Ever-Growing Gomez

As a kid at the ballpark, I was always most fascinated by speedy players who could put the ball in play and fly down the first base line. I remember being very fond of Cristian Guzman in his early days, marveling his ability to beat out routine grounders to shortstop and fly around second base to turn a textbook double into an exhilarating triple.

As I've aged and learned more about the game of baseball, I've come to realize that players who are exciting and athletically gifted sometimes do not produce enough to actually be considered "good." Nevertheless, Carlos Gomez is a player that I've always gotten giddy about. From the moment his name began to pop up in Johan Santana trade rumors, I felt pings of excitement. Back in December when Mets GM Omar Minaya told the Associated Press that he felt he could be a player in the Santana Sweepstakes, I said that while most people would likely be skeptical of a Mets package that didn't include shortstop Jose Reyes, "I'm pretty high on outfield prospects Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez (especially Gomez)." In the comments section for that post, I mentioned that Twins fans "would love having [Gomez] here -- he's a lot of fun to watch."

As the offseason progressed, Gomez's inclusion in a package for Santana became more and more realistic. On Jan. 10, Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune wrote an article mentioning that the Mets had offered Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey for Santana (a fine piece of reporting by Christensen to nail the exact package nearly three weeks in advance of the actual trade). In analyzing the proposed package, I had the following to say about Gomez:

I'm higher on Gomez than most and I like his chances to turn into a Jose Reyes type player. At 22, he's one of the fastest players in all of baseball, which makes him a very exciting player to watch, and I believe he'll build on his patience and power, both of which are fairly meager at this point. The lack of plate discipline is particularly alarming, as he'll never be able to put his blazing speed to good use unless he can get on base at a decent rate, but he is young and raw.

When Bill Smith pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Santana to the Mets for the aforementioned package, I was a bit underwhelmed with the overall return for baseball's best pitcher. Nevertheless, I was clearly glad to see Gomez's name included in the deal.

Through the first 37 games of the 2008 season, the experience of watching a 22-year-old Gomez start regularly has been everything I'd expected it to be: exciting, frustrating, humorous, torturous. He has struck out more than seven times as often as he's walked, his .299 on-base percentage is brutally inadequate for a lead-off hitter, and he's had some line drives eat him up in center field while also air-mailing numerous throws to the infield. Yet, at the same time, Gomez is tied with Justin Morneau for the team lead in extra-base hits, he is tied for the American League lead in stolen bases, and he's displayed terrific range in center field while making several Web Gem catches.

Since being benched for a day after striking out four times in an 0-for-5 effort against Oakland on April 22, Gomez has batted .333/.382/.529 with 12 runs scored and eight RBI in 12 games. The strikeout-to-walk ratio during that span (11-to-3) was still far from desirable, but Gomez has shown some improvement.

I've bristled in the past when people have suggested that Gomez should be sent down to the minors. In part that is because I feel there's no logical basis for that argument, but a part of it is also that I truly enjoy watching the kid play. Even beyond his exciting style of play, there are a lot of little things to like about Gomez, from his exaggerated throwing motion to his humorous accent; from his lighthearted cockiness to the way he grabs and steadies his helmet as he flies out of the batters box on a hit.

Gomez is a project, and he's certainly far from a finished product. But his tools are on display on a nightly basis, and watching him play is something I look forward whenever I sit down to watch a Twins game. Putting aside the poor on-base skills, the botched bunt attempts and the numerous fundamental mistakes, Gomez is a tremendously gifted athlete with a lot of upside, and watching him play brings me back to a time when the game seemed a whole lot more simple. And maybe a little more fun.

A Wild Weekend

Perhaps the best part about the Twins series with the Red Sox this weekend is that it isn't over yet.

These have just been some fun games to watch. On Friday night, the two teams battled all night long, but eventually it appeared that Boston would come out on top when they sent their dominating closer out to protect a one-run lead in the ninth. The Twins spoiled Jon Papelbon's save though, putting runners on second and third and then getting a game-winning hit from the most unlikely of suspects, Mike Lamb. (Lamb carried some momentum into the next two games, going 4-for-7 on Saturday and Sunday.) On Saturday, the Twins got six great innings from Glen Perkins, who was making his first major-league start, but he surrendered a pair of homers to start the seventh and those ended up sealing a loss for him and the team. On Sunday, the Twins jumped out early against Tim Wakefield, but the Red Sox and their punishing offense kept coming back and wouldn't let the Twins get comfortable. In the ninth inning, it looked like Boston might get some payback for Friday night by coming back against Joe Nathan, but the Twins closer ended up working out of a jam and shutting the door on a 9-8 Twins victory.

