Not so daily after all

I should change the sidebar to "periodic" updates. Yes.

Game logs!

04/18, against Cleveland, 0-3 with a strike out. Nice!
04/19, against Cleveland, 2-3 with a double and a strike out. TWO FOR THREE!!! WOW!
04/20, against Cleveland, 0-1 in his first pinch hitting appearance in a Twins kit.

Year to date: .231/.310/.346

OPS+: 68

Peaking at Monroe's postseason stats, I notice that in the 2006 ALCS, he went 6-14 with 3 walks, a home run, and 4 rbi. .429/.529/.786. A small sample size, yes, but like all hitters, he can get hot in a short series. That does not make him worth 3.8 million dollars however.

Some players (Lew Ford, I am looking at you) can have one good half of a season and use that to keep them in the bigs much, much longer than they deserve to be. C-Mo had one good post season series and turned that into a 3.8 million dollar deal with the Twins. Awesome. Good for him.

Note: Lew Ford finished 24th in the 2004 AL MVP voting. 24th!!! Someone really needs to revoke La Velle's BWAA card.

Start!

Hey, for the first time since April the 9th, Craig Monroe actually got to use one of his many baseball bats! Hooray!

He even went 2-4 against his former team with an run batted in.

However the Twins' bullpen blew yet another late lead, and the Tigers went on to win 6-5.

Kind of frustrating that the one strength I thought the team had going into the season (bullpen) is the one facet of their game that is faultering right now.

Oh well. They are built to be a .500 baseball team, and they are playing like one.

Anyway: THE STATS:

C-Mo:

Six games, 19 at-bats, 4 hits (including 2 doubles), no dingers, 3 rbi, a couple runs scored, three walks, and SEVEN strike outs.

OBP: .318. A solid .15 higher than his career average. Yep, that's right, you think C-Mo sucks now, but he is usually a little bit worse.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Cuddyer comes back, considering the way Span is playing. (.300, .391, .300) Will Craig Monroe be riding the bus back to Rochester? Kubel now owns the DH spot, even against lefties, so unless the Twins front office would prefer Span start everyday, which he would in triple A, the fourth outfielder spot is definitely his.

3.8 million dollars

Monroe hasn't had an at-bat since April the ninth.

Remind me again why the Twins signed this dude?

Yes, I know it is early for this following, but humor me: if he continues at this current pace, C-Mo will get 243 plate appearances this season. Which means the Twins will be paying him $15,637 per plate appearance. That's Miguel Cabrera money.

Phew

Craig Monroe sat, the Twins won.

I am very happy that particular trend is over.

Now back to our regularly scheduled C-Mo bashing.

Sobering thought of the day: Ramon Ortiz started out 3-0 last season. So let's lay off giving Livan the Cy Young for a little bit yet.

Rain out

Yesterday's game with the Sox was rained out. In fact, they called it at like 4:00, so there must have been some pretty serious precip down there.

Until tomorrow then.

C-Mo...Win Mo?

Monroe rides the pine Sunday & Monday: the Twins lose.
Monroe starts Wednesday night: the Twins win.

He had an okay night at the plate too: 1-4 with a double, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. He also struck out twice.

Prove me wrong, Craig, prove me wrong. I would love it if you did.

The bad news is that Monroe's competition, Kubel, went 2-4 with a walk, a grand slam, and six RBI.

In other words, once Cuddyer comes back, Monroe will be lucky if he plays one game a week.

Which, considering the Twins record when he plays (4-1), isn't good news for Twins fan. It is, however, good news for people who write blogs about how bad a move his signing was.

Just a reminder: the dude is making 3.8 million this season.

The Cell

Twins lose. Yawn.

Day off today, first of the season.

Monroe rode the pine yesterday, so no stat updates.

See you Thursday morning.