There is no comparison. Gomez is the more valuable player by far.

Right field. Cuddyer hits 25+ homers and knocks in 100 runs and bats .275. Decent. This is what you want, consistenly. Who will repalce him in the future? Maybe Span/Young, or prospects like Tosoni, and then you get to Parmelee.

Left field. Young started to shine at season’s end. Again, you’d like someone with some punch, approaching 20+ homers, and keeping an average there in the .280 arena. A bit more defense, the capability of throwing home when a ball isn’t hit real deep. Young shows potential to do so. He must…work on his at-bats, be more patient, walk. He must watch his weight (long-term). Potential replacements…Span, Kubel if you want to everyday him, maybe Benson, Morales if Young becomes free-agent expensive. Morales may be the main man. Hicks, too, if he hits for punch.

Centerfield. Right now Span is a pretty good choice. He fields the position well, though not spectacular. He is hurt by having Cuddy on the right and Young on the left who are insufficient backups. But Span hits for average, takes pitches early in the game and is an excellent leadoff hitter. He doesn’t give the Twins as much power as you’d like from a corner outfielder, but does hit for power (I wish his doubles were a bit higher). He dpes steal bases.

The three above, if they reach league average or better potential for their positions, quite frankly are the best you could ask for.

The minute you start switching players, things change. Kubel is a more than adequate repalcement for Young in left, what you’d like to see from that position, but he weakens a Span centerfield. Then you want Gomez in center…which works…because Gomez gives you the range and, hopefully, some speed at the plate and decent hitting down-the-line. But then you have weakened the DH spot and have no where for a Span to play. Span is not the DH.

If you put Span in left, and have Gomez in center…then you better have a bigger bat or two on the left-side of the infield. It doesn’t matter how many guys you get on base…the Twins have been there and done that…if you can’t get them home. Guys who hit for power are also guys who hit sacrifice flys. How often did the Twins have someone on base and your batting order had Punto, Tolbert, Span and Cabrerra in the on-deck circle. Advancing the runner is one thing, but you need a nice mix of big and small ball in a lineup. With a weak Delmon Young, and no Crede, the Twins line-up suffered significantly in 2009.

Back to center. Span. You could put him left and alternate Kubel and Cuddyer in right and designated hitter. That would work. Gomez in center. There’s so much potential. But let’s send him down to the minors for a bit more seasoning.

The problem with Gomez right now is that if you send him down to the minors, which also decreases his service time, he has a couple of guys on his heels. Revere will start at New Britain. If he performs there, he’ll be in AAA the following season, and might even have a call-up. If Revere continues to play like he does, he is the centerfielder of the future (unless Benson and Hicks kick it up a notch, but both are at least a year or two behind Revere).

In 2012 Cuddyer could be gone. In three years, you have to ask how much you would pay Span or Young for their production. Gomez has 3-4 years, in which you have to price them out against prospects coming up and what is on the market. In as litle as three years, the Twins outfield conceivably might be Morales, Revere, Span and Gomez. Maybe Cuddyer will be around as DH, or still Kubel. I imagine Young will be a free agent as soon as possible and walk, performing admirably in his final arbitration year to egt the big salary.

So, who is more valuable?

Can you egt anything for Young? The age, the potential. It’s there. But he needs to show himself off a bit more. Will he? That’s the question. Young as a long-time Twin, I doubt it. If you can move him for someone that might still be contributing in 2012-13-14, I would do so.

Gomez? He needs seasoning. He’s around to show that the Twins got something for Santana. Really, sadly, truly. The Twins have already lost two pitchers from that trade, and got a wizened veteran. Rauch and Guerra for Santana. Hummmmmmm. Maybe a year-or-two of All-Star Gomez would make the deal look better. But maybe that’s all you get. Gomez will become expensive when he should start producing, and will he produce enough to warrant the expense, especially if Revere is basically the same-type player. Maybe Gomez has a better upside, but we don’t know that.

But would anyone trade anything for Gomez, who would shine in Kansas City or Pittsburgh, but be a backup or back-to AAA in New York of Boston or Philadelphia.

We can’t spend 2010 with both in the majors. One has to relocate, and Gomez, no matter how he lights up the winter leagues or spring training, can go to AAA. He should be intelligent enough to know that he can only improve by doing so.

The Twins need to see Young play a full-season as a starter, for begin the seasona s a starter and then re-evaluate. If he can put up above league average numbers for left field, the Twins have to think if Span or Young is the future for leftfield, if Gomez comes back.

2009 was a wasted year for both Young and Gomez. It was a truly expensive year for the Twins, as now they have to basically do the experiment all-over again.

2010, with Gomez in the minors, means the Twins have an AAAA guy as backup. pridie, doubtful. Dustin Martin, maybe? Tosoni is still in the wings. Benson and Parmelee are still prospects. The future triumverate of Morales/Hicks/Revere is knocking on the door.

It’s all about need and construction, what are the strengths each player brings to the team and what does the team lose by throwing them on the field. And if the Twins can’t solve the 2B/SS/3B problem, it weakens, even further, the likelyhood of doing 2010 like 2009.

