The Twinks got back into the win column with a 4 - 3 win over the Kansas City Royals tonight. Scott Baker got his first start of the season and pulled out a win. Scott threw  84 pitches in 6.2 innings giving up 3ER, 7H, 0BB with 2 strikeouts. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Baker was getting his pitches up early leading to the 2 runs in the first and another run in the second for the Royals. Baker was able to make adjustments though and got stronger as the game went along while getting his pitches down in the zone. Baker cruised facing only three batters in each of the next 4 innings. Baker faced 2 batters in the seventh before Neshek came in for relief. This first outing for Baker was very encouraging after battling  a sore back and extended bout with the flu in spring training and not getting many starts. What was especially encouraging was seeing him get stronger in the middle innings.

In the 4th inning and the score tied 3 - 3 the Twins pulled off a suicide squeeze to take the lead. Mike Lamb was on third after a double and advancing to third on Matt Tolbert’s sacrifice bunt. Then with Adam Everett at the plate Lamb broke for home as the Royals’ left handed pitcher John Bale delivered a fastball. Everett was able to deliver with the sac bunt allowing Lamb to score safely.

The Twins played a nice game and it included the following highlights (and lowlights):

• Carlos Gomez continued his hot start going 2 for 3 with a double, 2 stolen bases and a run scored and increased his batting average to .450.
• Joe Mauer went 2 for 4 with 1RBI and 1R while increasing his average to .375.
• Michael Cuddyer went 2 for 2 before leaving the game with an injured hand after sliding into third. Reports were that he suffered a laceration to his hand and a dislocated right index finger. He is day to day until they figure out had bad it is.
• Justin Morneau got his first hit of the year and a RBI to go with it when he singled and knocked in Joe Mauer. On a sour note Morneau also grounded into 2 double plays.
• Pat Neshek pitched to one batter in the seventh and had a perfect 8th inning striking out Mark Grudzielanek to end the inning.
• Joe Nathan gave up 1 hit in the ninth to Billy Butler after getting the first two outs on a pop out and ground out, then he struck out Mark Teahen looking to end the game and collect his second save of the year.

OK, maybe I was a bit corny and predictable on my headline, how many other articles around town will have a similar squeeze play angle on the headline?

boxscore   gameday

Carlos Gomez stole two bases and scored two runs while going 2 for 3 with a walk. His hits included a double and a bunt single where he did a Punto slide (head first) into first base. We know Nick Punto is hard-headed when it comes to the first base slide thing, I wonder if Carlos will continue to do the first base slide thing after Gardy talks to him.  Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer also had stolen bases giving the Twins four for the game.

Livan Hernandez was the other player of the game going 7 innings throwing 84 pitches while giving up 2 earned runs and 0 base on balls with 1 strikeout. Livan did not dominate but he was very effective, only really getting into trouble in the 5th where he gave up the 2 runs. Twins fans have been hard on the Livan signing and piling on with Livan’s rough spring training. It will be interesting to see if Livan can pull a strong season out of the hat like Carlos Silva did last year after a very poor spring.

Other key plays of the game included:

• Joe Mauer knocking in Carlos Gomez in the first
• Delmon Young stole 2nd and scored on a single by Mike Lamb
• Michael Cuddyer singled driving in Carlos Gomez
• After striking out the first batters he faced and giving  up a double, Pat Neshek whiffed Vladimir Guerrero to end the 8th inning
• Joe Nathan struck out Torii Hunter in the ninth for the second out of the inning in route to closing out the game for  the Twins first win of the season

gameday boxscore  photo gallery

Carlos Gomez came out of today’s spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in the top of the 5th inning after making a catch in center field. After he made the catch he bent over grabbing his lower hamstring area behind his left knee. Reports by Dan Gladden during the radio broadcast indicated Carlos sustained a left hamstring cramp.

Joe Christensen got word from a clubhouse staffer after the game that Carlos told him “I want to play tomorrow, Friday and Saturday,” so at least Carlos is talking like it’s nothing that will keep him down.

Doing a little digging in Carlos’ history I found that he had a left hamstring injury in May of 2007. That injury only kept in out 3 days and then he was back and playing for the Mets without missing any games again.

La Velle E Neal III is reporting that Denard Span,  Brian Buscher, Jason Pridie, and Philip Humber have all been optioned to Class AAA Rochester this morning. That means Carlos Gomez will start the year out in center field this year and Matt Tolbert will make the squad as a utility player.

Denard Span had a nice spring training but Carlos Gomez just shows so much more of an upside. Carlos will be a bit raw in center and over-matched at times at the plate, but he will no doubt provide excitement and speed we have never seen in a Twins uniform. There is a legitimate chance that Carlos could break Chuck Knoblauch’s stolen base record of 62 in 1997 for the Twins.

