Minnesota Twins: Best Lineup May Not Be Most Intuitive

The Twins are one of the slowest teams when it comes to wholesale lineup changes, but these are the Twins, not the Mariners, Rockies, or Padres, massive changes aren't really necessary.

A few tweaks to the batting order could help certain players get out of slumps or just contribute better all around.

With that in mind, here's the order:

Delmon Young – LF

This may be flat out insane, given some of Young's struggles this season, but work with me here. Young is hitting .270 overall, but just .237 with runners on. With the bases empty, Young is hitting .292, and .375 when he leads off the inning. His .327 OBP is the third highest among qualified Twins players, and he is 8/10 stealing bases.

Young’s patience is getting much better as the year progresses; he has more walks and fewer strike outs in May than he did in April. The biggest complaint about him now is that he has shown no power, but if he leads off, his power is much less important.

Joe Mauer – C

Twins fans have been pressing for this move for years. Mauer leads the team in OBP, has almost no power, but sees a substantial number of pitches per AB. This allows Young plenty of chances to steal, and shows subsequent hitters what the pitcher is likely to throw.

Carlos Gomez – CF

How smart does Bill Smith look right now? Rumors are swirling that Johan Santana may be starting to decline already, and Carlos Gomez looks fantastic. He may be as raw as sushi, but he’s got an incredible amount of talent.

He fits here for a number of reasons. He’s third on the team in OPS, third in VORP, even third in slugging. He’s also exceedingly hard to double up: in 183 ABs, Gomez has grounded into a double play just three times.

The walk rate will drop substantially from Mauer, but Gomez provides more power than Mauer and makes it almost sure that at least one of the top three hitters will be on for Morneau.

Justin Morneau - 1B

One of the only consistencies from reality to here is Morneau. His power makes him a natural choice to hit clean-up, and his average has climbed above .300. He is crushing the ball this month, more than making up for his mediocre April. Unlike Cuddyer, Morneau is making signing him to a long term deal look like a very smart move.

Jason Kubel - DH

Kubel is a hitter on the rebound. He looked terrible in April and has had his playing time severely cut back because of it. However, he has been much better in May, raising his OPS by .270 points.

He is also walking more and striking out less, which indicates that he is seeing the ball better and that he should be in the line-up more often.

Ideally, Kubel will be able to hit more consistently now that he has shaken off his rough start, which would more than justify a move up in the order.

Michael Cuddyer - RF

I tried so hard to keep Cuddyer out of this lineup, I really did, but I couldn’t do it. Cuddy has looked awful since coming back from injury. He is hitting under .200 this month, has a nearly equal number of strike outs and hits, and has yet to hit home run since his return.

He hasn’t even looked good defensively, which had been one of the best reasons for keeping him on the field, even while his bat was a black hole in the middle of the lineup.

Even though I earlier advocated for his benching and/or dealing him in a package, I think Cuddyer will rebound, and that is why he stayed in. Cuddyer is trying so hard to get back to his former prowess, on both sides of the ball. This is why he is pressing.

Once he can relax and slow down, I believe he’ll get closer to his career average at the plate and take better routes in the field. Dropping him in the order should allow him to do just that.

This year may well be a down year for Cuddyer, but I highly doubt Twins' fans will have to wonder about Cuddyer ending the year below the Mendoza line the way we did with Punto last year.

Brendan Harris - SS

Complaints about Harris’ inability to play defense effectively faded away once he got his start at short. His zone rating is up, as is his fielding percentage. Sticking him at short makes a lot of sense, at least until Matt Tolbert gets back.

Quietly, Harris has had as bad a month as Cuddyer has had. He, too, is hitting under .200 and has fewer XBH than he had in April. He is showing better plate discipline, but overall, his stats have suffered substantially.

The positioning of both Harris and Cuddyer in this order is dependent on who recovers from their swoon first. Harris could easily take over Cuddyer’s spot, but could also be passed by Macri or even by Lamb if either one of them can hit consistently.

Matt Macri - 3B

Macri looked very good in his first game back in the majors, but the small sample size prevents me from saying anything more than that he should probably be in the back half of the lineup (from six down, since he hasn’t shown a lot of power even in the minors).

The Twins need one thing out of whoever plays third. Whether it is Lamb, Clark, Macri, Buscher, or even someone like Hughes, and that is consistency.

If Macri is consistently good, he’ll keep his job. If he is consistently bad, he’ll be replaced, to the benefit of the team. If he can’t do one or the other, he’s no better than Lamb.

Alexi Casilla - 2B

This was one of the hardest calls to make, since Casilla has looked good since his call up. I like Casilla a lot, and I think acquiring him for JC Romero’s corpse is one of Terry Ryan’s most underrated moves.

He could easily be slotted in higher in the order if he keeps hitting like he is (he does, after all, have more HR than Cuddyer, Young, Mauer, Lamb, and Everett). He makes a lot of sense here, however, because of his high on base potential.

If he continues to get on base at the rate he has been since his call-up, he’ll give Young and Mauer plenty of RBI chances. Paradoxically, however, this will probably hurt Young’s production, since Young fares so much better if no one is on base ahead of him.

The best part of Casilla hitting here, is that it propels the bottom of the lineup back into the top instead of having the lineup fade into oblivion (*cough* Adam Everett *cough*) and forcing the leadoff hitters to create all the scoring chances for the team.

Honestly, I have few problems with the lineup Gardy has been putting out there, especially with the top. Gomez and Casilla compliment each other well, and I like having them ahead of Mauer.

However, Cuddyer is hitting too high in the order for how poorly he has been playing lately, and Mauer really is at his best when his only job is getting on base. He has gotten runners in decently well, but it isn’t his forte.

Gardy’s hands have been tied by injury, but I think he can do better with what he’s got.

The lineup I’ve designed best allows the Twins to play station to station and score runs without depending heavily on XBH. The caveat here is that this lineup is subject to change, as all good ones are.

If Young finds his power stroke, or Cuddyer remembers how to put a ball in play to where defenders AREN’T standing, they should be moved closer to the heart of the order.

Right now, however, I think this is the best possible line-up for the Twins.