Free Carlos Gomez. Any takers?
I kid. However, a certain blogger who shall remain nameless broke out the “Free Carlos Gomez” bandwagon. And god, the Free Anyone movement has become such a cliché that it deserves be endlessly mocked whenever it’s brought out, especially when it’s brought out for a centerfielder with a career OPB well under .300.
In general, I don’t think the argument is too ridiculous. Gomez is better than Span in centerfield. Span is better than Young is in left. Young isn’t Manny with the bat. The real problem though is that choosing between Young and Gomez is like choosing between the Thai prostitute with Syphilis and the Thai prostitute with Herpes. Neither one is really a favorable outcome. Given that Young has spent the last couple of weeks slowly raising his batting average from bad to where you expect it to normally be (hitting .333 over the last two weeks) is it really that surprising that Gardenhire has been riding the hot hand? If hits start falling for Gomez (and in theory, at some point in time they should), it should be expected that he gets more starts.
Just for fun, here’s a look at Young, Gomez, Span and a super secret behind door mystery player so far in 2009. For defensive metrics, I used The Hardball Times RZR and Fangraph’s UZR/150, just because this early in the season defensive metrics are flighty at best.
Player OBP SLG SB RC/27 CFRZR LFRZR CFUZR/150 LFUZR/150
Span .371 .369 7 5.57 .968 .917 -25.1 39.2
Young .333 .338 2 3.08 .843 -28.1
Gomez .259 .327 2 2.28 .974 35.5
Player X .389 .355 12 6.81 .817 3.0
Player Y .451 .660 0 10.51 .696 -40.5
Player Z .342 .529 0 6.49 1.000 -11.0
From the named player perspective, nothing is really that surprising. The best three players on the board from an offensive perspective are the unnamed ones. Each one has legitimate questions about their defense, but all are double over Young in terms of RC/27 with one providing more than triple the offense that Young provides with the same defensive liabilities.
Players X and Y are notable because certain Twins bloggers pooh-pooed the idea of signing them. X is Bobby Abreu. Y is Adam Dunn. Unlike Orlando Hudson, neither would’ve cost a first round pick to sign and both would have been upgrades. You can argue that Hudson might have made more sense because of his defense. But then again, the Twins don’t have a Brendan Harris lying around as a back-up at second base either. Or do they?
Player Z is notable because he is a realistic option for more playing time in left field, since he’s current Twins DH Jason Kubel. Assuming Mauer doesn’t go 100 at-bats without another homerun and there’s something of a power spike coming from him in 2009, the dilemma the team is going to face is that neither Gomez nor Young drive the team toward competing. The high minors are bereft of capable corner outfielders, so at some point the Twins are going to face a question of how do they get more production than either Gomez or Young can provide. There are questions about moving Kubel back to left field, namely can his knee hold up well enough to field a position without affecting his bat and can they find a decent DH (Huber would seem to be the only realistic internal hope) replacement.
The Twins are 3 games back of the Tigers and Royals. Nothing that can’t be made up. But given Zach Greinke seems to be channeling Greg Maddux and Miguel Cabrera may be the best hitter in the AL, it may prove hard to do that while trying to develop Young and/or Gomez. The Twins may face a big decision. Do they play to win now or in 2010 and beyond?
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