gardy's priority would be to have a leader at SS rather than someone who can hit. Leadership is important, but we've got a veteran IF at 2nd base.
There really are arguments on both sides. Defensively, the left side of the IF is weakened by Bastista, so it may be beneficial to have Castro play SS. Offensively, the Twins need a bat, so Bartlett is the better option. In the end, I think Bartlett will get better faster if he's playing the IF with Castillo rather than in AAA.
Kris wrote: April 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Also, thanks for the link. I'm working on a links section for this site in which your site will be included.
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Nick N. wrote: April 1st, 2006 at 4:02 pm
According to today's article in the Strib, which I will analyze in a post for tomorrow on our site, this move had little to do with Bartlett's injury and everything to do with his lack of leadership in the infield… whatever that means. I'm really critical of Gardy on this one.
Really liking the site you've got here, I added a link on our sidebar. Keep up the good work.