Thread: Zulgad: Plouffe "Earns Right" to Get Chance to Take Third Base Job

Asked about Plouffe's throwing, Gardenhire said: "He's doing fine. He'll be fine. We all know about the throwing part and all those things. I know Plouffie worked his butt off out there trying to get better. That's half the battle. You've got a guy willing to go out and do extra work, tried a lot of different things. The advantage he has now is he's the third baseman. It's not like he's got to take ground balls in left field. He's got one focus and that's playing third and getting his hits. Two focuses but one ideal -- third base, hits."

Notebook:Trevor Plouffe 'earns right' to get chance to take third base job - Minnesota Twins news | 1500 ESPN

1500 ESPN's Judd Zulgad asked Ron Gardenhire some pretty specific questions about Trevor Plouffe's opportunities. Gardy blames Plouffe's hand for his struggles:

"He hit 20 what (home runs last year)," Gardenhire said. "I think that earns him the right to get a chance. I know he got beat up with his hands hurting. He's earned an opportunity to go out there and play. That's what we say here. You have to earn it. But putting the ball in the seats as many times as he did, no matter how many games he played in, that's pretty good. So he earned it. It's up to him how he plays and how long he plays."

I remember when that thumb injury first came up, on the Gleeman and the Geek podcast we talked about how Plouffe's numbers were going to be crummy over the second half and we would have all these questions this offseason. That certainly happened. The doesn't mean he wasn't fluky in May/June, but I'm anxious for him to get another shot.

Notebook: Trevor Plouffe earns right to get chance to take 3rd base - Minnesota Twins news | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers) | Sportswire: Minnesota Twins

'That's what we say here. You have to earn it.'

Really?

Someone needs to define the definition of the word "earn" as it pertains to this specific example