Nick Punto and a sprinter's gold medal dive

Shaunae Miller of  Bahamas won the 400 meter gold medal
Monday by diving across the finish line.

I haven't watched much of the Olympics, but ... in the final of the womens' 400-meter race Monday in Rio, Shaunae Miller dove across the finish line to edge out Allyson Felix for the gold.

This sparked a series of tweets (from Minnesota-based reporters and others) about Nick Punto and his notorious insistence that his dives into first base got him there faster than running through the base. Including from the former Twins infielder himself:

Take that sports science! Jk John. Kinda.  https://t.co/s0DDWzQvj9

— Nick Punto (@Shredderpunto) August 16, 2016

I've referred here to "Nick Punto's fantasies of physics," and of course the cliche argument against diving into first that "you don't see Olympic sprinters diving across the finish line." Well, now we have. And it worked.

One big difference: Miller's goal was a vertical plane; Punto's was an object on the ground. Miller didn't hit the ground with her knee, chest or hands until after she crossed the finish line; Punto almost always did, and that creates friction, and that slowed him down.

It's still not a good idea, even if a sprinter did it on the biggest stage.

On Punto and Duensing

Nick Punto made it official Thursday: He're retired.

It was a nice career. He squeezed 14 big league seasons out of his ability. His lack of power made him consistently a below-league average hitter, and his fielding chops kept him on rosters and in lineups.

It was an odd thing: Every time the Twins went into a season planning on Punto holding a specific infield slot, that plan turned sour. When they turned to him in midseason to fill a slot after somebody else failed, he thrived. 2006, when he took over third base after Tony Batista flopped. 2008, when he took over shortstop from Adam Everett. 2009, when he supplanted Alexi Casilla at second base and put up a .406 on-base percentage in September.

Punto was a better Plan B than a Plan A.

---

I commented the other day about Brian Duensing's inability to find a team. On Thursday the Kansas City Royals announced that they had signed him to a minor league contract.

The defending World Series champs have, as we all know, a pretty deep bullpen of power arms. But those power arms are right-handed. Duensing has a decent chance to land a roster spot there. And if he does, he'll be mates again with his fellow Nebraska alum and pal Alex Gordon.

Duensing doubtless was holding out for a major-league roster spot. He didn't get it. But he landed, in short, in as good a spot as he could have asked for this close to training camp.

Another try for Johan Santana

The Minnesota Twins have two Santanas -- Danny and Ervin -- on their roster and in training camp. They won't have a third, despite some speculation about five weeks ago,

Johan Santana signed a minor-league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays this week. For the Jays, it's a lottery ticket; for Santana, it's yet another attempt to resurrect his once-brilliant career.

I will always want Santana to succeed. I don't think it's particularly likely, and as I said last month, Minnesota in 2015 doesn't seem like a good fit for him. No team is a good fit if he can't keep his shoulder attached, of course, but the Twins already have too many veteran starters clogging the way for the prospects.

---

In another bit of ex-Twins news, Nick Punto decided last week he'll sit out the 2015 season. He had signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he opted against reporting to major league camp.

Supposedly Punto is leaving the door open to a return in 2016, but really: He's 37 now, and this was the first offseason since he left the Twins in which he wasn't getting offers from contenders. Taking a year off will neither make him younger nor sharpen his skill.

So I assume he's done. Which is a bit surprising. I always figured Punto would be one of those guys who would play until absolutely nobody wanted him. Instead, he pulled his plug before the D-backs could.

The Knoblauch legacy

We can trace Brian
Duensing's presence on
the Twins roster to
Chuck Knoblauch.

A few years ago I wrote a print column on the "Knoblauch tree," in which I traced the impact on the Twins of their 1989 decision to draft Chuck Knoblauch in the first round.

As detailed in this Grantland piece by Ben Lindbergh, the Twins are still benefiting from that move.

Knoblauch's personal travails notwithstanding, he had an excellent seven-year run in Minnesota: Starting second baseman on the 1991 World Series team, Rookie of the Year that year, four All-Star teams, a cumulative slash line of .304/..391/.416.