Coming into spring training this year odds were that Brian Buscher would make the team as a backup 3rd baseman and utility guy. Brian just didn’t get things going this spring though batting just .143 with a .250 OBP and .229 SLG. With Buscher not stepping up it was Matt Tolbert that caught the eyes of Ron Gardenhire and is showing solid all around play and ability to play many positions. Matt is batting .250 this spring with a .314 OBP and .281 SLG.

The 25 man roster is about sewn up now, just a couple pitching spots to solidify. The biggest question that remains now is whether Francisco Liriano will make the rotation. There is also question about whether Scott Baker will be ready for the start of the season after a bit of a set back with a sore back and a bout of the flu. My guess is he will be ready and jump into the end of the rotation coming out of Spring. I also think Liriano will get his pitch count up enough to make it. That would give the Twins a rotation of Hernandez, Bonser, Baker, Liriano and Slowey.

Reports have come out that the competition for the Twins starting center field spot is now only between Carlos Gomez and Denard Span. It makes sense that Jason Pridie is out of the race seeing how Gomez and Span each have 7 starts in center compared to Pridie’s 2. Pridie is being looked at as a possible 4th outfielder and is usually coming into games in all outfield positions as a backup. Gomez and Span have alternated at center in the last 4 games and only Span(not Gomez) is on the trip for todays matchup against so that continues the alternating trend for now.

Here’s a look at their stats so far this spring. Keep in mind these numbers don’t include 2 B games and one rain out that had 4.5 innings in.

 HITTING

FIELDING 

It’s hard to come to any conclusions with a limited number of AB’s but the big thing is that sticks out is the on-base percentage. Span is at a .435 vs Gomez’ .167. In the minors with 1291 at-bats Carlos has a .278 AVG /  .339 OBP . / .399 SLG. Denard’s minor league stats show 1939 AB’s with .283 AVG / .350 OBP / .348 SLG.  In 125 AB’s with the Mets Carlos had a .232 AVG / .288 OBP / .304 SLG. Gomez obviously has not been able to bring his moderate minor league success into the majors or this year’s spring training with him.

So here’s the deal. Gomez has a huge upside with his speed and athleticism. If the Twins can get him on base with any amount of success his speed and fielding will be fantastic. The Twins want him to win the spot. Span does not show this kind of upside but he can at least get on base at this point. If Carlos can’t figure out how to get on base in any consistent way this spring I don’t see how he can start the season in center for the Twins. Span will have to start the year in center and Carlos will go down to AAA to get things sorted out. And that’s exactly what I think will happen. I don’t think carlos will figure things out at the plate quickly enough, Gomez will go down to AAA and Span will get to start the year at CF. I don’t think Pridie will make the 25 man roster, Monroe will get that spot with Kubel at DH.

According to the Twins 40 man roster, new Twins Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have their new numbers with the Minnesota Twins.

• Carlos Gomez is # 22
• Philip Humber is # 38

Kevin Mulvey has been assigned spring training non-roster invitee number 88 and Deolis Guerra non-roster invitee number 89. It shouldn’t take long to start seeing Carlos Gomez jerseys walking around the Twin Cities.

With the Santana deal now complete, new Twins prospects Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have landed on the Twins 40 man roster, while Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra are listed as non-roster invitees for the 2008 Twins spring training. I think we can venture a guess as to where these guys will end up in the Twins system.

• Carlos Gomez saw 58 games and 125 at-bats for the Mets last year. He also had 36 games and 140 at-bats for the Mets AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. Carlos has speed and dynamic fielding ability but he is suspect at the plate with a lack of discipline and poor walk to at-bat and walk to strike out ratios. My guess is that he will stick with the big league Twins and platoon in center field.
• Philip Humber pitched 7 innings for  the Mets and 139 innings for the AAA Zephyrs last year. He should get a good chance to show what he has in spring training but will most likely be with the Twins AAA Rochester Red Wings.
• Kevin Mulvey does not have any innings pitched in the Majors but moved up quickly to the Mets AAA last year and was named the Mets 2007 pitcher of the year. His minor league career of 2 years produced 173 innings pitched and a 3.02 ERA. With the Twins approach to young pitching he is bound to start at AAA and maybe get a call up mid season.
• Deolis Guerra is the youngest of the bunch and has 178 innings pitched and a 3.28 ERA for the Mets A teams over the past 2 years. People have high hopes for this youngster with his blazing fast ball clocked in the mid nineties. Maybe Deolis can make the Twins AA New Britain Rock Cats this season.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today is reporting that the Minnesota Twins have traded Johan Santana to the New York Mets for 4 prospects including outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

My first reaction is why isn’t the Met’s top prospect outfielder Fernando Martinez included in the deal? Trading Johan and not getting a team’s top prospect for him indicates the Twins got stuck. It seems Twins GM Bill Smith should have pulled the trigger at the winter meetings and grabbed the Hughes deal from the Yankees or the Ellsbury or Lester from the Red Sox.

It’s time to digest this a bit, get a confirmation of the deal and see if Santana gets a contract signed with the Mets. I’ll get back to you with a some analysis and see where these guys will fit into the roster and lineup.