A bench of role guys

There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of bench players. There are players -- typically veterans -- who have specific in-game roles.  And there are players -- typically younger -- who are waiting for a regular to get hurt or slump his way to the bench.

Leo Durocher, Hall of Fame manager, was notorious for dividing his teams into the guys who play and the guys who sit. Casey Stengel and Earl Weaver, also Hall of Fame managers, platooned everybody but their superstars; it was hard to tell who was their bench guys some years.

Rosters are shaped differently these days; benches are thinner when about half the roster is pitching. But the Twins bench under Ron Gardenhire tended strongly toward the Durocher model. Gardy didn't platoon much, and he liked a set lineup.

Paul Molitor has edged away from that, and it really shows in the bench the Twins expect to open with today. There are four players, and it's not difficult to identify their in-game roles:

• Mitch Garver is the backup catcher. He's a right handed hitter, which gives Molitor a platoon option with starter Jason Castro. 
• Ehire Adrianza, utility infielder, is a superior gloveman who started games last season at five different positions. He's a switch hitter.
• Robbie Grossman, switch-hitter, is an on-base percentage specialist. The more he plays in the outfield, the less his bat helps. 
• Ryan LaMarre, right handed hitter, is something of a mirror image to Grossman. Despite his gaudy spring training numbers, he's never been much of a hitter, but he's fast and a good defensive outfielder.

The Twins' nine regulars tend heavily to the left side. The bench is all right-handed or switch hitters. Molitor has some bat-first options and some glove-first options. There is nobody on this roster like Luis Rodriguez a few years ago, where one wondered what function he had. There is an obvious purpose to each of these four, and I applaud that.

Logan Morrison and the bench

The addition of Logan Morrison as the presumptive regular designated hitter figures to have some intriguing ramifications for the Twins bench.

Assuming good health, the Twins have a starting outfield of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler; an infield of Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano and Jorge Polanco; Jason Castro catching; and Morrison at DH. Further assuming a 12-man pitching staff -- and they often carried 13 pitchers last season -- that leaves four slots for reserve positions players, one of whom will be Eduardo Escobar and one a backup catcher, presumably Mitch Garver.

It's the other two slots that Morrison's addition should affect.

Even before Morrison's addition, the Twins were vulnerable to left-handed pitching. As noted here Monday, Morrison makes the lineup even more left-handed. Which suggests that the Twins would do well to have at least one right-handed hitter who can step in for one of the corner outfielders or first baseman or DH on occasion.

There are two primary candidates for the fourth outfielder job -- incumbent Robbie Grossman and prospect Zach Granite. Grossman is a switch hitter with a history of being better from the right side (although that was not the case last season), so that sounds like a good fit. But his defensive problems are pretty well documented. By September, Paul Molitor pretty much stopped trying to play him in the field; when Molitor needed a fourth outfielder, Ehire Adrianza, a light-hitting infielder, started showing up in the lineup.

Granite is a far superior defensive outfielder. But he's a left-handed hitter lacking in power. There is no real advantage to playing him over Rosario or Kepler against a lefty. 

Adrianza is, at least theoretically, being challenged by Erick Aybar for the fourth bench slot. Niether is a true outfielder -- Aybar hasn't played outfield in a major league game since 2007 -- and neither is a potent hitter. And if the Twins go to 13 pitchers, that's the roster spot most likely to be used to add the extra arm.

The Twins' bench could use a right-handed outfielder who can rake against lefties and not embarass himself in the field. I don't think that guy's in camp.

Miguel Sano, 1B, and other bench thoughts

Paul Molitor has deployed four different lineups in four games. Last night's lineup not only got Chris Gimenez his first start behind the plate, but featured Miguel Sano at first base, a position he is not believed to have worked at even once during spring training.

Molitor himself donned a glove during the pregame warmups to supervise Sano taking grounders and throws at first.

The expectation in March had been that either Byung Ho Park or Kennys Vargas would be on the roster as the DH and backup first baseman. When they were both sent to Triple A Rochester, my expectation was that Max Kepler would be the first baseman when Joe Mauer sat.

There are advantages to shifting Sano to first rather than Kepler. The main one is that it gives Eduardo Escobar a chance to play (at third). Of the three reserves (Escobar, Gimenez and Danny Santana), Escobar is pretty clearly the one who with the best chance at being a productive regular.

