If Jason Kubel can get his swing going, the Twins will have to sort
through the options when Shannon Stewart returns from the disabled list.

By Patrick Reusse
Star Tribune

ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- Twins manager Ron Gardenhire spent the early days of
this West Coast road trip talking about how much he would like to see
Jason Kubel regain his sharpness at the plate. "I really like that swing,"
Gardenhire said. "There are three lefthanded bats there -- [Joe] Mauer,
[Justin] Morneau and Kubel -- that can be a big part of this lineup for
years to come."

On Tuesday night, Kubel hit his first home run, and his first in the big
leagues since Sept. 22, 2004. It was a shot off the Angels' Jeff Weaver
that carried over the center-field fence. He hit a line drive to deep
center off reliever Brendan Donnelly in his next at-bat.

The question becomes: If this was the start of a turnaround at the plate
for Kubel (age 24 as of May 25), what happens in the next couple of weeks
when Shannon Stewart presumably will reappear from the disabled list?

The options would seem to be: A) put Stewart back in left field and return
Kubel to Class AAA Rochester for full-time duty, or B) give up on Rondell
White, tell Stewart that he's now a designated hitter, and go with Kubel
as the primary left fielder.

Stewart always has balked at the notion of serving as a DH -- even though
he's a mediocre outfielder with a horrendous arm. But that's not the real
problem in going with Option B.

The Twins signed White to a $2.5 million contract. General Manager Terry
Ryan has not often written off such investments. He's more likely to hang
onto White, 34, in the hope he can show some life with the bat, making him
tradable to a contender in July.

That could be beyond wishful thinking. Entering the final game of May,
White was batting .195. He had no home runs. He had three walks (one
intentional) and six extra-base hits (doubles). That left him with an
on-base percentage of .211 and a slugging percentage of .232.

"I try not to look at my average, but it's hard to miss when it's on the
scoreboard," White said. "I know I've hit better than that ... hit enough
balls hard to be batting .270. What I can't explain is no home runs. I
can't believe that."

White said what he no longer needs are the small kindnesses of teammates
and strangers. " 'Hang in there ... keep your head up,' " he said. "If I
had a hit for every time I've heard those things, I would be batting .500.

"I don't want to hear any more sob stories for myself. I'm the one who has
to get hot, show some power, be the hitter that I've been all my life."

And if he's still not that two weeks from now, and Stewart's back and
Kubel's bat has come alive, then what?

"The last thing we want Kubel to be thinking about is what happens when
Shannon comes back," Gardenhire said Tuesday. "He should concern himself
with one thing: having good at-bats, like he did the last two times at the
plate tonight.

"What we've noticed with him is that he's drifting forward, getting his
weight on the front foot too soon. He's out front, but the bat is dragging
behind. He's catching the ball too late in the zone.

"That's not what we saw two years ago, before he missed last season with
the knee injury. When we got Kubel up here in 2004, he was solid on his
back foot, his weight shift was great and he hit line drives. He knows the
problem, and he's working with [hitting coach] Joe Vavra to fix it."

Vavra spent an hour throwing batting practice to Kubel on Tuesday. "I have
the evidence," said Kubel, showing off a blistered right hand.

The pregame work was rewarded with a big-league home run for the first
time in 20 months, although Kubel was not ready to pronounce himself
cured.

"I've been trying too hard," he said. "I have to forget whether I'm going
to stay here, and just hit. What's frustrating is I'm fouling off good
pitches to hit. A couple of years ago, I killed those pitches."

Gardenhire believes Kubel will again -- and perhaps soon.

Last update: June 01, 2006