Gomez versus Young
It’s old news by now (I wrote this last Friday, but I assume…) that the Twins traded their fourth-outfielder/center fielder Carlos Gomez the Brewers for shortstop JJ Hardy. This should make my friend E happy. She likes JJ Hardy. That’s neither here nor there, though.
I knew going into the offseason—which sucks, by the way—that the Twins were going to trade either Gomez or left-fielder Delmon Young. Cuddyer was still under contract (and, in fact, the team picked up his option for the 2011 season), and is a bit older and has faced some (freak) injury issues. (I think it’s important to point out the “freak” injuries versus the chronic injuries. Freak injuries involve broken bones/dislocation when something unusual happens. Joe Crede’s back problems are chronic. Michael Cuddyer dislocating his finger, and then having his foot broken while on re-hab is more freakish. Although two dislocated fingers—albeit, different fingers—in one season borders on chronic.) This will bring down his value slightly, and he’s higher valued on the Twins for his clubhouse presence. For a team that is often littered with young, unexperienced players, there is value in veteran leadership. While Joe Nathan is older, he was also traded to the Twins, whereas Cuddyer has only known the Twins, from the draft day forward. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have moved out the definition of “young players”, but both have a few years to go until they reach the age of 30. I could keep arguing, but let’s just put it down as a positive that Cuddyer stays. Span is the leadoff hitter the Twins have been waiting for for years. He’s solid defensively (although not quite up to Gomez’s incredible level). Span was staying.
Both Gomez and Young were wanting to be full-time players, but both were young. Both had moments of brilliance, and both had moments of frustration. Gomez was clearly stronger defensively, while Young was not exactly carrying a gold glove—unless it was literally gold—in left field (caveat: many have commented that because of the lights at the Metrodome, left field was the hardest position to play there. I’m not saying that Young is great, but he might be a little better than Minnesota got to see). One of them was going to go. It turned out last Friday to be Gomez to the Brewers.
I think I know why they traded away Gomez rather than Young.*
* Totally kidding. It’s a crack-pot theory that amuses me.
Young came to the Twins in a trade with Tampa Bay. Twins fans know how good Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett have been since leaving Minnesota. (Eduardo Morlan, the final guy the Twins sent to the Devil Rays, is still an unknown quantity.) The pieces that the Twins got in return—Jason Pridie, Delmon Young, and Brendan Harris—have not been up to par. Pridie has not played much with the Twins, but his minor league career does speak about his future as a fourth outfielder. He’s four months older than Delmon Young, but has only 11 major league at-bats (Young has 1,741). We got a solidly average (but cute!) player in Brendan Harris. He’s okay everywhere in the infield (except, perhaps, catching and pitching; I would venture he’d be well below average in those two positions), but nothing that you’d write home to Dad about. So, the Twins traded away a pretty good shortstop and a pretty good pitcher for a couple of average guys and one young unknown. (I still believe Young has a chance to break out. Then again, I’ve believed every year for the last two or three years that the Royals might finally break out of their funk, so take it for what it’s worth.)
Carlos Gomez came to the Twins in a trade with the Mets. Gomez was the centerpiece of the deal for Santana. The Twins just lost Torii Hunter and needed a center fielder. Remember back when Denard Span was a bust and at that point our best option was Pridie (remember how key getting Pridie in that trade was?!) The other guys in the trade include the unknown commodity of Deolis Guerra (who’s not yet 21), Kevin Mulvey (who was mediocre despite my feeling that he’d be the best prospect and later “traded” to the Diamondbacks in a trade of waivered players for Jon Rauch), and Phillip Humber, who was designated for assignment after many poor performances. Really, none of the four players turned out to be anything to write home about (yet). However, with the trading of Gomez, now we can say that Johan Santana was traded for Rauch (who has acquitted himself well for the Twins so far), JJ Hardy (unknown commodity), and the elusive Deolis Guerra. That trade might look better by the end of the 2010 season. We can only hope.
One last, unrelated, thought. Rafael Palmeiro won the first base Gold Glove in 1999—despite playing only 28 games at first base. No one would’ve considered giving Michael Cuddyer a Gold Glove for first base this year…and he played 34 games at first. Of course, Palmeiro had a .996 Fielding Percentage, and Cuddyer had a .986, so clearly he didn’t deserve it.
Timberwolves update: They’re now at 1-8, or a 11.1% winning percentage. As was pointed out in a Twitter post, the fans can relax, because there are only 73 games left this year!