Kepler -- a better outfielder than Santana or primary designated hitter Robbie Grossman -- made a nice catch in right Friday night. Sano doubled home the run that put the Twins up for good and didn't obviously mess up any plays at first. Escobar walked, singled and scored a run. Even Gimenez doubled.

So Friday's lineup shuffle worked marvelously for Molitor, and the Twins are 4-0.

Roster spot competiton

Saturday was the full-squad reporting date for the Twins, and all 61 were in Fort Myers on time: The 40 on the major league roster and the 21 non-roster invitees.

Let's assume that

• the Twins open with a 12-man pitching staff (likely) and
• there are no trades or injuries (not likely).

What are the position player spots that need a spring-training decision?

Start with a list of givens:

Regulars: Jason Castro, Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler.

Add to this Eduardo Escobar and Jorge Polanco, one as the shortstop and the other as a backup infielder. (Polanco is out of options, and I'm pretty sure Escobar is too.)

That' accounts for nine of the 13 roster spots and eight of the lineup spots (missing the designated hitter).

One of the four remaining roster spots will go to a backup catcher -- one of the trio of Mitch Graver, John Ryan Murphy and Chris Gimenez. That leaves three.

The Twins will probably want a right-handed hitting backup outfielder who can fill in for Rosario or Kepler against lefties; Robbie Grossman had that job last year and hit well but fielded poorly. The Twins brought in some better defensive outfielders as NRIs, but Drew Stubbs and J.B, Shuck aren't the hitters Grossman is.

Grossman, a switch-hitter, might figure in the DH competition, as does Kennys Vargas, who apparently got an extra option year.

Danny Santana came up as an infielder, is listed as an outfielder, switch hits and doesn't do any of those things particularly well. His selling point is his versatility -- a fifth outfielder/four middle infielder in one roster spot -- but being a Grade D outfielder/infielder/hitter hurts. For any one role, the Twins have better choices available.

Contemplating the options turns into something of a Rubik's Cube.

Let's say Grossman is the standard DH. That leaves a bench of:

• Backup catcher
• Escobar/Polanco, whoever isn't playing short
• Glove-oriented fourth outfielder
• Unknown priority

If the Twins are comfortable with Grossman as the fourth outfielder, Vargas or Byung Ho Park could get DH at-bats and back up Mauer at first. That would create a bench of

• Backup catcher
• Escobar/Polanco
• Grossman
• Unknown priority

Unknown priority ... possibilities include Santana's low-level versatility or an extra infield glove man (Ehire Adrianza?) to support the questionable left side of the infield. They could take Vargas as the DH, keep a defense-first fourth outfielder and still keep Grossman.

The spring training competition for roster spots in some regards isn't as much about chosing the talent as about chosing the priorities. Molitor has a track record of prefering hitters. The new regime may push him in a different direction.

Going to the Max

Max Kepler gets
a brief call-up for
Danny Santana's injury.

Danny Santana did something to his hamstring Saturday night, something significant enough that he was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the game ended. Max Kepler was recalled.

In many ways, the selection of Kepler to take Santana's role is inappropriate. Santana is supposed to be the Swiss Army knife -- three infield positions, three outfield positions. Kepler can handle the outfield spots at least as well as Santana, but he's no infielder (other than first base, which is pretty well stocked). Kepler is talented but raw; he's a future regular, if not a future star, and nurturing that future requires regular playing time, not sitting on the bench in the majors.

But ... he's on the 40-man roster. Darin Mastroianni and James Beresford, who are better suited to a bench role, are not. And the Twins are wise not to make a 40-man move to accommodate a temporary 25-man move. Santana is expected to be back when the two-week period is over;

No, the debateable part of the call-up is this: Do you want an outfielder or an infielder to fill in for Santana? If an infielder, the obvious choice (again, because he's on the 40) is Jorge Polanco.

The Twins went with the outfielder, from which we can surmise that the most important role Santana plays on this roster is that of speedy outfielder. Santana is (was) the defensive sub for Miguel Sano in right and the alternative to Byron Buxton in center. These are things Oswaldo Arcia, also on the active roster, cannot do adequately. Kepler can, even if using him for those roles isn't the ideal way to use him.

