Fire Gardy

Last year the Twins traded for Craig Monroe, operating under the thought that since he’d been a Twins-killer for his entire career, he’d do well in the Metrodome and be a viable right handed power bat in our lineup, as an OF/DH type.

In his career, he’s his 13 HR against the Twins (during the regular season). That’s second of all teams in baseball (he’s hit 20 against the Royals). Last year with the Twins, he hit 8 homers, which is the fewest he’d hit in a season since 2002, when he hit just 1 HR in all of 13 games played. Needless to say, it was a precipitous dropoff, and not what the Twins thought they were getting.

And that’s the problem with signing someone who does really well against you — once he’s on your team, he doesn’t get to face you any more, so you don’t get that production. And the Twins didn’t.

So now he’s been mercifully cut loose, and (less mercifully) went to the Pirates. And demonstrated that his skills didn’t actually disappear when he came to the Twins — he just needs to face Twins pitching. Today, he hit 3 home runs against the Twins (two against Baker).

So good for Monroe, I guess.

The lesson to be learned, I think, is that we should stop focusing on guys who do well against us.

(Also, thanks a lot, Monroe. Enjoy the millions of dollars.)