Powers: Twins tell clueless Gomez to run past third, keep going...

[what you talkin about]

Arrogant American wrote:

<quoted text>
If you want to judge a player's season by a three-game playoff series, I guess Punto had a pretty good season--as he batted .444 in the ALDS.

Punto did have a good series .... but his base running is horrible .... and not just the play where he got caught rounding third to far .... he always rounds the base to far , runs a guy off the base so he has to sprint back ....and then there is the making every ordinary play look miraculous by falling or diving or sliding when not necessary .... they guy sucks but he did have a decent series hitting and getting on and working the count .... he should be a bench player

[1LT in 101st Airborne]

Mike wrote:

<quoted text>The main difference between Gomez and Young is that Young is a major league player, like him or not, and Gomez is a AAA player, which is where he should have been to refine his skills. But the Twins felt the need to show something for the Santana trade, so they tried to let Gardy coach him up, which is tough to do at the top level not playing every day.

EXACTLY!

[What The]

what you talkin about wrote:

<quoted text>completely senseless .... guess that matches with your first post

You slammin everybody shows everybody why your boyfriend left you and went strait ! Now get off your parents computer you big waste of life ! Your dad is still kickin himself !

[odennorsson]

The Santana trade is a bust; there's no sense trying to paint it any other way. Smith seems wise enough to try to get the most of this bad trade by trading bad pieces. How come Humber is still here?
I don't really like this trade. I'd have preferred to send GoGo to the minors. The only good thing is that Young can play daily and he proved he can play well when given consistent at-bats. No need to trade GoGo, just demote him.
Hardy looks like another Crede bust. He's a fine enough addition but GoGo has so much upside. Hardy really does'nt. I just don't think you have to trade away somebody with so much upside when you can go get mediocre talent like we usually do by picking up a second or thidr tier free agent.

[Ranta]

Anything for Gomez is worth trying. The guy just can't hit. He has no power , bat control or eye. He swings at anything and isn't a bad ball hitter. He hardly ever walks and strikes out too much for a speed guy. ( career stats of 241 strike outs and 55 walks in 1017 at bats) Even Punto's on base percentage is better than his. (322 vs. Gomez 291)

[CrackerJack]

Let's get rid of Bill Smith as GM and Gardy as Manager and replace them both with "What You Talking About" from Big Lake, MN. Problem solved. He seems to know more about baseball than everyone. Go get em big fella! You're a baseball genius.

[Disagree]

Tom, I think you and Gardenhire, and Smith and even many fans will look back and see another bad trade, another example of letting great, raw talent get away. In exchange you are getting a no range, 229 hitting shortstop who cannot hit without the aid of performance enhancements. Ok, this is pure speculation, but it doesn't look good for guys like JJ Hardy when the numbers fall off for no "apparent" reason.
You are now stuck with Delmon Young. The worst left fielder in the American league. One with a terrible attitude and minimal athletic ability. One who will go after his own teamate during a game, only because his small brain cannot tolerate certain parts of the game, like occassionally getting beaned for the team. Good luck.

[Da Crusher_RIP]

I just do not understand this love affair with Gomez.
He was the most undisciplined leadoff hitter I think I have ever seen. The leadoff hitter's main job is to get on base. He would swing at first pitches, not take walks, not work pitchers deep into counts. terrible.
Speed, yes he had speed, but for all that speed his steal percentages were average at best. Plus he had a tendency to run through coaches stop signs on the base paths.
As an outfielder,easily the worst Twins centerfielder in many years, no arm and not accurate. Remember he would always have to practically go into a windup to throw the ball in.
He certainly was no Puckett or Hunter in anyway shape or form.
And for those who are lamenting about the Santana trade, the Twins were going to lose Santana to free agency at the end of that year, so they were really not in a strong position regarding trade talk discussions. Of course all these posts would be for naught if the Twins had just re-signed Tori Hunter who said he would have taken less money to stay in Minnesota. Now that was one huge terrible decision by Twin's brass.

