Gardenhire Facing Tough Decisions: Who Will Sit?

With Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel, Denard Span, Justin Morneau, Nishioka and Jim Thome on the DL, a lot of players have stepped in and made cases for playing time. This has been a valuable time for players such as Luke Hughes, Ben Revere, Drew Butera, and Jason Repko have earned a lot more playing time. This leaves for some uncomfortable decisions for Gardenhire. Too big decisions he'll have to make will be about Luke Hughes and Ben Revere. Hughes is clearly out playing Danny Valencia and likewise for Ben Revere over Delmon Young.

There just aren't enough at bats in this line up for Revere once Span and Kubel come back. That means the outfield is loaded with Cuddyer, who is playing very well, Kubel, Young, Span, and Revere. That's just not enough at bats for Revere. Which brings up my suggestion, sit Young for Revere. Revere is hitting so much better than Young and even though it takes away some power, Revere has been doing a great job getting on base. My guess is, the more at bats he gets, the more comfortable he'll be playing at this level. I expect Revere to be a .300 hitter on this team.

As for Hughes. He is clearly outplaying Danny Valencia. The problem here is, the Twins believe Valencia is the answer at 3rd base for the future. Well here's my opinion, he isn't the future. We need more run production from that spot and that we need more power from the position. Hughes isn't going to provide that either, but he is hitting much better than Valencia so we should play him the rest of the year. I'm not too worried about Valencia's confidence because I don't think he's the answer at 3rd base. Please prove me wrong Danny.