The Twins traded him to the Yankees and got back Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Brian Buchanan and Danny Mota (and cash). Mota washed out. The others:

• Guzman was the Twins regular shortstop for six years, during which time they won three division titles. Guzy led the league in triples three times, made an All-Star team, slashed .226/.303/.383. 
• Milton spent six years -- or five really, considering an injury that wiped out most of his final season in Minnesota -- in the Twins rotation, racking up a 57-51 record with a 4.76 ERA and one All-Star season.
• Buchanan wasn't so much of a much. The Twins gave the big outfielder 455 plate appearances over three seasons, in which he hit .258 with 16 homers. But he still matters in this saga.

Guzman left as a free agent; under the prevailing rules, the Twins got a third-round draft pick from the Nationals. (Lindbergh's flow chart says it was the Mariners, but that's an error.) That pick turned into Brian Duensing, still a member of the pitching staff. Duensing to date is 37-36 with a 4.12 ERA with the Twins, splitting his time between the rotation (61 starts) and the bullpen (238 relief outings).

Milton was traded to Philadelphia for Nick Punto, Carlos Silva and Bobby Korecky.

• Korecky's still hanging around at age 35; the Blue Jays gave him 3.1 innings last season. He made just 16 appearances with the Twins before they cut him loose. 
• Punto's also still going; he was with Oakland last year as a reserve infielder. In seven years with the Twins he slashed .248/.323/.324 and drove a vocal contingent of the fan base nuts by repeatedly winding up the regular at one of the infield spots. Third base, second base, shortstop. He left as a free agent and hasn't missed the postseason since.
• Silva spent four years in the Twins rotation, compiling a 47-45, 442 mark and averaging more than 190 innings a year.

That's where these guys' contributions end. Korecky was released, and Punto and Silva's departures as free agents did not bring back any compensation picks.

Buchanan was traded to San Diego for a Class A infielder: Jason Bartlett. Bartlett was with the Twins for three partial seasons and one full one, slashing .272/.341/.362 in those four seasons. His belated emergence as the full-time shortstop was a key to the division title run in 2006, in my opinion the best of the Ron Gardenhire teams.

Bartlett was traded to Tampa Bay. Unlike the previous trades listed here, this wasn't a clean, one-player for this package. The Twins included Matt Garza and Eduardo Moran in the trade and got back Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie.

• Pridie was the outfield equivalent of Korecky; A short, ineffectual stint with the Twins (11 games, six plate appearances), then cut loose. (Like Korecky, he's still playing; he got four at-bats with Colorado in 2014).
• Harris spent three years with the Twins, playing some shortstop and some third base. He hit .252/.309/.360 with more than 1,000 plate appearances.
• Young had one big season in 2010 and three mediocre ones for the Twins, with a combined slash line of .287/.324/.429. 

Harris was included in the notorious J.J. Hardy trade: Hardy and Harris to Baltimore for Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. The Twins released Jacobson after the 212 season, he stalled out in Double A for the Twins. Hoey had one lousy season with the Twins and was claimed on waivers by Toronto. So this branch of the Knoblauch tree ends there.

Lester Oliveros might
be the best bet to
keep the tree growing.

Young was traded to Detroit for Lester Oliveros and Cole Nelson. Nelson has been released; the Minnesota native pitched for the independent St. Paul Saints last summer. Oliveros, still only 26, has spent the past two years recovering from Tommy John surgery and is regarded as a serious candidate for the Twins bullpen in 2015.

So that's the Knoblauch tree so far. By Lindbergh's computation, it's the seventh-longest current tree in the majors. The longest is an incredible one: The Mets used a 1967 -- that's right, 1967 -- draft pick on Jon Matlack, and almost a half century later have David Wright to show for it. 

Ex-Twin watch: Nick Punto

Nick Punto with son Nash before Nash's
eye surgery last week. (Photo tweeted
by Natalie Punto).

I find this somewhat amusing: Nick Punto, derided by the stat-savvy on the blogosphere during his years getting regular playing time with the Twins, is now, in the bounce-around phase of his career, making the rounds of the most sabermetrically oriented organizations.

First, he signed with St. Louis. Then with Boston. Now, with an intervening trade to Los Angeles, he's signed with Oakland.

To be sure, he hasn't gotten the at-bats with these teams that he did with the Twins -- fewer than 700 plate appearances the past three years combined. But he did play in 116 games with the Dodgers last year, filling in around the infield, and in 2011, he was a lineup fixture in the NLCS and World Series as the Cardinals won it all.