Wild Update: Conversely, the Wild have improved their record to 7-10-0, for a 41.2% winning percentage.
I knew going into the offseason—which sucks, by the way—that the Twins were going to trade either Gomez or left-fielder Delmon Young. Cuddyer was still under contract (and, in fact, the team picked up his option for the 2011 season), and is a bit older and has faced some (freak) injury issues. (I think it’s important to point out the “freak” injuries versus the chronic injuries. Freak injuries involve broken bones/dislocation when something unusual happens. Joe Crede’s back problems are chronic. Michael Cuddyer dislocating his finger, and then having his foot broken while on re-hab is more freakish. Although two dislocated fingers—albeit, different fingers—in one season borders on chronic.) This will bring down his value slightly, and he’s higher valued on the Twins for his clubhouse presence. For a team that is often littered with young, unexperienced players, there is value in veteran leadership. While Joe Nathan is older, he was also traded to the Twins, whereas Cuddyer has only known the Twins, from the draft day forward. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have moved out the definition of “young players”, but both have a few years to go until they reach the age of 30. I could keep arguing, but let’s just put it down as a positive that Cuddyer stays. Span is the leadoff hitter the Twins have been waiting for for years. He’s solid defensively (although not quite up to Gomez’s incredible level). Span was staying.
Both Gomez and Young were wanting to be full-time players, but both were young. Both had moments of brilliance, and both had moments of frustration. Gomez was clearly stronger defensively, while Young was not exactly carrying a gold glove—unless it was literally gold—in left field (caveat: many have commented that because of the lights at the Metrodome, left field was the hardest position to play there. I’m not saying that Young is great, but he might be a little better than Minnesota got to see). One of them was going to go. It turned out last Friday to be Gomez to the Brewers.
I think I know why they traded away Gomez rather than Young.*
* Totally kidding. It’s a crack-pot theory that amuses me.
Young came to the Twins in a trade with Tampa Bay. Twins fans know how good Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett have been since leaving Minnesota. (Eduardo Morlan, the final guy the Twins sent to the Devil Rays, is still an unknown quantity.) The pieces that the Twins got in return—Jason Pridie, Delmon Young, and Brendan Harris—have not been up to par. Pridie has not played much with the Twins, but his minor league career does speak about his future as a fourth outfielder. He’s four months older than Delmon Young, but has only 11 major league at-bats (Young has 1,741). We got a solidly average (but cute!) player in Brendan Harris. He’s okay everywhere in the infield (except, perhaps, catching and pitching; I would venture he’d be well below average in those two positions), but nothing that you’d write home to Dad about. So, the Twins traded away a pretty good shortstop and a pretty good pitcher for a couple of average guys and one young unknown. (I still believe Young has a chance to break out. Then again, I’ve believed every year for the last two or three years that the Royals might finally break out of their funk, so take it for what it’s worth.)
Carlos Gomez came to the Twins in a trade with the Mets. Gomez was the centerpiece of the deal for Santana. The Twins just lost Torii Hunter and needed a center fielder. Remember back when Denard Span was a bust and at that point our best option was Pridie (remember how key getting Pridie in that trade was?!) The other guys in the trade include the unknown commodity of Deolis Guerra (who’s not yet 21), Kevin Mulvey (who was mediocre despite my feeling that he’d be the best prospect and later “traded” to the Diamondbacks in a trade of waivered players for Jon Rauch), and Phillip Humber, who was designated for assignment after many poor performances. Really, none of the four players turned out to be anything to write home about (yet). However, with the trading of Gomez, now we can say that Johan Santana was traded for Rauch (who has acquitted himself well for the Twins so far), JJ Hardy (unknown commodity), and the elusive Deolis Guerra. That trade might look better by the end of the 2010 season. We can only hope.
One last, unrelated, thought. Rafael Palmeiro won the first base Gold Glove in 1999—despite playing only 28 games at first base. No one would’ve considered giving Michael Cuddyer a Gold Glove for first base this year…and he played 34 games at first. Of course, Palmeiro had a .996 Fielding Percentage, and Cuddyer had a .986, so clearly he didn’t deserve it.
Timberwolves update: They’re now at 1-8, or a 11.1% winning percentage. As was pointed out in a Twitter post, the fans can relax, because there are only 73 games left this year!
Wild Update: Conversely, the Wild have improved their record to 7-10-0, for a 41.2% winning percentage.
Labels: G-g-g-girl, Gold Glove, Minnesota Twins, Trade Analysis
posted by thisisbeth | 7:53 AM
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