MLB: Minnesota Twins Whatnot May 29

The Whatnot crew is a little shorthanded this week, so bear with us. In this edition of Twin's Whatnot, three Twins fans will explore the possibility of a bullpen shake up. We will also take a look at Michael Cuddyer and the infield.

After the loss of Pat Neshek, the bullpen isn't in top form. What needs to be done?

Marty Andrade: The Twins have a couple of options: convert some of the starters to relievers or expand Joe Nathan’s role. Aaron Gleeman touched on this in a post on his website on Monday of this week. To summarize his point, the idea of a just using a closer in a “save situation” is a new phenomenon in baseball. Bullpen “short” men (Joe Garagiola called short men the “aces of the leper colony”) used to be used in relief of a game whenever the game was in doubt, regardless of some stat. The classic relievers of the '50s and '60s were typically tapped for more than 100 innings a season. Now it’s rare to see a “closer” get more than 80 innings in a season.

The Twins could easily cover some of the losses from the Neshek injury by expanding Nathan’s role to the more traditional “bullpen ace”, as opposed to the modern obsession with a closer closing games only in “save” situations.

Otherwise, the Twins can shed some of the deadweight in the bullpen by sending down or cutting Bass, Korecky, Crain, or Rincon, and replacing them with Liriano, Duensing, Bonser, Slowey, or Baker.

My preference would be to drop Juan Rincon and add Liriano, but there are many acceptable permutations. The Twins have a surplus of starting pitching and a shortage of quality relievers, it’s simple sabernomics.

Kelso Hakes: A person can only hope. I don't know who's down on the farm, but the Twins really need someone to step up and say, "I'll be your set-up man." Granted the bullpen doesn't get too much of a break, and have been beat up quite a bit lately, the way they're playing is not major-league worthy.

Andrew Kneeland: I had the thought of moving Liriano to the bullpen almost right after he was injured. I thought he would make a great closer, but he would also do well in any relief role.

It would be hard to convert and present starters to relief roles simply because of how shorthanded we are in starting pitchers.

I have had the opportunity to read through both Marty's and Kelso's entries before I wrote my own, and they both make some great points. Marty's idea of expanding Nathan's role sounds beautiful right now. I'm all for it.

Michael Cuddyer is on a cold streak. What should be done with him?

Marty Andrade: Cuddyer’s .259 BABIP (that’s Batting Average, Balls In Play) is extremely low for a guy with a line-drive percentage over 20 percent. His BABIP should be over .300, which means he’s getting unlucky. His performance has actually been improving since April, but it hasn’t been reflected in his regular stats, yet. Cuddyer will start regressing back to his career .268/.343./.442 line.

If “doing something” is the just absolutely necessary, you could platoon Cuddyer with Kubel until his stats improve.

Kelso Hakes: A lot of pressure has been put on Cuddyer. He hits the ball, but usually right to an infielder. He has to be a lot more selective on the pitches he swings at and usually hits. If he is just a little more patient, maybe the next pitch could be the one to become No. 1 in the home run column.

Andrew Kneeland: Absolutely nothing. He will come back and return to his normal form. Just get him a few more BP sessions, and some love from the coaching staff, and he will be just fine.

If everyone was healthy, who would play all the infield positions?

Marty Andrade: Buscher at third, Casilla at short, Macri at second, and Morneau at first, with Tolbert as the primary backup. Adam Everett and Mike Lamb are not frontline players anymore, and Brendan Harris doesn’t have the upside Macri has.

Kelso Hakes: We need more Nick Punto's and Matt Tolbert's. The people who don't care where they play are the people who catalysts to a team. I would say make Nick Punto a full-time third baseman and Matt Tolbert a full-time shortstop. Lamb and Everett haven't really made their stay memorable, so they wouldn't be too much of a loss.

Andrew Kneeland: Macri at third, Casilla at shortstop, Punto at second, and Morneau at first.

I changed my mind about Nick Punto. I said earlier that I didn't want him in the lineup, but his defense makes me forget about his bat. We need gloves like his.

We haven't had a fun one in a while. What is your favorite Metrodome food?

Marty Andrade: Dome Dogs. Double bypass in a bun. That’s good eating. But, might I suggest a little burger joint called The Band Box, only a few blocks away from the Metrodome. I wrote about the Band Box in a book I recently released called “The Twin Cities Burger Tour”, information about which can be found at tcburgertour.com.

Kelso Hakes: Although most people would say peanuts and cracker jacks, I would have to say the hot dogs. They say they are good in Milwaukee, but nothing is as good as a Metrodome hot dog.

Andrew Kneeland: The Dome Dog, and it's not close.