Class does not win baseball games. Being a good guy does not make you throw harder, hit more home runs or avoid chasing those two-strike sliders. And, in turn, Michael Cuddyer leaving the Twins for the Rockies does not make him a bad guy -- not does it make the Twins a bad organization. It was a business decision on both sides -- and in practical terms both made the right moves. Minnesota saves money on a capable replacement and gets two valuable high draft picks in exchange, while Cuddyer cashes in on what will likely be his last big payday and gets to play for a good organization in a great ballpark/city as well.
Said Cuddyer: "Anytime you're at a place for as long as you have been, it's bittersweet, there's no doubt about that. I'm not mad. I don't have any hard feelings towards anyone. That organization gave me a chance to play. Gave me a chance to realize my dream of being a major league baseball player and they fulfilled their obligation they had to me for 14, almost 15, years. In return, I gave them everything I had for the same amount of time."
It's a shame the numbers didn't match better because as eager as some fans were to whitewash the 2011 season, a guy like Cuddyer could have been one of those rare, start-to-finish one-team players who was not only productive but respected. But if there is a good thing to come from this aside from the practical victory on both sides, it is this: Cuddyer can now wear No. 3 -- a switch he made in Colorado as a tribute to ex-Twin great and personal idol Harmon Killebrew.
It's a classy move, of course -- and one he obviously couldn't make here because Killebrew's number is retired. That extra class won't make balls travel any farther through Denver's thin air. But it will be missed all the same.