Whittling the outfielders

Ryan Sweeney was
a second-round pick out
of Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
by the White Sox in
2003.

The Twins trimmed their camp roster to 35 Friday by optioning out Max Kepler and releasing Ryan Sweeney, both left-handed hitting outfielders.

These are two players at opposites in their careers. The much-anticipated Kepler is a future regular, if not a future star; he was never going to make this team as a bench piece. The graceful German did well to last this deeply into camp. Next year, he sticks. (He'll be out of options.)

Sweeney is about eight years older than Kepler, and his days as a regular are in the past. His goal is to be a bench piece, and he appears to have a grasp of reality; he sounded grateful to be cut loose at this point because he has 10 days to find another team before the start of the season. The Twins simply have too many outfielders who are younger, stronger and faster than Sweeney.

Sweeney would have had a better chance 30 years ago, when teams carried just 10 pitchers. The Twins are likely to have just one full-time outfielder on their bench. I figure the four extra position players will be John Ryan Murphy (catcher), Eduardo Nunez (infielder), Oswaldo Arcia (outfielder) and Danny Santana (infielder-outfielder).

That would also leave Darin Mastroianni and Carlos Quentin off the roster. While I could make a case for Mastroianni as a defensive specialist, I have a difficult time seeing how Quentin fits on the current roster. He can hit, but that's all he can do to help, and the DH slot is well-occupied.

Contemplating the DH and bench situations

Miguel Sano had 23 total bases in his first 10 games
as Minnesota's designated hitter. Kennys Vargas, the team's
most-used DH, had 34 in 29 games.

I find this odd: The Twins have added a position player (and subtracted a pitcher) to the roster at the same time that manager Paul Molitor appears to have settled on a basic eight-man lineup.

Molitor spent much of May and June shuffling his outfielders, designated hitter and shortstop. Torii Hunter played most games, but sat some (no surprise at his age) and DH'ed at least once a week.

The apparent emergence of Miguel Sano as the designated hitter figures to limit the use of Hunter -- and Eduardo Nunez and Eduardo Escobar as well -- in that role. The Twins multi-headed DH has been a bit below average. (The league slash line for designated hitters this season: .265/.333/.433. The Twins' DH slash line: .264/.324/.401, boosted sharply by Sano's 10 games)

Right now, Molitor's default lineup appears to be: Kurt Suzuki catching; Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe and Danny Santana in the infield; Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and Hunter in the outfield; and Sano at DH.

Which would seem to point to less playing time and fewer at-bats for Escobar, Nunez and Shane Robinson. (The second catcher, currently Eric Fryer, hasn't been part of the lineup shuffle.) Meanwhile, the beleaguered bullpen bridge between the starters and closer Glen Perkins is down an arm from its accustomed numbers.

Theoretically, I prefer fewer pitchers and more position players on the roster. But if Molitor doesn't have a use for everybody on the bench and has an overworked bullpen, the roster is out of balance. I suspect that it won't be long before the Twins return to a 13-man pitching staff. The question for me is, which bench guy goes to make room?

Skills for the bench

Chris Herrmann
is hitting .359 in Triple A
but just .128 in the
majors this season.

The Twins have today off (Thursday too) and are about to play five games without the designated hitter.

In preparation for that, they've made a change at the margins of the roster. Gone, for now, is reliever Michael Tonkin; back is catcher-outfielder Chris Herrmann.

There are Twins fans displeased with this, wanting Oswaldo Arcia or Josh Willingham back instead. But Willingham's not far enough into his rehab assignment to be recalled. and Arcia is several days shy of eligibility for recall. Those are practical reasons for bypassing them.

There's a philosophical reason too:  Herrmann and his positional flexibility makes more sense as a bench piece that either Arcia or Willingham.

There is one thing to put Arcia or Willingham in the game to do: Hit. That's important, to be sure, and both are better at hitting than Herrmann is.

But the Twins have, especially with the DH out of the lineup, several other guys who meet that description: Jason Kubel, Chris Colabello, Josmil Pinto, Eduardo Nunez, Chris Parmelee. The Twins generally play two corner outfielders who are better suited to the DH job. Adding another one doesn't do much.

Herrmann gives the Twins a different set of skills on their bench.