Punto's 36 now, and he will never be an offensive force. But he was always a better player than his detractors recognized, and the willingness of some of the sharpest front offices to find space for him on their rosters even in his decline phase speaks to that.

The irrepressible Nick Punto

It begins to look as if Nick Punto, not Danny Valencia,
is the ex-Twin Bobby Valentine trusts at third base.

The Twins early this month traded Danny Valencia to Boston in a waiver deal. The Red Sox, with rookie Will Middlebrooks installed at third base, sent Valencia to Triple A Pawtucket.

He didn't stay there long. Middlebrooks broke his wrist, and Valencia was recalled. He made his Red Sox debut on Aug. 11 as a substitute. He started on Aug. 12; the 13th was an off day; he started again on the 14th.

And since then, almost nothing; indeed, Valencia made just one more appearance before being sent back to Pawtucket on Tuesday. Four games, nine plate appearances, one hit.

Know who's been playing third base for the Red Sox for the past week as they desperately try to resuscitate their playoff hopes? Nick Punto.

Yes indeed, the king of the headfirst slide, the longtime bane of the Twins Internet community, started four of the five games since the 14th (through Monday; he wasn't in the lineup Tuesday evening).

Will this last? I don't know, but I still find this intriguing.

Ron Gardenhire, Tony LaRussa, now Bobby Valentine. Three managers of some repute and accomplishment, and each, with a season in the balance, has at least once stuck Punto in his infield. Gardenhire, of course, did so at three different positions; LaRussa relied on Punto at second base during St. Louis' surprising run to the World Series title last October; and now Valentine seems intent on using the veteran at the hot corner.

Three great Game Fives

Wake me up before you Go-Go: The Brewers charge the field to celebrate
as Carlos Gomez slides home with the winning run Friday.

Three of the division series went to a fifth game; all three were excellent contests. All were one-run affairs; one went extra innings.

Fox may not be happy that the Yankees and Phillies have been eliminated; the News Corp bean counters may dread the possibility of a Detroit-Milwaukee World Series. But these results pleased me, not least because of the roles certain recent members of the Twins played in those games.

When Carlos Gomez was perched on second base in the bottom of the 10th inning in Milwaukee on Friday night, I flashed back to Game 163 in 2009 — a stirring game in the Dome. Remember? It was Go-Go who carried home the winning run that night.

Among Nick Punto's crisp defensive
plays was this tag on Chase Utley
on a stolen base attempt.

And it was Go-Go who brought the run home on Friday for the Brewers. Good for him. I continue to believe that Gomez will thrive if he lands on a team that can put him in center field and at the bottom of the lineup. He hasn't found that team yet. Maybe he never will.

Also on Friday, Nick Punto played a sparkling game at second base for St. Louis. Punto missed a lot of time with injuries this season, so even if the Twins had kept him, he probably wouldn't have been the reliable Plan B for the infield that he was for so many seasons for Ron Gardenhire. The Twins didn't adequately replace him.

And, of course, Delmon Young on Thursday hit his third home run of the series as the Detroit Tigers knocked off the Yankees. At this writing, I don't know if Young, who strained his oblique Thursday, will be available for the ALCS against Texas.

The Rangers figure to have three lefties in their rotation, so Detroit would be better off with Young in the lineup — if he can swing the bat freely. He missed a month for the Twins with an oblique strain this summer, so I suspect he's not going to be useful in the coming series.

Pic of the Week

Nick Punto — still scrappy after all these years.

This one first caught my eye for the reaction of Pittsburgh baserunner Josh Harrison, doing the limbo after being ruled out on a force out.

Then I noticed the identity of the third baseman on the play — our old pal Nick Punto.

Punto has spent a lot of time on the disabled list for St. Louis this season, but he's played well when available. He entered the weekend with career highs in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, although it also must be noted that he had just 141 plate appearances.

Given all his injuries, he probably wouldn't have been much use for the Twins this year, but his absence has certainly been noticeable. For all the disdain many fans held for him, he was always a highly reliable Plan B in the middle infield. The Twins needed that this year, and didn't have it.

