Nick Punto, Mike Lamb, Adam Everett: Minnesota Twins' Left Infield Doomed

The left side of the infield has been an absolute disgrace for the Twins so far this year.

Mike Lamb and Adam Everett, both signed in the offseason from the Astros, have proven to be incompetent both in the field and more importantly at the plate.

Of course, Punto's injury doesn't help matters, either.

The Jays and Rockies series displayed a totally flat and un-entertaining Twins team immediately following their weekend destruction of Boston.

In this most recent series, Everett played in four games and went 0-for-8 with one run scored coming off a walk.

Lamb played in five of those six games and went 3-for-16. The combined average of those two players? .125.

For comparison (and this might not mean much), Twins pitchers combined to hit 2-for-6 in the Rockies series and this also included an RBI. Average here—.333.

Last year, I pondered the effect of putting the DH in place of Punto instead of the pitcher (which I later realized was illegal). In this case, it would be illegal because of the advantage the Twins would have at the plate.

This year, batting Jason Kubel as the DH in place of Adam Everett just seems gratifying and magical.

Lamb's and Everett's batting averages this season are .227 and .190, respectively. Twins fans spent all of last year griping about Nick Punto flirting with dropping below .200, and now we have two guys just as ineffective.

Mike Lamb has also done a spectacular job of proving that his game winner against Boston was a fluke. He had two situations this week—in particular Tuesday vs. Toronto—in which he had a great chance of tying/winning the game, and what did he do?

He embarrassed himself in both instances.

In the field, the two have combined for seven errors. Everett is off the hook on this one because his .973 fielding percentage is consistent with is 2007 performance.

Punto, before his injury, was batting .265 (13 for 49) and had only made one error in 21 games—a .983 fielding percentage. Makes you wanna drool, doesn't it? That's what we could be having.

So what's the solution?

Well, it would be nothing short of outrageous for Bill Smith to let both Everett and Lamb continue to weigh down the team's potential.

It was said last year that Punto's presence proved the Twins couldn't make the postseason; rarely does a team make the playoffs with an everyday third basemen batting at or below .200. But two infielders at this mark?

I understand that they are both signed through next season, but maybe a deal could be worked out?

Dipping into the Red Wings' roster and bringing up Matt Macri (batting .259) or Brian Buscher (.290) could provide a little competition, at the very least, for Lamb and Everett.

On Sunday, new call-up Howie Clark did his best to keep the Twins in the game, knocking one of the Twins' four extra base hits.

He was 1-for-4 and also made a pretty slick play to double up a Rockie steal attempt to complete a strikeout-throwout double play. Alexi Casilla's presence also could help keep Everett honest.

Additionally, exploiting the Twins' seemingly never-ending supply of pitching prospects is also an option, and this is something that Bill Smith hinted about during his radio show with John Gordon this morning.

The bottom line is that Bill Smith and Gardenhire need to do something about Lamb and Everett if they are serious about helping this team compete. Twins fans will not put up with incompetence at the plate any longer.