Now, Willingham and Arcia should be back soon, and in the lineup when they return. But they should be replacing the likes of Colabello and Kubel (or Parmelee) when that happens.

What the Twins don't get about the Rays' "interchangability"

Ben Zobrist plays all over the field for Tampa Bay.
He also hits well enough to fill a key place in the batting
order, so he's not a bench player.

Ron Gardenhire on Sunday apparently talked a great deal about wanting a bench of "interchangable" multi-position players, and cited the Tampa Bay Rays as a model.

The Rays do have a number of players who play all over. Ben Zobrist, for example, has started games at every position except pitcher and catcher in his eight years with Tampa Bay. Last year Zobrist started 117 games at second base, 26 in right field and 11 at shortstop — and switched positions multiple times mid game.

Sean Rodriguez is another Swiss utility knife of a player: In 2013, he started 30 games in left field, 17 at first base, five in right, three at short, one at second. In 2012, it was 42 at short, 27 at third, 17 at second. Rodriguez, like Zobrist, has started games at seven different positions for the Rays (four seasons).

But the thing is: These guys play. Zobrist gets more than 600 plate appearances a season. Rodriguez is more of a bench guy, but he averages well over 100 games a year.

Zobrist has made two All-Star teams and been on Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. His versatility may be his calling card, but what makes his versatility valuable is that he hits enough to be in the lineup — and not only that, but in the top half of the lineup. Rodriguez isn't as good a hitter, but he does enough at the plate to play at least half the time.

Gardenhire spent a big part of spring training running Eduardo Escobar and Jason Bartlett and Chris Herrmann all over the field. One of those guys (probably Escobar) will be on the Opening Day roster. (Herrmann has already been sent back to the minors.)

The thing is, Escobar won't be in the starting lineup at any of his multiple positions on March 31. Zobrist will, and Rodriguez might.

Gardenhire's desire for interchangeable parts is as a security blanket for injuries; his benches are generally guys waiting for somebody in the lineup to get hurt.

Joe Maddon, Gardenhire's Tampa Bay counterpart, is looking for matchup advantages. Maddon uses the versatility of Zobrist (a switch-hitter) and Rodriguez (right-handed hitter) to enable complex, multi-level platoons, much as Casey Stengel did with the Yankees of the 1950s.

I don't think any of Gardy's potential "interchangable parts" hit well enough to fit the Maddon model.

One week, 14 cuts to go

There was a fake report Sunday night that Vance Worley had been returned to the Phillies.

I suppose part of the reason it got some play on Twitter is that it's believable, even expected in some circles; the Phillies need pitching depth, the Twins have no obvious role for him at Rochester, and the Vanimal had some success with them.

Whether there's interest elsewhere in Worley, the Twins have some serious roster moves ahead, and probably some will come today. When Worley cleared waivers last week and was outrighted to Triple A, the Twins were down to 39 players in camp (and, coincidentally, 39 players on the 40-man roster). That's 14 too many for the Opening Day roster.

The word Sunday was that Ron Gardenhire had hinted at keeping Chris Herrmann on the Opening Day roster for his versatility — and, presumably, because having three catchers would allow heavier use of Josmil Pinto as a DH, perhaps in a platoon role with Jason Kubel.

Gardenhire's platoons have been few and far between, so at least until he specifically says that's the plan I'm not counting on it.

Still, the idea seems to be a bench of Herrmann, Pinto, Eduardo Escobar and Alex Presley. Or maybe Gardenhire will get his wish and have Jason Bartlett on his team. If he thinks Bartlett can be his alternate center fielder, that could bounce either Escobar or Presley. (Gardenhire's bench almost always has somebody who doesn't really have a role to play.)

Either way, it's not looking good for Chris Colabello or, in particular, Chris Parmelee, who (unlike Colabello) is out of options.

UPDATE: Scratch all that Herrmann stuff. He was one of 10 cuts this morning. Too bad.

The Luke Hughes scenario

Luke Hughes homered
in his first major-
league at-bat last
season, then got hurt.

Luke Hughes, an oft-injured Australian infielder whose bat has always been reckoned better than his glove, has had an intriguing spring -- lots of playing time, lots of extra base hits, plenty of strikeouts.

And now he's emerged, almost two weeks from Opening Day, as a serious contender for the backup infielder job that had been reckoned to be Matt Tolbert's.