News of the day: Mauer and Punto

This is for the hair. The other stuff goes in the knee.

Joe Mauer would rather talk shampoo than knee injections, which isn't surprising.

He's getting paid to hawk shampoo now. And any medical report concerning his knee -- such as the revelation that he is getting injections of a lubricating fluid in his left knee -- is bound to bump up the near-constant chatter about moving him from the catcher position, and that gets old real fast.

This is, apparently, less about current problems than about preventing future issues. Mauer has twice had surgery on the knee, and nobody can doubt that the constant squatting involved in the position takes a toll.

The Twins had said Mauer would be held back from catching chores during camp (in fact, Seth Stohs says another minor leaguer, Dan Rohlfing, has been brought in to handle bullpen chores), and maybe nobody would have noticed Mauer's likely series of absences as he has more of the injections in future weeks.

Or maybe they would. Mauer may not like being the center of attention, but that is part of the bargain that includes lucrative paydays not only as a receiver and hitter of pitches but also for pitching video games and hair care products.

---

It's going to be a while before former Twins infielder Nick Punto slides headfirst again. Punto, who signed with St. Louis almost as soon as the Twins shut the door on him, needs hernia surgery and isn't expected to play until sometime in May.

An unlikely Punto lament

Aaron Gleeman's take on the departure of Nick Punto surprised me today, because Gleeman has regularly criticized the organization for relying on Punto to fill infield gaps.

Nick Punto's 288 plate appearances last season were his
fewest since 2004.

In the past, Gleeman has described Punto's defense as overrated; today's post calls Punto a truly elite gloveman.

The difference, I think, is that this past season Punto really shined in the defensive metrics. I wrote about it in November, that Baseball Info Systems left him off their leaderboards because they simply didn't trust what the numbers were telling them about his defense.

Gleeman takes UZR -- Ultimate Zone Rating -- more seriously than I do. Because of that, he now takes Punto's defensive abilities more seriously than he used to.

Which, now that Punto is 33, is probably an error. My notion is that UZR and other metrics have underrated Punto, but the past is the past. Thirty-three-year-olds are not going to gain range in the middle infield. They are going to decline.

The Twins are right to move on from No. 8. Not only is he older, which implies an increasing proneness to injury and a decrease in ability, but the front office cannot rely on Ron Gardenhire to keep Punto in a reserve role.

The plan is to give the infield jobs to Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Alexi Casilla and Danny Valencia. I suspect that if Punto were around, Gardenhire would want to use him more than Casilla. That might be the right thing in the short run, but it's counterproductive in the long run.

Sure, the Twins probably could have signed Punto to a similar deal as St. Louis did. It's best that they didn't.

Punting Nick Punto and payroll speculation

A fare-thee-well to No. 8

UPDATE: Punto signed today with the Cardinals.

It's never over 'til it's over, but as Joe Christensen reported this morning, it certainly appears that the Twins have broken up with Nick Punto.

It's been fairly obvious for a while. Punto is on the wrong side of 30; the front office wants Alexi Casilla to get a clean shot at shortstop/second base and has reason to believe that if Punto's around, Casilla won't get that shot; and Matt Tolbert -- like Punto a switch-hitting multi-position scrappy infielder -- is out of options.

None of that is new information. The part of the report that caught my attention was this almost throwaway sentence:

Insiders say Carl Pavano's contract actually pushed them over budget, requiring special approval from CEO Jim Pohlad.

The Twins have been quite conservative about their offseason budgets over the years. Some organizations will go over their budget in the winter with the plan to deal off some contract(s) before the season starts. The Twins typically don't do that.

Presumably Pohlad's OK means the Twins are free to keep all six starters on hand all season if they desire. Or perhaps his OK merely means Bill Smith and Co. have until the season begins and they have to actually start paying the players to get the payroll down to their budget.

If they have to get the payroll down before April, it should be doable by trading one of the starters.

Nick Punto and the quest for infield stablity

Monday's post traced the instability of the Twins infield over the past five seasons. Of the 20 spots -- four per season -- exactly eight regulars made it from opening day to seasons end still the regular at that position.

That's a lot of in-season turnover. And that kind of turmoil is behind the move to younger, unproven players. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Alexi Casilla and Danny Valencia all offer the possibility of being four- and five year solutions to their positions.