I truly think that the Red Sox are the class of the American League. Prior to the season, I bet a friend 10 dollars that they'd be in the World Series. (Granted, that's not exactly a lot of money, but he didn't give me any odds.) Their roster is basically intact after winning the World Series last year, and they've certainly played like champions thus far, with a 24-15 record entering yesterday's contest. The fact that the Twins have played relatively evenly with this Boston club over the first three games of this series is impressive to me.

I've been thoroughly entertained with this series up to this point. Tonight's 6 o'clock match-up pits the veteran Livan Hernandez against the young gunner Clay Buchholz. Hopefully this game can prove to be a fitting finale for this crazy series.

When It Rains, It Pours

It's been a roller-coaster of a week for the Twins. During the weekend, they pulled off an impressive sweep over the high-powered Tigers at the Metrodome, extending a win streak to five games and launching themselves into first place in the division. Then, on Tuesday, they played their worst game of the season in Chicago, coming within two outs of being no-hit by Gavin Floyd and falling 7-1. They came back the next night with a phenomenal effort -- a 13-1 victory over the White Sox highlighted by a Carlos Gomez cycle and nine unexpectedly wonderful innings from Livan Hernandez. Last week, the Twins-coaster took a violent dive. The 6-2 Twins loss was tough to take, but it was nothing compared to the cringing pain undoubtedly felt by each fan when Pat Neshek walked off the field in the eighth inning with an elbow injury.

I wasn't watching the game when Neshek's injury occurred (you know, last week of classes), but reports indicate that he felt a pop, and while chatting later in the evening with Aaron Gleeman, he mentioned to me that Neshek's expression was "more like disgust than pain." Those signs all point to Neshek likely being out for a very long time, which is bad news for this baseball team. After a rough start to the season, Neshek was settling in and starting to look more like the dominant force he has been for most of the past two seasons; he was almost certainly the team's best reliever behind Joe Nathan.

As much as I'm a huge fan of Neshek, I've always viewed him as something of a ticking time bomb. His delivery just seemed so dangerous to me -- he throws almost completely with his arm and really snaps his elbow. This is interesting, because he actually started throwing in this style as a result of another injury suffered in his high school days. He's gotten by just fine on his new delivery up until now, but yesterday's sickening "pop" has the unfortunate makings of a career changer. Whether the elbow injury came about as a result of his mechanics or was simply a freak injury is awfully difficult to say, but for the time being I'll just cross my fingers and hope that his season isn't over.

Neshek is almost assuredly headed for the disabled list, so it will be interesting to see who the Twins bring up. There are a few options in Rochester, ranging from Ricky Barrett to Carmen Cali to Mariano Gomez. Cali is far from exciting, but Barrett and Gomez are both pitching well this year, and either one would potentially provide the Twins with a solid additional lefty out of the pen to complement Dennys Reyes. It's also possible that Glen Perkins could wind up in the bullpen upon Scott Baker's return from the DL, in the event that Perkins has some success during his upcoming stint in the Twins rotation.

Neshek's absence will mean that another right-handed reliever is going to need to step up and become a contributor in the late innings. Matt Guerrier, who has brought his ERA down from 9.53 to 3.44 over his past eight appearances, is certainly the most likely candidate considering his success last year in the late-innings role. But it would sure be nice if a guy like Juan Rincon or Jesse Crain could raise their game and become a reliable option.

The Twins bullpen suffered a major blow yesterday. Neshek's injury hits hard because I know him to be a really nice guy, and of course he is a member of the blogosphere. I hope that the injury is less serious than it first appeared and that he's able to rejoin the team at some point this summer. And while he's gone, I hope the bullpen can hang together, because from the looks of it, late leads for the Twins just became a lot less safe.

An Odd Little Game

Now that's how you get back on track.

One day after nearly being no-hit by Gavin Floyd, the Twins came out and pummeled the White Sox 13-1 last night. The game was delayed for nearly two hours due to a rain-storm, but those who stayed up and stuck around were treated to some interesting sights. Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle, Livan Hernandez tossed a complete game, Nick Punto drove in five runs... indeed, this one featured plenty of peculiar occurrences.

Much will no doubt be made of Gomez's cycle, which was pulled off in reverse order (home run, triple, double, single) and was the Twins' first since 1986. Personally, I don't find hitting for the cycle to be a huge accomplishment as much as a neat little statistical anomaly, but I'll admit that it's pretty cool and a perfect exemplification of the things that make Gomez such an exciting player. After watching the Twins consistently push their "piranha" approach, it's nice to see a player who bases his game on speed but can actually hit for some power. Since being benched for one game after striking out four times in a game against the A's on April 22, Gomez has batted .433 with an .867 slugging percentage. His hitting line for the season is up to a respectable .282/.306/.427. Still think he should be sent to the minors, Corey? :-)

The Twins picked up some offensive steam against the Tigers over the weekend, but hit a wall in their first game against the White Sox. It was great to see them break out again last night. Today Kevin Slowey makes his first start since April 3. Should be interesting to see how he fares.