This is a startling notion to those observers who link the utility infielder job with the departed Nick Punto, whose skill set was dramatically different from Hughes'. Punto was a glove and legs; to the extent that he contributed at the plate, it was with singles and walks. Hughes is slower, has never established a real defensive position in the minors and doesn't draw many walks.

Tolbert is a better Punto comp. Hughes is more comparable to Brendan Harris, another infielder now gone from the Twins roster. One significant difference: Harris was deemed usable, or at least most comfortable, at shortstop; while Hughes got a few innings at the position earlier this week, it's unlikely that he'll ever play there other than in an emergency.

What I find interesting in the Hughes scenario is how it suggests a different kind of bench for the Twins. To make a broad generalization, there are two kinds of bench players: specialists, who have a specific role to play in a game; and backups, who are basically waiting to start.

Fans old enough to remember Earl Weaver know that he staffed his Oriole roster with specialists, guys who did one specific thing well. Tom Kelly, particularly early in his career, tended to have professional bench guys;  one of them, Jim Dwyer, had played for Weaver. (Dwyer is now a coach in the Twins farm system.)

Ron Gardenhire has tended to go in the other direction. He has generally gone with reserves whose job is to fill in when a regular sits. Part of that is that he has generally carried just four (non-pitching) reserves, but even with short benches he frequently has somebody with no discernible role. (Remember Luis Rodriguez?)

Tolbert's job, should he make the roster, would be to start occasionally for the infielders; pinch-run for Jim Thome; step in on defense in game in which somebody, most likely Alexi Casilla, is pinch-hit for.

Hughes' job would be a bit different-- less pinch-running, more hitting. Gardenhire would/should be looking for ways to get him fastballs to hit.

Hughes is a right-handed bat for a team whose primary DHs, Thome and Jason Kubel, are lefties with significant platoon differentials. But how willing is Gardenhire to use Hughes at DH against a lefty instead of Thome or Kubel? How often will the manager push Tsuyoshi Nishioka out of his perceived comfort zone by putting him at shortstop so that Hughes can play second? History suggests the answers are "not much" and "seldom."

Tolbert better fits Gardenhire's accustomed style of managing. I'll be surprised if Hughes comes north to open the season.

The non-roster outfielders

Continuing my obsession with the 25th spot on the Twins roster — specifically my belief, as described in the Monday print column, that the Twins need a true outfielder on the bench more than they need a second infielder:

Jacque Jones is not the only non-roster outfielder in major league camp. (Major league camp includes the 40 players on the roster and selected players with minor-league contracts. Most of the minor leaguers are down the street in the minor league complex, or will be when they report.)

Also invited: Ben Revere, the Twins' 2007 first-round draft pick; Rene Tosoni, MVP of the 2009 Futures Game; Juan Portes, who hit .297 in Double-A last season; Brian Dinkleman, who has spent most of his minor league career playing second base but started seeing time in left field last season; and Chris Parmelee, first round pick in 2006. (Dinkleman and Portes are the two on the left in the above photo, along with Jason Kubel, Denard Span and Delmon Young.)

Parmelee is a slow power hitter, splits his time between first base and an outfield corner, and hasn't cracked Double-A yet. He's not a candidate to play center field.

Dinkleman played in Double A last season, but his limited outfield experience has been in a corner as well. (He appears to hit well enough to be a possible 2B down the road; that the Twins are testing him as an outfielder suggests that they're not thrilled with his defense. That he was left off the 40 this winter and wasn't taken by another organization suggests the same.) Not a candidate.

Portes has bounced from position to position — second base, third base, all three outfield spots — and it's unclear from this distance how adept he is at any of them. As a hitter, he profiles as a reserve outfielder — a singles and doubles hitter, good average but not a lot of power — but whether he's a guy they want to play much in center, I doubt the Twins know. That's probably why he got an invite, so the coaching staff can form a judgment on his suitability. He's got a chance to be an injury callup this year.

Revere gets more pub than the rest of this crew put together, partly because he was a surprise pick in 2007, partly because he threatened to hit .400 in low A ball in 2008 (he ended a .379). He's a shrimp (listed at 5-8, 166) and the consensus is that he's never going to hit for power. He had just 19 extra-base hits last season in high A ball, and while the Fort Myers park saps power, that's not much. Were this a year from now, I'd figure him to be the front-runner for the reserve job. But he hasn't seen Double-A yet, and he's not making the big-league roster this spring — or probably at all this year.