Being unproven -- Casilla has the most MLB experience, and the fewest credentials -- they also offer the possibility that they will turn their position into a problem.

Alexi Casilla: Can he
establish himself
as a major league regular?

Which, as I noted Monday, is why manager Ron Gardenhire doubtless wants Nick Punto back. Punto has plugged infield holes in the past for him.

Here is the argument for the front office to deny Gardy that security blanket: Juan Castro.

Flash back to 2005. Cristian Guzman has left as a free agent. The Twins have a minor leaguer, Jason Bartlett, apparently ready to step in; they also have Punto. And then they signed Castro, a veteran good glove, no-hit infielder.

With Castro at his disposal, Gardenhire refused to commit to Bartlett, even demoting Bartlett at the end of spring training 2006 even though he had clearly outperformed Castro. (Gardy's stated reason -- that the young Bartlett was deferring to the veteran infielders, Luis Castillo and Tony Bautista -- seemed ludicrous then and now.)

It wasn't until then-general manager Terry Ryan dumped Castro on the Cincinnati Reds (and cut Bautista loose) that Gardenhire played Bartlett. He had to; there was no other option.

Similarly, it may well be that if Punto is re-signed with the intent of having him serve as a backup, that Gardenhire will edge away from the plan of putting the load on Casilla.

If Casilla fails, there's Matt Tolbert and Trevor Plouffe and the possibility of a midseason deal. But if Casilla plays part time and Punto plays part time, the goal of stabilizing the infield is missed.

Ron Gardenhire's evolving infields

A running theme in this corner of the Internet is Pitching Plan B. Nobody gets through a full season with five starters, much less four -- nine men started at least once for the 2010 Twins. Teams have to have Plan Bs available to plug into the rotation.

Nick Punto has plugged infield
holes at three positions in midseason.

But an intriguing aspect to the Twins is how often they have to turn to an infield Plan B. And considering that Plan A for 2010 involves one middle infielder who has never played a major league game (Tsuyoshi Nishioka) and another who has twice before been handed a starting job and twice handed it back (Alexi Casilla) -- and that Plan A is vague on which of those two will play shortstop and which second base -- the organization's ability to handle such infield turmoil is significant.

Ron Gardenhire inherited the "League of Nations infield" when he assumed the managerial job for the 2002 season: Doug Mientkiewicz at first base, Luis Rivas at second, Corey Koskie at third, Cristian Guzman at short. No real stars in that group, but no oozing sores either.

That foursome began to break up after a couple of division titles. Rivas faded out of the lineup; Mientkiewicz gave way to Justin Morneau, griped about it and was traded in midseason; Koskie and Guzman left as free agents for bigger offers.

The Twins have since gone with Morneau and a series of stopgaps, with frequent midseason changes because of injury or ineptitude. Let's chart this over the past five seasons:

2010
April infield: Morneau, 1B; Orlando Hudson, 2B; Nick Punto, 3B; J.J. Hardy, SS
September infield: Michael Cuddyer, 1B; Hudson, 2B; Danny Valencia, 3B; Hardy, SS

2009
April: Morneau, 1B; Alexi Casilla, 2B; Joe Crede, 3B; Punto, SS
September: Cuddyer, 1B; Punto, 2B; Matt Tolbert, 3B; Orlando Cabrera, SS

Joe Crede opened 2009 at
third base but couldn't make
it through the season.

2008
April: Morneau, 1B; Brendan Harris, 2B; Mike Lamb, 3B; Adam Everett, SS
September: Morneau, 1B; Casilla, 2B; Brian Buscher/Harris platoon, 3B; Punto, SS

2007
April: Morneau, 1B; Luis Castillo, 2B; Punto, 3B; Jason Bartlett, SS
September: Morneau, 1B; Casilla, 2B; Punto, 3B; Bartlett, SS

2006
April: Morneau, 1B; Castillo, 2B; Tony Bautista, 3B; Juan Castro, SS
September: Morneau, 1B; Castillo, 2B; Punto, 3B; Bartlett, SS

There are two constants in that string of seasons: Morneau is always Plan A at first base, and Nick Punto is alway plugging a hole created by somebody else's failure. (Punto's best seasons have come when he wasn't Plan A.)

