Today's trade of Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy ends an era of hilariously bad English. As the Twins add to their ever-growing list of players whose names begin with the letter J (double points for Hardy!), I thought it might be fun to take a look back at Gomez's Twins career. What is your favorite Gomez memory/quote/moment?

For me, the highlight of Gomez's time with the Twins has to be the 2008 game where he hit for the cycle. In an early May 2008 game, Gomez became the first Twin in 22 years to hit for the cycle. Gomez was also the first Twin to cap off his cycle with a single since Lyman Bostok, pictured below in 1976:

As you can see, it was a different era of baseball.

(Side note - talk about a bizarre game. Gomez hits for the cycle, Nick Punto gets 5 consecutive home runs 5 RBIs, and Livan Hernandez(!) took a shutout into the 9th inning).

Gomez's cycle began with his leadoff homerun in the 1st. Rather than the usual home run trot, Gomez dashed around the bases, clearly excited. When asked about it after the game, Gomez explained: "The game today started too late. I say, ‘Let me run the bases quick so the game goes fast.’"

That game is a symbol of Gomez to me. It offers many examples of his unique style of English. It epitomizes the promise that Gomez has, the excitement that Twins fans felt for what Gomez might become.

While Gomez still arguably has that potential, he failed to realize it in 2009. Here's hoping that Go-Go develops into the player we thought he could be, even if it doesn't happen with the Twins.

A few weeks ago I posted an email interview with Howard Sinker here that I'd originally done for my defunct Twins blog. Here's another item from the blog, about Kent Hrbek's rookie year, 1982:

In early May, 1982, Kent Hrbek was leading the American League with eight homers and 22 RBIs in his rookie season, at age 21. Twins PR director Tom Mee called him “the best player to come into the American League since Mickey Mantle.” Hrbek had been hitting around .400 for a while in A ball in Visalia, California, in 1981, and wound up hitting .379 that year, leading all North American professional ballplayers. He’d signed with the Twins in 1979 as a 17th round pick out of Kennedy High School in Bloomington, down the road from the Met, for a $30,000 bonus. Calvin Griffith, the Twins owner, scouted him personally, and said: “Give him the money.”

Hrbek and the Twins opened up the Metrodome with an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies in ’82, and Kent hit the Twins’ first homer in the place. He talked about going to games at the Met as a kid: “I used to sit out in left field or right field. I think I started going to games when I was about 8 years old, which would’ve been the year Carew was a rookie.”

Twins’ manager Billy Gardner said of Hrbek: “He’s hit everywhere he’s been. No reason he won’t keep hitting up here.” He’d had knee cartilage surgery in ’79, then went to Wisconsin Rapids and the Midwest League in 1980, batting .267, with 19 homers and 76 RBIs, then an enormous .379 at Visalia with 27 homers and 111 RBIs. I assume he led the California League in those three categories for 1981.

He went right from Visalia to the Twins and, in his major league debut on August 24, 1981, he hit a 12th-inning homer off George Frazier for a 3-2 victory at Yankee Stadium. Hrbek said: ”Whenever people ask me about my biggest thrills, I tell ‘em my first game wasn’t bad.” He added of the A.L. pitchers: ”Hopefully they won’t catch up with me within the next 20 years.”

I’d remembered Hrbek, more than anything else, as a fairly good-natured but subtly aggressive big guy, to put it gently, who specialized in homers and was one of the crew that led the Twins to the two titles in ’87 and ’91. I thought of him as a classic Minnesotan who, along with Gladden and Puckett, was at the core of those ’87 and ’91 Twins. I had no idea he once hit .379 or any memory of him being a standout rookie. Take a look at his 1982 season, game by game, here.

As a P.S., I got two comments on this post, both saying Hrbek, not Cal Ripken, should have been rookie of the year in '82. I'll reprint them here. One from "Rick":

Hrbek finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting just below Cal Ripken. He actually had a better year then Ripken but the Twins were pretty bad so that didn't help his cause. Plus Ripken had a lot of pre-season hype, a better lineup surrounding him, and a father already coaching in the majors. But Hrbek should of been the Rookie of the Year.

And another from John Swol, who runs the Twins Trivia site:

I have to agree with the previous commentor, There was no question that Hrbek should have been ROY but with us being here in "flyover land" he was robbed. Hrbek was a very good player but I wonder how good he could have been if he had really worked at the game. I think what we all saw was his natural ability.

I anxiously wait to see who each team jettisons, or which players declare free agency.

I can't wait to see the list of minor league free agents. Anyone from the Twins Rochester roster returning?

The talk can begin about trades and such, but somewhat stilled as teams wait to see who will gain arbitration or free agency, too...which is round #2 of the free agent madness.

Contracts, who wins and who losses.

Plus, it is Awards time? Joe Mauer MVP? Who gets the gold gloves.

