What are the Twins doing?!

(I will have a much, much angrier screed on the Wild later this week)


It's been widely reported that Delmon Young is "exceptionally available" because Ron Gardenhire is exceptionally stupid a terrible manager, prefers Denard Span and Carlos Gomez. I've made my peace with the fact that the Twins don't like Young, because he is still a developing young hitter who takes about a month and a half to get going, but he doesn't smile and isn't a gold glove outfielder. They would rather build the team around Denard Span, a slap hitter who has already maximized his potential, or Carlos Gomez who can't hit outside of spurts, but smiles a lot and runs really fast. Whatever.
So, here's the thing. They want to trade Young, and I would be surprised if they don't before the trade deadline. What I really don't understand is why they aren't playing him. Young is finally coming around after the death of his mother, and has started hitting, both for power and for average. Not only would his presence in the lineup help the team now, but it would drive up his trade value, so the Twins could actually get a component they need instead of some crap middle reliever, which they will probably trade for straight up.
The only reason I can think that Young isn't in the line up on a daily basis is that Ron Gardenhire is petty and is too dumb to look at things like "numbers" or "strategy" especially when it doesn't involve bunting, So, because he wants his guys in the lineup and has no perspective on the future of the team, he continues to drive it into the ground. Ron Gardenhire is a terrible manager and deserves to be fired for his inability to bring this superfluously talented team to the fullness of their ability.
Wow. That came out of nowhere.