So long Tyner

I'm in Tennessee, hitting on chicks with six teeth, but I still have internet, so I managed to stumble onto the news that the Twins signed Craig Monroe to a 1-year, $3.82 million deal, and non-tendered Jason Tyner, everyone's favorite singles hitter.

While I've spent an inordinate amount of time and space on this blog pointing out that Tyner isn't a particularly good major leaguer despite a nice looking batting average, I'm a little sad to see him go.
He had a knack for getting important hits, he played hard, could play CF fairly adequately, and yes, he did always contribute a good batting average. But I still agree with the decision to keep Monroe over Tyner. Monroe is coming off a terrible year, in which he hit .219, but in 2006 he hit 28 homers while batting .255/.301/.482.
This is a good case to point out how Tyner's batting average doesn't tell the whole story. Tyner hit .286 to Monroe's .219, and yet their OPS was almost identical. And this is comparing Monroe's worst year to Tyner's second-best.
Monroe is also probably a better OF than the noodle-armed Tyner.
The Twins are going to end up with either Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp or Melky Cabrera in CF, and that leaves Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young and Monroe to fill the other spots. There are rumors that Cuddyer could be moved back to 3B if the Twins can't find a suitable replacement, and if that happens, you'll likely see Young in RF, Kubel/Monroe in LF, and Jason Pridie probably makes the team as a backup. The good news is that Tyner's 2 1/2 year stint with the Twins probably allowed him to solidify his bank account a little bit, and was almost surely productive enough to entice a team with lesser aspirations to give him a job. I wish him well.

What I like about the Twins decision to cut Tyner loose is that it is another piece of evidence that suggests Bill Smith actually does some homework, actually analyzes the numbers beyond Avg., HR and RBI. Lew Ford and Tyner were the kind of players that Ron Gardenhire would find a spot for no matter how terrible they were, and it's good to know that Smith isn't as stubbornly loyal to guys that suck. If the Twins had another option for a utility IF, I'm sure they would've jettisoned Nick Punto by now as well.