Well, this will definitely give the Miller Park boo-birds something to remember when the Twins make their annual trip this summer. From an article in The Canadian Press about the recent “TwinsFest”:
After a tough year with the Brewers, Hardy couldn’t wait to get out of Milwaukee and was happy to join his buddy Mauer in Minnesota. He will be the starting shortstop, and the team is hoping he can regain his form at the plate from 2007 and ’08, when he had a combined 40 home runs and 154 RBIs.
“Once I was told I got traded to the Twins, it was icing on the cake,” Hardy said. “I wanted to get out of Milwaukee. When I got traded to the Twins, a good organization and a good team, I felt like it was the perfect fit.”
To be fair to Hardy, given the way his time in Milwaukee ended, I don’t think I can blame him for wanting to get out. Bridges were definitely burned when Doug Melvin kept him in Nashville just long enough to get that extra year of team control. But those feelings go both ways. Coaches and management were annoyed by his constant need for days off. Unlike some of the other young stars on the team, it never really seemed like Hardy wanted to be in Milwaukee.
The more casual Brewer fans have always been hard on returning players, no matter how they left Milwaukee. Gary Sheffield always deserves to be booed — no exceptions. But there were also idiots who booed Geoff Jenkins, Brady Clark, and Wes Helms. It’s safe to say that Hardy would have heard it from the Milwaukee faithful anyway, but comments like these — no matter how true they are — probably won’t help.
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