...and so ends the entire "Johan Santana for a bag of peanuts" that Bill Smith engineered a few years ago. That ended well, Bill. Thanks.
This is actually pretty good, in my estimation, for the Twins. Despite, the Twins having a fairly cheap, serviceable alternative in Orlando Cabrera to fill the shortstop spot next year, JJ Hardy is most CERTAINLY a defensive upgrade over Cabrera. His offensive numbers are somewhat of an unknown quantity. He had great offensive years in '07 and '08 but struggled mightily in '09, eventually being shipped to Triple-A in favor of the Brewers' "shortstop of the future". But even with last year's bump, his career numbers are good and he provides the consistent pop that Cabrera simply cannot provide. The combination of defensive range and even offensive POTENTIAL upgrades the infield significantly...even if we have a rally-killer slated to play second base every day.
The problem with the trade, however, is that the Twins got rid of one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball to get him. The team had a log-jam in the outfield, no doubt. However, I would have liked to see an opening lineup of Denard Span in left (where he's at his best in my opinion), Carlos Gomez in center (where he has few rivals) and Michael Cuddyer in right (where he's most certainly holds his own). Delmon Young does not belong on any team's opening day starting roster. He's a terrible defensive outfielder and his bat isn't any better than Gomez's was. And with neither of them getting on base very often, at least Gomez had the potential to steal a base or two. Delmon needs a walking lead just to go first-to-third on a double. Plus, I LIKED Gomez. He had energy and he liked to smell his bat. Delmon, on the other hand, has no energy and prefers to THROW his bat. So despite taking a leap forward in the infield production, the Twins potentially take a step or two back in the outfield.
The trick is, however, that the infield improvements seem to outweigh the outfield shitburger. And for that reason, I think the team did a service here.
Next order of business should be to pair Casilla with someone and get something...anything. Bill Smith is good at getting the bare minimum for people...that's all I'm asking here.
In closing...apparently, "shitburger" isn't recognized by Google's magical spelling hamster. Get on that guys.
This is actually pretty good, in my estimation, for the Twins. Despite, the Twins having a fairly cheap, serviceable alternative in Orlando Cabrera to fill the shortstop spot next year, JJ Hardy is most CERTAINLY a defensive upgrade over Cabrera. His offensive numbers are somewhat of an unknown quantity. He had great offensive years in '07 and '08 but struggled mightily in '09, eventually being shipped to Triple-A in favor of the Brewers' "shortstop of the future". But even with last year's bump, his career numbers are good and he provides the consistent pop that Cabrera simply cannot provide. The combination of defensive range and even offensive POTENTIAL upgrades the infield significantly...even if we have a rally-killer slated to play second base every day.
The problem with the trade, however, is that the Twins got rid of one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball to get him. The team had a log-jam in the outfield, no doubt. However, I would have liked to see an opening lineup of Denard Span in left (where he's at his best in my opinion), Carlos Gomez in center (where he has few rivals) and Michael Cuddyer in right (where he's most certainly holds his own). Delmon Young does not belong on any team's opening day starting roster. He's a terrible defensive outfielder and his bat isn't any better than Gomez's was. And with neither of them getting on base very often, at least Gomez had the potential to steal a base or two. Delmon needs a walking lead just to go first-to-third on a double. Plus, I LIKED Gomez. He had energy and he liked to smell his bat. Delmon, on the other hand, has no energy and prefers to THROW his bat. So despite taking a leap forward in the infield production, the Twins potentially take a step or two back in the outfield.
The trick is, however, that the infield improvements seem to outweigh the outfield shitburger. And for that reason, I think the team did a service here.
Next order of business should be to pair Casilla with someone and get something...anything. Bill Smith is good at getting the bare minimum for people...that's all I'm asking here.
In closing...apparently, "shitburger" isn't recognized by Google's magical spelling hamster. Get on that guys.