It should be no surprise that Ron Gardenhire wants Punto back as his security blanket.

The Punto poll

We had 54 responses to last week's poll question: If Nick Punto would sign for one year, $1 million, should the Twins bring him back?

No. 8 did better than I expected: 35 (64 percent) said yes, 19 (35 percent) said no.

Nick Punto: 21 career
triples, 13 career home runs

Here's what I kinda-sorta expect: The Twins will let Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy go (Hudson's departure is apparently a given) and lean on their internal candidates to fill the middle infield. That would allow them budgetary wriggle room on offering their veteran relief pitchers arbitration -- a topic I expect to explore in the coming week.

The primary candidates in that scenario for shortstop would include Alexi Casilla and Trevor Plouffe, with Brendan Harris and his guaranteed major-league salary a consideration as well. The primary candidates for second base would be Casilla and Luke Hughes, with Matt Tolbert a possiblity but a more likely choice as the chief utility infielder.

That's five candidates for a minimum of three jobs (shortstop, second base and utility infielder), none of them established major leaguers. I suspect Ron Gardenhire would prefer to have his Punto security blanket on hand in that scenario -- and the deal would be for a low guarantee with playing time bonuses, and no certainty that he's making the roster this spring.

Punto has his flaws, but he can probably do better than that on the open market. But if he's Gardenhire's security blanket infielder, Gardy's also something of a security blanket for him. This can happen.

New poll up.

The magic glove of Nick Punto

Measuring defense has not been perfected by any means, but it's still better to know what the metrics are saying than to ignore them. (Imperfect knowledge -- coupled with an understanding of the limitations of that knowledge -- is better than ignorance.) The Bill James Handbook, of which I wrote a few days ago, publishes two yardsticks devised by Baseball Info Systems: plus-minus and runs saved.

Glovework is a big part
of what Nick Punto offers.

Notable Twins in these stats:

Orlando Hudson, now a free agent, had 17 "runs saved" at second base in 2010, tied for the best in baseball with Tampa Bay's Sean Rodriguez, and led all second basemen in plus-minus with a +23. Over the past three years, the O-Dog is credited with 18 runs saved and a +27 -- most of both coming last season.

Alexi Casilla's three-year total in runs saved at second base is -13, tied for fifth worse.

J.J. Hardy has a three year total of 18 runs saved at short, at 2010 total of 4. In plus-minus, Hardy was a +6, tied for ninth in BIS' rankings, and a solid +29 over three seasons.

Delmon Young ranks last among left fielders in the three-year totals, -27 in runs saved; in 2010, he was -8, still among the league's worst. In plus-minus in 2010, he was -20, worst in all the majors; over three years, he's -57.

Michael Cuddyer, despite not playing at all in the outfield after Justin Morneau got hurt in early July, was a -6 in runs saved in right in 2010, tied for fourth worse in baseball. In plus-minus, he was -17, which is ghastly.

Denard Span was top 10 among center fielders in runs saved (nine) and in plus-minus (+14).

And then there's Nick Punto.

Punto was (in plus minus) a +1 at second base, a +10 at third base, a +8 at shortstop. In runs saved, he was 1, 8, 7. These are very impressive numbers for relatively few innings.

BIS didn't include him in their rankings; one of their people told me it was because he didn't play enough innings. But he'd have easily made the top ten at both third base and shortstop in both runs saved and plus-minus.

The question is: How much weight can one put on those numbers? Answer: Not a lot. BIS publishes three-year numbers in part because the single season figures, even for a regular, can fluctuate so much (see Hudson). For a part-timer, the fluctuation problem figures to be worse.

I continue to believe that defense, both the portion we can measure and that which is still hidden from statistical analysis, is one aspect of the game that kept the 2010 Twins from being a truly outstanding team.

More Kubel, less Punto (maybe)

As generally expected, the Twins on Friday exercised their $5.25 million option on Jason Kubel and declined their $5 million option on Nick Punto.

Jason Kubel played 83
games in right field,
16 in left field in 2010.

The Twins may well be overpaying on Kubel. Certainly his 2010 numbers were disappointing (his slash stats were his worst since 2006), he shows no real sign of ever being a truly productive hitter against southpaws and he's never going to be a Gold Glove candidate in the outfield. But he's still on the good side of 30, retaining him leaves one less question mark to deal with in the offseason, and he convinced me that he's at least as capable in the outfield as Michael Cuddyer.