[both teams]

are doing a dump and run with the idea they can make the other guy work on their team.

[1LT in 101st Airborne]

Ranta wrote:

Anything for Gomez is worth trying. The guy just can't hit. He has no power , bat control or eye. He swings at anything and isn't a bad ball hitter. He hardly ever walks and strikes out too much for a speed guy.( career stats of 241 strike outs and 55 walks in 1017 at bats) Even Punto's on base percentage is better than his.(322 vs. Gomez 291)

Well said.

[Mike]

odennorsson wrote:

The Santana trade is a bust; there's no sense trying to paint it any other way. Smith seems wise enough to try to get the most of this bad trade by trading bad pieces. How come Humber is still here?
I don't really like this trade. I'd have preferred to send GoGo to the minors. The only good thing is that Young can play daily and he proved he can play well when given consistent at-bats. No need to trade GoGo, just demote him.
Hardy looks like another Crede bust. He's a fine enough addition but GoGo has so much upside. Hardy really does'nt. I just don't think you have to trade away somebody with so much upside when you can go get mediocre talent like we usually do by picking up a second or thidr tier free agent.

Humber is still here because we can't get anything for him. Give Bill Smith credit, he got Jon Rausch for Kevin Mulvey, who wasn't going to pitch here, and he got Hardy for Gomez, which to me is two good deals.

[Arrogant American]

Ranta wrote:

Even Punto's on base percentage is better than his.(322 vs. Gomez 291)

Punto had an OBP of .337 this year. He's far from an easy out. Punto had a better OBP than Redmond, Tolbert, Harris, Gomez, Cabrera, Crede and Young. For someone batting ninth, a .337 OBP is very respectable.

[Joe]

Remember folks they sent JJ packing to triple AAA because he was a bust because some felt that he is on the downhill slide after reaching his peak. Now we have to deal with him and his salary and will still not have a SS. Delmond needs to hit for more power to keep him in the lineup and using Kubel in the outfield is weaking the defense as does playing DY out there. Its money not players at this point and thats part of BS job.

[Maturi is an Idiot]

Arrogant American wrote:

<quoted text>
Punto had an OBP of .337 this year. He's far from an easy out. Punto had a better OBP than Redmond, Tolbert, Harris, Gomez, Cabrera, Crede and Young. For someone batting ninth, a .337 OBP is very respectable.

well, he was supposed to be the #2 hitter but he sucked so bad he was moved to 9th .... didn't he also lead the team in GETTING PICKED OFF ??....which should wipe away any credit he gets for being on base .... didn't he also lead the team in FAILED sacrifice bunts .... what was his OBP before the final month of the season when he and the rest of the Twinkies started going ALL OUT against all the minor league call ups from the various teams they played.... almost ALL of the Twinkies raised/padded their stats to make them look proficient for the year in that final month .... unless ,of course,some new hitting pill came out and the WHOLE team started eating them by the handfuls that final month.... or did Vavra come up with a new hitting technique that helped the entire team in that last month

[Flatblade]

Joe wrote:

Remember folks they sent JJ packing to triple AAA because he was a bust because some felt that he is on the downhill slide after reaching his peak. Now we have to deal with him and his salary and will still not have a SS. Delmond needs to hit for more power to keep him in the lineup and using Kubel in the outfield is weaking the defense as does playing DY out there. Its money not players at this point and thats part of BS job.

They sent JJ packing to AAA for exactly twenty days so that he wouldn't be eligible to be a free agent after the '09 season. Yes, the lousy season was justification, but if the club were in the pennant race, they never would have sent him down.

[Billy St Paul]

Sounds like Powers is blaming Gomez for his lack of "baseball intelligence". Shouldn't the Twins be blamed for expecting a player with limited "baseball intelligence" to all of the sudden find "baseball intelligence"? You get what you pay for, and when the Twins traded the high salary of Johan Santana for the low salary of Carlos Gomez, did they really think they were getting a superstar at a bargain?

Cheap Twins will never learn that you don't get something for nothing!