Johan Santana forced the Twins to trade him last year since he longed to pitch in a market where his skills can be appreciated and magnified. The Twins knew they had no chance of getting anything for him no matter how hard Bill Smith tried his best in creating a market for the prized ace.
The Yankees and the Red Sox showed no interest in Santana with the idea they can sign him in 2009 rather than destroying their farm system in acquiring him. The Mets believed they can get him for nothing since the Twins could not let Santana walk away without getting someone in return, and that’s exactly what happened when both teams made that trade.
Smith tried to sell everyone that Carlos Gomez would be a player that the Twins can build around him, but after two years, it hasn’t worked out. The enigmatic centerfielder departed yesterday afternoon via a trade to the Brewers for an enigmatic shortstop in J.J. Hardy.
From this point of view, it was an addition by subtraction. The Twins featured many outfielders, and with the way Gomez played this past season, his playing time would have been cut in 2010 so he was better off elsewhere.
Gomez failed to grow up as a person and as a player. He made no progress from last year with his awful hitting and baserunning skills this season.
He struggled to hit the ball past the infielders, and he struck out often. He resorted to bunting for hits late in the summer.
If it wasn’t his hitting, it was his baserunning. The guy lacked understanding on how to run in taking extra bases, and it was in full view in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
The Twins liked him for his ability to steal bases, but he did not live up to that reputation.
At this point, he became useless for Gardenhire to the point he did not start him in Game 163 and Game 1 of the playoffs. What’s wrong with this scenario when the manager showed more faith in Jose Morales over Gomez when it came to producing in the starting lineup especially in playoff time?
By then, we knew Gardenhire gave up on Gomez for good, and Gomez made the manager look smart by his shoddy performance in the playoffs.
No one worked tirelessly in getting the most out of Gomez than Twins first base coach/baserunning coach Jerry White, but Gomez never listened to whatever White was saying.
Gomez acted like he knew more about the game than the longtime coach. That’s the problem right there.
When a player displays that attitude, he is never going to do well. Gomez’s work ethic left a lot to be desired this past season. He showed no desire to get better, and he seemed content in being an below-average player.
Why keep him around?
People like to talk about his defense, but this team feature many outfielders that can play good defense so that means nothing when they talk about Gomez’s strength.
As for Hardy, who knows what he can do? MinnPost.com’s Pat Borzi mentioned Hardy is a poor fit at shortstop not to mention his hitting leaves a lot to be desired.
It got bad for the former Brewers shortstop that he got sent to the minors so this trade was about trouble players needing a change of scenery.
No one expected the Twins to get anything special for Gomez so it’s hard to react about the player they got in return.
At least, Smith did what he needed to do by ending this experiment before it got worse. A smart general manager does not foolishly hold on to a player just to live up to the trade he made.
He needs to do the same thing now with Delmon Young.
With Kevin Mulvey, Philip Humber being gone long time ago before Gomez departed , it comes to Delois Guerra as the only guy that remains in the trade.
Don’t expect Guerra to ever be special so it’s official that this trade is a bust.