It's not too early to plan for spring training and 2010, baseball as it should be played in Minnesota, outdoors amongst the snow, rain and smoke from the garbage garage!

Given all of the speculation regarding Iwamura today, I thought I would lay out the free agents for people to see. Here are the players up for free agency in 2010 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.

A = type A free agent; B = type B free agent; *means club option

Second Basemen
Marlon Anderson NYM
Ron Belliard LAD (B)
Jamey Carroll CLE
David Eckstein SD
Orlando Hudson LAD (A)
Akinori Iwamura * TB
Omar Infante ATL
Felipe Lopez MIL (A)
Mark Loretta LAD
Placido Polanco DET (A)
Freddy Sanchez * SF (A)

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera MIN (A)
Juan Castro LAD
Alex Cora NYM
Bobby Crosby OAK
Adam Everett DET
Alex Gonzalez * BOS
Khalil Greene STL
Ramon Martinez LAD
John McDonald TOR
Marco Scutaro TOR (A)
Miguel Tejada HOU
Jack Wilson * SEA

Third Basemen
Adrian Beltre SEA (B)
Geoff Blum HOU
Craig Counsell MIL
Joe Crede MIN
Mark DeRosa STL (B)
Pedro Feliz * PHI
Chone Figgins LAA (B)
Troy Glaus STL (A)
Jerry Hairston NYY (B)
Mike Lamb MIL
Melvin Mora * BAL (B)
Juan Uribe SF


Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B)
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Brandon Webb * ARZ (B)
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A)

Since the list itself is a little dull, how about I spice it up with a question. What are the chances we could pry Omar Infante from the Braves as our second baseman? He's not a type B player, but has a career hitting line that isn't too bad for a 2nd baseman ( .264 .310 .391 .701 ) and still has good defense.  Those offensive numbers aren't great, but then again he's only 27 and the average for his last three seasons is about .285 .340 .390 .730.  Not bad.  His 2009 contract was 1.85 million.

With all the positions reviewed to date, there aren't many more than ten players in the organization playing at each position.  Doing the corner outfielders together means that the top ten will include more prospects that have a legitimate chance of someday playing with the Twins.  As with all the previous reviews this isn't meant to be a prospect ranking, rather, it is a ranking of the top ten corner outfielders based on their play this past season. 

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Good morning from beautiful South Carolina.  Every week this time of year we find a few more Twins organization players reporting to their winter teams, although players who were with the Twins won't be reporting for several more weeks. 

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There's been a lot of talk about what to upgrade on the Twins but one thing that the Twins also need to consider is making a decision on who to start between Gomez and Young.  They're both still very young (23) which is the average age at AA, however Gomez just played his 2nd full major league season and Young his 3rd.  They both still have tons of potential even though they haven't become the players we hoped they would just yet. 

It' been said many times here and elsewhere that it has not helped either of them to be sitting on the bench.  For the players sake and for the Twins sake they need to decide on one and send the other away.  It's a tough decision as whoever they ship away could come back to haunt them because both have all star ceilings (remember I said ceiling, not what I expect). 

I really don't have a ton of time to break everything down statistically so I'll leave that up to anyone who feels the initiative to do so.  I just felt like this was a debate that could/should take place in its own fanpost.  My personal opinion is to keep Gomez.  He already is a great defender and if he never develops offensively he'll at least give us great defense.  Gomez also allows the Twins to use Span at a corner which improves the defense and allows the Twins to not have to worry about at 4th/5th OF being able to play Center as Span can still slide over there as needed.  Gomez might not be the better hitter yet, but he does appear to be working on his patience as his walk rate went up 2.5% while his K rate went down 3% (Delmons both went the other direction).  He never got a consistent shot at starting this year and my hope would be that he would improve those numbers even more in the future as a result of everyday play.  So now it's your turn what do you think and why?

With the Twins headed to Target Field in 2010, they should focus on fixing and filling the glaring holes that they have on their team.  With the burden of the dome off their backs, Target Field will bring in additional revenue for the Twins to use in the upcoming years, but for this offseason, why not spend a little more then your payroll?  The Twins managed to sneak away with the Central Division in Game 163, but they lacked fire power in the NY series (again!), going 3 and out.  The Twins must fix their needs this offseason in order to bring October Baseball into Target Field in its opening year.

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So, the Yankees are ALCS champs.  Again.  Aren't we all thrilled? 

I personally now have zero interest in watching baseball any longer.  I could not care less about either team playing in the World Series.  As much as I would like to see the Yankees lose, I really don't want to see the Phillies win either.  Such a quandry, right?  Anyway, now that it's determined who will be playing in the World Series (for all the glory, etc etc), where do your loyalties lie?  The Evil Empire or the Other East Coast Team?  Do you even care anymore?  And why, Angels, whyyyy?!  :(

P.S.  How much do you miss Twins baseball already?  It's only a couple weeks into the offseason and I'm already jonesin' for some Baby J, Cuddy, and Big Game Blackbeard.