Because if we’re really asking about Span or Gomez…well, sorry, but bye-bye GoGo. :\

But I’m not sure where to play him. I can see the arguments for putting Gomez in AAA to get him more seasoning. That’s what the Twins should have done this year if they knew Gomez wasn’t going to get any playing time – he won’t develop as a defensive replacement.

But I can also see the argument for keeping Gomez in the majors, because his defense is such an asset. I think he would still improve with regular playing time, though maybe not as quickly as in the minors.

The argument has gone on since Span established himself as a regular and narrowed to Young vs. Gomez as soon as Cuddyer showed he should be playing every day.

Here’s my take—I will take Gomez because it improved 2/3 of the outfield defense and that defensive improvement is greater than the difference between Young and Gomez at the plate.

Beyond that, I have come to see Young as a truly flawed young player. His swing at everything approach takes away his power and limits the top end of his on-base ability. Young has some hitting skills, but he isn’t athletic in the field and is not a good base runner. I believe that the best we will see from Delmon is a .750-.780 OPS, with poor baserunning and lousy defense. I don’t think it would matter if Young were in left or right. As a corner OF, that simply isn’t enough production.

Gomez is flawed as well. He hasn’t harnessed his great speed and seems to change his approach at the plate on a pitch-to-pitch basis. The thing that is intriguing about Gomez is that he is one of the fastest five guys in MLB. He has the size and strength to be much more than a slap hitter and he is a fine defender with a strong (erratic) arm. I have seen other posts that say that Gomez should work on bunting and slapping the ball, but what makes his tools special is that if he took a decent swing, he could easily get 50-70 extra base hits. Because Gomez hit RH and takes a huge hack, he doesn’t get out of the box like a slap hitter and doesn’t beat out nearly as many balls as many lefthanded slap hitters (think Ichiro) do. Gomez needs to realize that there are a lot of hits to be had by hitting the ball to the big part of the park—left-center to right-center. He doesn’t have to try to hit every ball 500 ft, just make solid contact and the hits will come. Mix in a number of bunts and perhaps “Go-go” could hit .280 and drive 30+ doubles along with double digit three-baggers and 20 homers.

Sometimes it is hard to quantify speed. I know that when a really fast guy gets on base in a close game, it changes things. Throw overs are made, infielders and outfielders shorten up, so they can make a play on a first-to-third or possible double-play grounder, the pitcher has a more difficult time focusing on the hitter, etc.

I would love to see that Twins have two dynamic base runner/base stealers at the bottom of the order like Gomez and Casilla. Whenever they would get on, they could put real pressure on the team in the field, stealing bases and forcing errors and misplays. They both have the speed to do it, but haven’t demonstrated the on-base skills.

The Twins move oudoors in 2010. Rain (snow), sunshine, smell from the garbage dump nearby.

Who will play best on the new greens, the walls, the outside uncontrolled air.

The Twins will have limited time in their new space. No winter shagging flies in the outfield.

Plus, a whole new hitting game will also materialize. Homefield advantage…a thing of the past…at least for one season?

You are the Twins with a current outfield of Cuddyer, Span, Young and Kubel. You hear this young kid, Carlos Gomez, is available…the other team wants Young. Would you make the trade?

Better yet, you have an outfield of Span, Gomez and Cuddyer with Kubel. A team has Delmon Young up for trade and offer him to you for Carlos?

Which do you choose?

But it certainly isn’t a no-brainer. As a matter of fact, Delmon was the better player at the end of the regular season (probably because he was getting the ABs). The ceiling I see for Young is about a .300 average with 15-20 homers, playing poor to mediocre defense. He just gives away too many at-bats with first pitch hacks at pitches way out of the strike zone. He is so frequently behind in the count and he strikes out a great deal, not a good combination. That friends is not an impact bat, it is Mickey Hatcher.

Gomez, at the close of the season, was a mess at the plate. I think he was making a visible effort to take some pitches, but the huge swing was making so little solid contact that many pitchers seemed to toy with him. I actually advocate sending him down if he isn’t going to start. He needs to have an approach that works, and his 2009 approach wasn’t working. Sending Gomez down might “break” him—he could lose whatever confidence he has and be useless offensively, but I think it is a gamble worth taking. The tools are there for him to be a very productive offensive player, which combined with his defensive abilities, is a winning player.

Yes, he should be the perfect 25-30 homer guy and hit around .300. He won’t walk. He’s a mess in the outfield. Happily, the AL has a designated hitter.

But will he do this for this Twins? His best selling point IS that he could do the above, and that might just be the bargaining chip the Twins need to get soemthing in value as a return…like a solid #3 or #4 veteran starter partially on his downsling, and a prospect. Who knows.

The Twins NEED to buy time with Gomez, and not at the major league level. Again, the Twins were slapped when they couldn’t resign Hunter and had no idea that besides Young, they would trade for Gomez and Span would jump into the picture like he did.

Maybe the Twins need to keep Young AND Gomez, and use Span as the bait for a need.

I keep Young

I package Casilla (best-friend) with Gomez