This is you, Twins fans

It goes without saying that Nick Punto is a polarizing figure among Twins fans.
There are fans with brains, who realize he should never get more than 200 at-bats in a season, and fans who treat Major League Baseball like a Disney movie, who believe childish virtues such as trying hard, smiling and sliding headfirst are enough to make someone a useful player.
The latter group bombards me with emails during the regular season telling me how I'm too negative and asking me why I hate the Twins so much (because as we all know, if you don't root for who and what Dick Bremer tells you to, you hate the Twins).

Earlier this week, Strib columnist Jim Souhan penned a column on Punto, which quoted Punto saying he planned to rebound and compete for playing time, and quoted Mike Redmond saying all sorts of ridiculous things about how good Punto is. No wonder everyone thinks Redmond has a future in managing. He has Gardy's ability to totally overvalue utility players.

And unfortunately, a large segment of Twins fans eat this stuff up.
This is a sampling of reader comments that appeared after Souhan's column. I have made up none of it.

I dont care what anyone says but he is among the top 10 defensive infielders in the current game, for him not to have won a golden glove in 2006 was an insult. He still makes the top 10 plays as much as Hunter and yet plays way less. The day punto leaves the twins is the day i stop cheering for them. punto fan forever

Punto is a huge asset to this Twins team that always prides itself on defense. Yes, he had an off year at the plate, but what these fickle fans love to forget is that Hunter had a slump a few years ago too, he couldn't do anything but hit into double plays. Without Punto's acrabatics in the field, the Twins would have lost many more games in '07. Give him a break! You'll be singing a different tune when his slump turns around.

Nick, you ARE a winner. A winner is not someone who wins a championship - that can happen to anyone lucky enough to be on the right team. A winner is someone who plays the game like you. Even when things are going bad.

Punto could go 1 for 400 next year and I'd still be on his bandwagon. I will wear his jersey proudly at the dome this season.

Nick Punto's hustle on the field, his acrobatic plays on defense, and his never-say-die attitude should make him the envy of everyone, and he's the kind of player we'd like our kids to emulate. With those remarkable attributes, he doesn't need to hit .300. The Twins and Twins fans are lucky to have him. Press on, Nick, and know we're behind you!

fans need to leave nick alone. none of you are major league baseball players so you dont know what they go through day in and day out.. nick gives constant effort, everyone should be happy to have someone like that on there team. so next time anyone wants to talk bad about nick realize you cant do what he does any better. how would you like to have thousands of people that dont have any experience in your line of work criticise you about how you do your job? thank about that and just enjoy the damn game........thank you

Punto plays on my team everyday. He has hit in the past and will again. He plays hard on every play, makes great plays and is the ultimate team guy. I would give him 2B and let him play...everyday. Although he had an off year in 06, I'd take him over any DH the Twins sent to the plate in the past few years

Hope you're proud of yourself Dick. I couldn't make this shit up if I wanted to.

There were, in the interest of fairness, some amusing comments from people who are apparently not retarded.

Now we're consider how guys feel? What's this...little league? To put all this in perspective, Punto put up one of the worst offensive seasons in modern history and now he thinks he should lead off!?? Being a terrible hitter doesn't make you a better fielder, and it sure as heck shouldn't win you the admiration of your manager. He's a good defensive player, but he's not that great.

Punto is one of the worst hitters in all of baseball and I would defy anyone to say that he says more runs on defense than he loses us on offense. It simply is laughable that Punto is still in a major league uniform. Twins fans are their own worse enemy. We always swoon over the overrated garbage i.e. Rivas, Punto, Tyner, Cuddyer, Kubel, and the fans are to blame partly for how bad the team has been shaped the last couple of years.

I'm glad you folks think he's so neat... At least our little 70 win team will have "good guys" playing for it. Little League is where everyone gets to play three innings and have one at bat; this is MLB, and I expect players who can play (and hit!!)... Fans need to stop accepting mediocrity!

I've written extensively about Punto, as have most Twins bloggers. Most seem to agree that Punto does in fact have value, but only if used sparingly and optimally.
But he should never play every day. Even his career year (now obviously a fluke) of 2006, his OPS+ was a modest 90. For his career its 69, meaning he's 31 percent below average.

Why do so many Twins fans tolerate mediocrity, or worse, outright shitiness??
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Do these people even care if the Twins win? I'm so sick of people treating the big leagues like Little League.
These guys are making millions upon millions, and therefore ticket prices are through the roof all over the country.
If I'm going to pay $75 for a good seat, I'd at least hope that the team is trying to win, rather than trying to show little Tommy how to "play the game the right way".

If you want your shitty kid to learn how to play, buy one of those Tom Emanski videos.
The rest of us would prefer to see the Twins actually acquire players who are good major leaguers.