He certainly had fewer problems playing the right field wall at Target Field than Cuddy did.

The Punto situation is a bit more complex. As stated here before, there may (or may not) be a price at which the Twins want to keep Punto. It's pretty obvious that $5 million isn't it.

Nick Punto's 288 plate
appearances were his
fewest since 2004.

A lot depends on what the Twins want to do with their middle infield, and that depends in large part on (a) how big their payroll budget is and (b) how much of it they want to spend on relief pitching vs. middle infield. It would be a lot easier to re-sign Punto at $1.5 million with bonuses for at-bats (just picking a Punto-friendly number out of the air) if they hadn't already committed $1.75 million to Brendan Harris.

The Harris contract is wasted money; there's no market for a bat-first utility infielder who hit .157/.233/.213 in the bigs and .233 in Triple A. Even if the Twins go young and cheap in their middle infield in 2011 -- say with Alexi Casilla at second and Trevor Plouffe at short -- there may be no room for Punto as a reserve, with Matt Tolbert out of options and that money already committed to Harris. Still, it's a safe bet that Ron Gardenhire would rather have Punto than Harris.

For that matter, so would I.

The price point of Nick Punto

One of my pet peeves regarding stories of free agents is the cliche line from athletes that staying with their current team "isn't up to me."

Nick Punto hit .238/.313/.302 last season.

Case in point: Carl Crawford, currently the left fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, who will be a free agent after the World Series. After the Rays were eliminated the other night, the team owner came to Crawford's locker to say thank you, and Crawford told reporters: "I don't want to leave."

Well, he doesn't have to. There's a price point at which the Rays will be happy to re-sign Crawford. There's little chance that that price point will be high enough to satisfy him, but that's his choice. It's not that the Rays are rejecting him; they can't realistically fit him into their budget.

On the other hand, there's Nick Punto. The Twins are expected to decline Punto's $5 million option for 2011 and pay him a $500,000 buyout, making him a free agent. Says the infielder:

"I want to stay. There's unfinished business here. If something happens, wherever I go won't be a better place than here."

But this one might indeed be out of his hands. Punto is essentially the same player as Alexi Casilla and Matt Tolbert: switch-hitting middle infielders with little power. They are gloves and legs.

Even if Punto is willing to accept the same kind of money Casilla and Tolbert figure to get — and that's going to be closer to the major league minimum ($400,000) than to the $4 million Punto's been paid the past couple of seasons — it's probably the smarter percentage play to go with the younger guys.

Punto turns 33 next month and missed much of the second half with injuries. Tolbert is 28; Casilla is 26.

Manager Ron Gardenhire has valued — many fans say overvalued — what Punto brings to the table. But Punto's playing time dropped sharply this season, and in his limited second-half action he was decidedly unimpressive even at the things he usually does well.

There are a lot of moving pieces to the Twins infield puzzle this offseason, but I fully expect that one piece that will be moving elsewhere is Punto.

A game they deserved to lose

Three errors by the middle infield. Three unearned runs allowed. Two home runs — not one, but two — given up to Wilson Betemit.

And one of the most atrocious baserunning gaffes I've ever seen.

The wonder is that the Twins came as close to winning Thursday's game as they did.

Physical errors happen. I'm not inclined to come down on Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert for their fielding slips.

But the Denard Span-Nick Punto brain lock on the bases — they both deserve castigation.

The Twins are down 3-0. Punto is on third, Span on second with one out. Joe Mauer hits a fly to deep center, and Mitch Maier makes the catch on the warning track. Punto is tagging up, as he should, but he pauses to wave Span back to second. Then Punto jogs home, but doesn't get there before Span is doubled off second.

Span's brain lock started the problem. One of two things is going to happen on that play; one, the ball is going fall in, in which case he can score from second base. Two, the ball is going to be caught, in which case he needs to tag up. There's no point in tearing off for third.

Punto also screwed up. He knew Span had goofed. He needed to hustle himself. Even if he doesn't know the rule, run the play out and let the umps sort it out.

The Twins lost by one run — the run Span and Punto combined to give away.

