At some point you need to blame the players for screwing up. Can't pin everything on the front office/manager. But Santana absolutely shouldn't be in CF
I would argue that pitching and position players are so different that comparing this to the Pinto/Suzuki situation is unhelpful. I agree that complete garbage shouldn't be kept around solely in case of a worst case scenario, but I would argue that KC is far from complete garbage, and the Twins are bad enough that it doesn't hurt to keep May working in AAA and hope that KC can keep providing innings.
I was typing my post at the same time you posted. But the downside is you hurt depth by cutting pitchers like KC. He can function at the major league level...what happens if injuries start piling up?
I find it silly for a team who, as some argue, lacks CF/OF depth because of their propensity to cut serviceable backup options...to cut/waive/demote a serviceable 4th/5th starter because someone in AAA "should" be with the big league club.
Agree with what has been said above. This is only a "problem" for the Twins for two reasons: First, Gardy is irrationally scared. Second, the Twins have had catchers for the last several years who are good enough to stay in the lineup even when not catching.
Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Bobby Bonilla (Mets are STILL paying him, right?) The "good" thing about Mauer's contract is that he signed when hitter's deals were only kinda ridiculous, rather than the utterly absurd deals we're seeing right now.