Tosoni looks like a bit of a tweener — maybe not enough power to be a regular in an outfield corner, maybe not fast enough to be a full-time center fielder — certainly not in a system with Denard Span, Revere, Joe Benson and Aaron Hicks. Sounds like a fourth outfielder type to me. Played all season at Double-A, with more playing time than Portes. Turns 24 in July. He's from Canada, and last year was his first season playing anything resembling a full schedule.

If they go with a fourth outfielder from the players now in camp, I rank the likelihood Jones, Tosoni, and nobody. Everybody on that list got something to prove, and spring training may not prove anything.

How would Jim Thome fit?

The notion that the Twins might sign Jim Thome — even at a bargain-basement price — is baffling.

Thome is a 39-year-old limited to hitting duties — he hasn't played in the field since 2007 and has logged a total of 28 innings the last four season combined — whose numbers against left-handed pitching have deteriorated to the point that he's essentially a platoon player.

The Twins have a left-handed hitting DH in Jason Kubel. They also like to use the DH slot to give Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau partial days off — keep their bats in the lineup but their bodies sitting.

There's no fit there. Thome would be a pinch-hit specialist, and one can see the value in having him swing that dangerous bat in Nick Punto's stead come the ninth inning of a one-run game against the likes of Bobby Jenks or Jose Valverde.

But if that's all he does, can the Twins afford to carry him? It's tough to see it with a 25-man roster and 12 pitchers. The Twins back in 1991-92 carried Randy Bush as a pinch-hit specialist, but they rostered just 10 pitchers back then.

Assuming that Brendan Harris is the regular third baseman, the bench right now projects out thusly:

• Jose Morales, backup catcher (or possibly Drew Butera, same role).
• Jason Pridie, backup outfielder (legs and glove to spell Denard Span).
• Matt Tolbert or Alexi Casilla, utility infielder.
• This could be Thome's roster spot. But that doesn't leave a lot of depth among guys who can actually play in the field.

And if they sign another infielder, Harris moves to a reserve slot. Which, depending on how the infield is configured, might bump Tolbert or Casilla, nor might not. We already know Ron Gardenhire doesn't think Harris is a competent second baseman.

Of course, the Phillies carried Matt Stairs all season — but they, by virtue of not playing in a DH league, had an extra bench slot. (Eight regulars plus 12 pitchers equals five reserve position players; in the Twins case, Kubel becomes a ninth regular.)

Meanwhile the White Sox — who have said all winter they were going to split the DH job up among multiple players — are suddenly talking abut bringing him back. But Ozzie Guillen apparently plans to carry 13 pitchers — and if it's tough to carry such a limited player with a 12-pitcher roster, it's even more difficult with 13.

Previewing the bench

Assuming that the Twins maintain a 12-man pitching staff again — which seems likely — that leaves room on the 25-man roster for a four-man bench.

For the sake of this exercise, let's assume that the projected lineup of the previous post is filled out with Danny Valencia at third base.

The likely group of reserves:

1) Jose Morales, catcher (above). Would replace Mike Redmond in the role. Regarded as a better hitter than receiver, had success as a pinch hitter(6 for 15 with three RBIs). Switch hitter, but a better hitter left-handed.

2) Brendan Harris, infielder. Hits well enough for middle infield, but his defense isn't. Right-handed hitter, most useful as a platoon player.

3) Open slot, outfielder. Position vacated by Friday's trade. A glove and legs — the priority here is somebody who can handle center field; will also be asked to be defensive sub for Delmon Young. Ideally would also throw well enough to play right, but that's optional.

4) Infield glove. Matt Tolbert or Alexi Casilla. Tolbert probably has the inside track on this job.

Of course, it's possible that Tolbert will be the third baseman, and even possible that Ron Gardenhire will opt to make that fourth bench slot a third catcher, which would free up Morales for pinch-hitting duties.

Running the bench has not been a Gardenhire strong suit. He generally has somebody – even with a short bench like this projected one — who's just rotting, without a useful role. He carried Luis Rodriguez for two years without any real purpose.