J.J. Hardy shipped out for Carlos Gomez

The Brewers made the long anticipated trade of shortstop J.J. Hardy, but not for starting pitching.  The Brewers sent Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for center fielder Carlos Gomez.  Everybody knew that J.J Hardy’s days were over in the brew city with the August 12th demotion to Triple-A. His September 1st   return was costly as it was a day short of the time needed to qualify for a full major league season.  That was kind of a dick move by the Brewers, but made Hardy a more valuable trade piece.  In 2009, Hardy batted .229 with 11 HR and 47 RBI and became expendable with Alcides Escobar ready to take over at short.   

The young prospect is an erratic player that can make a phenomenal play, then the next inning make a boneheaded mistake.  The mental part of the game is something that Gomez will need to work on to take his game to the next level.   His .229 avg. with 3 HR and 28 RBI last season shouldn’t discourage fans from understanding this trade.  Gomez was the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade and was viewed as one of the top prospects in the game.  Gomez doesn’t turn 24 until December 4th and is under the Brewers control four seasons.  Last year, Gomez struggled early and Denard Span took the job away.  Span forced Ron Gardenhire’s hand to put him in the lineup everyday.  Span was rotated among the 3 outfield spots and DH to keep him in the lineup.  His career .240 hitter with a .279 on-base percentage doesn’t merit the leadoff spot, but I would like to see him in the two spot in front of Braun and Fielder.  Maybe he’ll get more fastballs to hit and can get off to a better start than last season.  His base stealing technique needs to be refined and we’ll see how much Ken Macha lets him run.  Melvin and Macha don’t like to give up outs on the base paths.     

Moving to the Twins side of the trade, J.J. Hardy is exactly what the Twins needed to acquire this offseason.  Hardy will provide some pop at the bottom of the lineup and will play gold glove caliber defense.  The trade makes sense as both teams were trading from positions of depth.  Now the Twins can alleviate the logjam of outfielders with Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Delmon Young, and Jason Kubel.   Just looking at the numbers won’t justify this trade, but Gomez has a ton of talent.  The Brewers coaching staff have to be able to help Gomez take his game to the next level.  This acquisition signals the end of Mike Cameron’s time with the Crew and also kills my Juan Pierre movement.  Pierre is the guy I wanted the Brewers to go after this winter. 

Another player I would really like to see them take a chance on is pitcher Kelvim Escobar.  The 15 day period of exclusivity rights ends on November 20th and then it’s a free for all.   Escobar has missed a majority of the last two seasons with shoulder issues resulting in surgery. He made one start in June, giving up four earned runs in five innings in Detroit, but soreness in the shoulder shut him down for the season. Escobar was an 18-game winner in 2007 before the shoulder injury derailed his Cy Young caliber campaign.  I would like to see the Crew take a look and possibly bring him in on the cheap.  His professional career began with the Blue Jays as an amateur free agent in July of 1992.  Gord Ash was in that front office and Rick Peterson later worked as the Blue Jays minor league pitching coordinator.  Those two would be familiar with Escobar and may be more willing to take a chance on him.  Rehabbed pitchers come out of nowhere each season to help out teams.  Kelvim Escobar is a guy I would investigate.

Tags: Carlos Gomez, J.J. Hardy, Kelvim Escobar