I love our Twins, I love the TC logo, and TC Bear.  I will miss the dome, but embrace Target Field (Not to be mistaken for Target Center...Geniuses).  I long for many more seasons of the M n M boys, because frankly just M boy is kind of boring, but as a Twins fan, I am used to being let down, and I am afraid to say it, but this offseason is going to be no different.

If the Pohlad family are good for anything, it's proving that they can get by on the cheap with this organization.  They have won numerous Division titles on low budget teams.  Why should this offseason be any different?  They proved that with just a tweak in house and adding a low risk veteran they can make an improbable push and win yet another division pennant.  The problem is that many Minnesota fans are saying, "enough is enough."  Why should we settle for "One-and-Done's" when other teams are continuously getting better.  We need to go out and at least add a strong pitcher.  I hear Lackey is going to be available, and hell, I'd be satisfied with a Bedard or Harden.  We need to solidify the middle infield.  Valencia at Third sounds nice for next year, and lets pair him next to Tejada, and put Casilla back at second.  He may not be any better than Punto, but at least he has an upside.  I'm tired of giving Punto chance after chance to waiver around the Mendoza line, and never come up clutch.  Casilla didn't play well, but at least he could improve.  Punto is going nowhere fast, but yet Gardy's affection for mediocre utility players with below average bats (Which is what he was), continues to pencil him in somewhere.  Maybe after Mauer leaves, and trots off into the sunset to fade into the crowd in NY or LA we can try Punto behind the plate.  At least catchers aren't expected to produce with the bat.  Tejada may be a pipe dream, but it would be nice.  People continue to talk about trading for the likes of an Uggla, or a JJ Hardy, but we really don't have much to offer a team that we can afford to give up.  Sure we could dump off a starting pitcher, but look how well that worked for us in the Garza deal.  I'd rather get something for Gomez and potentially Crain or Liriano, but I don't see us snagging a starting second basemen or shortstop above what we have now.  Maybe JJ Hardy would come for that, but Uggla?  No way.  We need to shore up one of those spots; however, maybe putting some money into a free agent second basemen like Orlando Hudson isn't a bad idea.  We have a few SS's that could platoon with Harris and Punto at short, or maybe we resign Cabrera, making our infield look a little better at the plate, even if Cabrera is an adventure in the field.  I would like the looks of a Vilencia, Cabrera, Hudson, Morneau infield, or maybe a Vilencia, Tejada, Casilla/Cabrera, Morneau.  I don't care who or what as long as they are an upgrade, and can cause us to be rid of Punto. 

My other concern is our Outfield.  It's a good concern, but a concern nonetheless.  We have Cuddy, Span, Gomez, and Young all outfielders, as well as Kubel who will probably stay predominately DH again, as he should.  Cuddy is obvious at right field, that makes perfect sense, and if we keep Gomez, and he can be semi consistent, even if he's only hitting .230 or .240, he would be center field, and then we would have Span in left, leaving Delmon Young the odd man out.  Some people are ok with this, and think we should trade him, coming off a hot end of the season.  I couldn't deny that is an intriguing idea, but I don't think the market for a slow, limpy, clumsy left fielder is that high, especially one with mediocre hitting abilities.  I say we either A) Trade Morneau (OMG) and put Cuddy at first, leaving Young in his natural right field, or B) Trade Cuddy (Slight OMG) and put you guessed it, Young in his natural right field.  Young played right all through out his career in Tampa Bay, and then he gets here and we throw him in left.  Doesn't make sense to me.  Let me look back to my two aforementioned trade scenarios for a minute.  Trade one was getting rid of M n M number two Justin Morneau, which is a sickening thought, but he has a high value, which would bring us potentially a starting pitcher, or a good relief pitcher and some prospects, and would free up some money.  Cuddy showed that at least for a short time, he could play first more than serviceable.  I was impressed, and like I stated before we could get a decent amount for Morneau.  The other deal, which makes much more sense, is trade away Michael Cuddyer who still has some high value, which would net us either a solid position player and a prospect or two or a strong pitcher and a prospect or two, or a few prospects.  I would hate to see him go, but we need to cut something in order to position ourselves for a strong season next year.  Especially when you have Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas City all sporting solid to extremely good starting rotations. 

As a Minnesotan, I'm tired of falling victim to the "Middling infielder at low cost,"  or "Veteran arm to add some leadership," scenario that this team is pulling.  It's a scam to say we brought in Ramon Ortiz, or Livan Hernandez for any other reason than to save some coins.  Come on Twins, open things up a bit.  Let's see a strong offseason, not a boring one.