Apologies for the abbreviated post today, but I'm amidst my last week of college and I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Go Figure

What a day yesterday was. I had to get up in the morning to take a five-page essay exam, then I had to go to a funeral, then I had a heavy workload of games to cover for Rotoworld which kept me busy until about 1 a.m. Needless to say, I didn't have a whole lot of time or motivation to write about a debacle of a game in which the Twins came within two outs of being no-hit by Gavin Floyd.

Floyd, owner of a 5.83 career ERA prior last night's game, was mysteriously having a very successful year in spite of an even strikeout-to-walk ratio and a ground ball percentage of only 32.6. His success against the Twins last night is nothing totally new -- he held the Tigers to one hit over 7 1/3 innings in one outing early this season, and held the Orioles to two hits over six innings in another start. Yet, all signs pointed to imminent collapse for Floyd. His FIP of 5.18 belied his actual ERA of 3.16. His DER was an off-the-charts .835. Put simply, almost every advanced statistic suggested that Floyd had been extremely lucky this season. His luck continued last night, although fortunately for the good of our sanity, it ran out when Joe Mauer cracked a double into the gap in left-center with one out in the ninth inning.

The Twins offense showed some serious signs of awakening in Detroit this weekend, but last night was probably the sleepiest they've looked all year. That's fairly typical of this team, and really I should know better than to get lulled into a false sense of security by a few strong games.

One other thing I'd like to mention. Last year, the 7-9 spots in the Twins batting order were really bad. So bad, some will recall, that I actually added a "Bottom of the Barrel" feature to the sidebar which tracked the statistical ineptitude from those three combined lineup positions over a period of time. One of the biggest reasons that I figured the Twins offense was a lock to improve this year was because I figured there was no way they could fail to improve in those three spots. And yet, here are the hitting lines of the players who filled the 7-9 spots in the Twins order last night as of this morning:

7. Delmon Young: .256/.298/.299
8. Mike Lamb: .209/.227/.275
9. Adam Everett: .162/.184/.216

I don't know what's sadder, the stat lines listed above or the one listed below:

Sidney Ponson, 2008: 2-0, 1.33 ERA.

Tiger Taming

It may very well be that in the grand scheme of things, a three-game series in early May isn't all that meaningful. Nevertheless, there was something immensely satisfying about the Twins' weekend sweep over the Tigers. Perhaps it is because the Twins have now won five consecutive games, all against AL Central contenders. Or maybe it is because, with the exception of a rough first inning for Boof Bonser on Sunday, the Twins pitching staff effectively shut down a high-powered offense that had averaged 7.2 runs over its past 17 games. Mostly, though, I think it is because the Tigers have simply dominated the Twins in the recent past. Including their two-game sweep in Detroit earlier this season, the Tigers entered the weekend with a 25-14 record against the Twins since 2006.

The Twins offense showed some promising signs this weekend, scoring 22 runs in the three games and coming back from an early 6-0 deficit to earn a sweep-clinching victory in yesterday's finale. I was stunned by this offense's meager performance during the month of April, and fully expected some major improvement in May. We might be starting to see that. After seeing his batting average drop to a season-low .230 with a four-strikeout performance on April 22, Carlos Gomez has batted .450 and struck out only twice in 20 at-bats. Joe Mauer went 7-for-11 (.636) with four RBI in the Tigers series and is now hitting .333/.396/.434 on the season. Justin Morneau picked up five hits in the series and has his average up to .284.

The one player in the lineup who continues to be a major source of concern at this point is Delmon Young. He had a decent series over the weekend and he's drawn four walks in his past seven games after working just three in his first 23 games, but he hasn't collected an extra-base hit in two weeks and now sports an awful .307 slugging percentage. The frustration with Young isn't because he's failed to live up to his supposedly vast power potential, it's that he has shown NO power whatsoever over the first five weeks of the season, which is simply unacceptable for a left fielder, particularly one who only gets on base at a .306 clip.

Here's some perspective: through 114 at-bats, Young has totaled three doubles. That's the same number as Johan Santana has in 15 at-bats.

If Young can break out and start doing something with the bat, this offense could do some damage in the upcoming weeks, because several other players seem to be heating up. It's pretty difficult to enjoy much offensive success when the guy you're counting on to be your big right-handed stick can't outhit your former ace pitcher, though.

Month in Review: April

April Record: 13-14

Overall Record: 13-14 (T-2nd Place in AL Central)

TEAM REVIEW

All things considered, the Twins are pretty lucky to be just a game under .500 after one month's play. They've been outscored 122-102, which gives them a Pythagorean win/loss record of 11-16. Fortunately for them, they've won some tight ballgames and avoided any prolonged losing streaks, but if they continue to play like they have so far, things could spin out of control quickly.