Dire straits in the Twins infield

That was quite the infield Ron Gardenhire started Saturday in Oakland:

• First base, Brendan Harris — slash stats entering play .163/.250/.228.
• Second base, Matt Tolbert (pictured) — .154/.154/.154
• Third base, Danny Valencia — .250/.250/.250
• Shortstop, Nick Punto — .202/.283/.260

Granting that Tolbert and Valencia had combined for just 21 major league plate appearances entering the game, it's a pretty grim state of affairs when Nick Punto is the slugger of the infield.

Behind such a makeshift alignment: Injuries, absences and weariness.

• Orlando Hudson, who the Twins had expected/hoped would be ready to return to the lineup in Oakland, isn't; I rather expect him to go on the disabled list Tuesday when Michael Cuddyer returns from the bereavement list.
• Justin Morneau needed a day off, and came a pinch-hitting appearance short of actually getting one.
• J.J. Hardy, who is just 5 for 38 since returning from the disabled list, was scratched with a sore wrist but wound up pinch-running for Morneau and scored the winning run.
• And Cuddyer, who has started games at first and second this season, is gone for his father-in-law's funeral.

That strange asemblage worked. Tolbert drove home the winning run. The infield played cleanly, with Harris making a savvy play to turn an off-target throw from Punto into a tag out. Valencia and Punto each had a single and a walk.

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The winning rally featured an odd managerial decision: With the score tied, the bases empty and one out in the top of the ninth and Brad Ziegler pitching for Oakland, Morneau pinch-hit for Harris. Ziegler is a submarine righty vulnerable to left-handed hitters, and Morneau has been on a tear.

Oakland manager Bob Geren defied the convention that says you don't put the winning run on. He had Ziegler issue an intentional walk. Hardy ran for Morneau. Then Punto walked, putting runners on first and second. Denard Span grounded into a force play, moving Hardy to third, and Tolbert singled.

Counting Morneau, Ziegler had to face four straight left-handed hitters, two of them with the go-ahead run in scoring position; he got one of them out.

Morales, Silva, Punto and a West Coast swing

This was bound to happen someday to somebody: Kendry Morales, the Anaheim first baseman, hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the 10th Saturday and jumped into the mass of teammates waiting at home plate to pummel him — and now he's out indefinitely with a fractured leg.

"It'll change the way we celebrate," promised Angels manager Mike Scoscia. Gee, ya think?

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Back in April I posted the first of my "Ex-Twins watch" items with Carlos Silva as the subject. The portly pitcher had won his first three starts with the Cubs, and I figured I'd better get him in while the getting was good.

I could have waited. Silva is now 7-0 — the rest of the staff is 17-26 — and he's even striking hitters out. He had 11 K's Saturday in his seven shutout innings against St. Louis.

It isn't just the weaker National League competition either. Judging from the ESPN highlights, he's got more movement on his pitches — especially his favored two-seamer — than I recall from his Twins days.

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A comment to my Saturday post on Nick Punto said in part:

I see a poor base runner. Getting picked off vs. the Yankees last season in the play-offs is his norm.

It's OK to think poorly of Nick Punto, but the emperical, measurable evidence on his baserunning couldn't be more different. According to Baseball Info Systems, Punto in 2009 made one baserunning out. (The BIS numbers are regular season only; the playoff blunder wasn't included.) The blunder vs. the Yankees isn't his "norm," it was merely memorable.

Punto rated as a plus 27 as a baserunner last season, the best on the team. Only 11 players in the majors rated higher. In 2008 (the first season from which BIS publishes its baserunning analysis) he was a plus 11 — not the best on the team, but still good.

There are legitimate criticisms to be made of Punto. But if you look at him and see a poor baserunner, you've been blinded by something.

(The BIS numbers, incidentally, were gleaned from the annual Bill James Handbook. And I urge you not to view "plus 27" as suggesting that Punto's baserunning gained 27 runs or 27 bases or 27 specific anythings, because I don't think BIS is saying that. Their formula incorporates a variety of percentages and league averages.)

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The Twins on Monday begin a week-long swing to Seattle and Oakland, with most of the games starting too late for The Free Press to get into its print edition. As usual under such circumstances, I'll post photos and links to the box scores and game stories here.