The Boonies

I've soaked the move in for a day now. I've come to the conclusion that I'm happy that Terry Ryan made the trade to bring in second baseman Bret Boone at minimal cost. Happy if only for the fact that it gives fans something fresh to be excited about... with new players come new possibilities. Luis Rodriguez and Nick Punto have both been fairly steady at second, but certainly nothing to get in a frenzy over. Bret is has been an All-Star, a Gold-Glove winner, and an MVP candidate... all multiple times. Nobody on the Twins roster right now has such a resume. Even with his poor statistics this year, Boone still has better run-production numbers than any of the Twins' 2B/SS/3B.

However, there is really no reason to think he's going to be a huge help to this lineup. Here's the important statistic, as I see it: .210. That's Boone's average against left-handed pitching this year. The Twins are a team that needs some help against southpaws, and bringing in a right-handed bat doesn't mean much when it's a guy who hits righties better than lefties. This season is not a statistical anomaly for Boone, he has always hit right-handers better than left-handers. In the seasons 2002-2005, Boone has hit .269 against LHPs while hitting .277 off right-handers.

Regardless, I remain happy that we picked the guy up. He wanted to be here, he's a veteran who knows how to hit, and there's always the chance that he will spark and be relatively productive. Even if not, it won't hurt us too much.

By the way... anyone notice any similarity?