The Twins offense has been just miserable through 27 games. They've scored fewer runs than any American League team other than the Royals. (The Twins are at 102, the Royals are at 101. The lowest-scoring AL team outside of those two is Toronto, with 116.) The Twins rank last in the AL in on-base percentage (.305), walks (58) and home runs (14). It's been ugly.

The pitching has been better, but far from exceptional. The staff has posted a 4.24 ERA, which ranks eighth in the AL. I suspect that the team ERA will hang around that number for the entire year, but that's not going to be nearly enough unless the offense picks up the pace considerably.

THREE UP, THREE DOWN
A look at three players whose performances were outstanding over the past month, and three who fell bellow expectations.

Three Up:
1. Nick Blackburn: 38.1 IP, 2-1, 3.52 ERA, 19 K / 6 BB, 1.38 WHIP
The rookie right-hander has been the team's most pleasant surprise over the first month of the season. He's shown no fear, pumping the ball in the strike zone and trusting his defense to take care of business. That method has worked so far, as Blackburn has induced ground balls at a 47.7 percent rate and has surrendered just one home run in nearly 40 innings. In all likelihood, the GB rate is going to come down and the HR rate is going to go up, so Blackburn will probably need to start missing a few more bats to maintain his success.

2. Joe Nathan: 11 IP, 9 SV, 0.82 ERA, 11 K / 2 BB, 1.00 WHIP
So far Nathan has lived up to his new contract. In 11 appearances during the month of April, he allowed only one run, and that came in a blowout loss when he was just getting his work in. Nathan's value wasn't maximized thanks to Ron Gardenhire's sometimes frustrating late-inning bullpen management, but nonetheless the Twins closer did everything that was asked of him.

3. Justin Morneau: .268/.345/.495, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 12 R, 0/0 SB
Morneau was really the only hitter on the team who excelled in the season's first month. His overall hitting line is far from amazing, but he was a crucial force for this offense, hitting six homers and driving in 22 runs (T-3rd in the AL). The run production has come about thanks to some incredibly clutch hitting -- Morneau hit .481/.571/.889 with runners in scoring position.

Three Down:
1. Mike Lamb: .203/.224/.278, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 4 R, 0/0 SB
No matter what you thought about the Lamb acquisition, you had to at least believe he was going to provide improved production over Nick Punto's atrocious 2007 performance at third base. Thus far, he hasn't. Lamb has been a complete and utter disaster. He's managed to drive in 11 runs thanks to a .438/.400/.688 line with runners in scoring position (which is probably the sole reason fans haven't completely turned on him), but with the bases empty he has batted .152/.188/.196. I've been very patient with Lamb, and quite frankly I'm dumbfounded that he hasn't started hitting yet. Time to get it going in May.

2. Delmon Young: .265/.306/.314, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 13 R, 6/7 SB
The Twins brought in Young in a major offseason trade in an attempt to replace Torii Hunter's production in the lineup. So far, the new left fielder has been a massive disappointment. I can deal with the unimpressive .265 average. I can deal with -- and even expected -- the terrible plate discipline and accompanying ugly on-base percentage. But Young's lack of power has been extremely painful. He's managed just four extra-base hits (zero of them homers) in 27 games.

3. Jason Kubel: .237/.257/.381, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 11 R, 0/1 SB
As one of the biggest Kubel supporters, it pains me to write his name on this list. And really, he has been one of the team's chief run producers, ranking second to Morneau in home runs and RBI. But a .237 average and .257 OBP simply are not acceptable. He needs to get that 20-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio turned around, and soon.

PROSPECT OF THE MONTH
Luke Hughes - New Britain Rock Cats

Signed out of Australia back in 2002, Hughes had some success in the rookie leagues before struggling his way through Low- and High-A ball. Yet, last year he had something of a breakout at Class-AA New Britain, posting a 794 OPS in 92 games while playing mostly second base. Still, he finished the season as a 23-year-old with a .263/.322/.382 career hitting line in the minors. He started this season back at New Britain, and he was nothing short of spectacular over the season's first month, batting .354/.430/.677 with eight homers and 18 RBI in 24 games. He posted a solid 18-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio and went 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts. One month into the season, Hughes is just one home run short of setting a career high. He should find himself in Rochester quite soon if he continues to rake like this. (UDPATE: Hughes went 4-for-5 with his ninth home run last night.)

MAY PREVIEW

The Twins pitching staff will be put to the test this month, with series against the Detroit(twice), Boston, the White Sox, the Yankees and the Rangers, plus a three-game set in Colorado.