Bad Managing 101

RON GARDENHIRE IS A COMPLETE IDIOT

Unlike in fantasy football, the manager/coach in fantasy baseball can play a significant role in the success or demise of your fantasy team. Even in the AL, where all a manager really does is fill out a lineup and make calls to the pen, idiots like Gardenhire can doom a promising season by stubbornly refusing to play young players.

Gardenhire is just the best example of the worst type of manager you see in the AL. He will at any cost start an aging/crappy vet for weeks and months even when there a is better/younger alternative on his bench. Example you say?

Coming into 08' the Twins were looking to rebuild. They refused to give Santana huge $$ and traded him to the Mets for some decent prospects. They even gave the CF job to a 22 yr old rookie with all of 140abs in AAA, Carlos Gomez. Cuddyer and Delmon Young occupied the other OF spots, leaving open the DH/4th OF spot for one player. Gardenhire had to give those 550abs to one of 2 players:

Player A: Age 25, 07' 418ab .273 13hr 65rbi 49r .787 ops
Second Half 07': .292 8hr 39rbi 28r .870 ops

Player B: Age 31, 07' 392ab .219 12hr 59rbi 53r .638 ops
Second Half 07': .199 3hr 18rbi 13r .537 ops

Which player does Gardenhire start on opening day? You guessed it, Player B.

Player B is Craig Monroe, A is Jason Kubel. Now Kubel is still coming back from knee surgery and Monroe is a right hand bat (Kubel is a lefty), so I can understand that you might start Monroe against lefties, but Gardenhire was giving Monroe the majority of the ABS??!?

The results:

Monroe: 1/11, 0hr, rbi, 0r, 5k, 2bb.

Kubel: 4/14, hr, 2rbi, 3r, 2k, bb

Now the injury to Cuddyer has saved Kubel temporarily because Gardenhire has to play him, but jesus christ, how the fuck does Ron Gardenhire continue to be employed? I don't even want to talk about the even split than Terry Francona is subjecting me to between Crisp and Ellsbury right now.