Brewers trade Hardy to Twins for Gomez
Deal opens door for top prospect Escobar at short
Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
MILWAUKEE -- It didn't take long for the Brewers to make the trade everybody saw coming.
The ticker tape was still falling in Manhattan on Friday when the Brewers dealt shortstop and trade-rumor staple J.J. Hardy to the Twins for speedy center fielder Carlos Gomez. The move eased Milwaukee's shortstop logjam between Hardy, a former All-Star, and Alcides Escobar, the organization's top prospect, essentially handing the baton to Escobar for 2010.
It also gave the Brewers their center fielder and meant the team will not pursue outgoing free agent Mike Cameron. General manager Doug Melvin said he left a message at Cameron's home on Friday explaining the move.
Melvin spoke with Hardy, too, but Hardy needed no explanation. He said in the moments after the deal was announced that he, "definitely expected to get traded." What Hardy didn't see was the Brewers getting an outfielder in return.
"I definitely thought I was going to get traded for a pitcher," he said.
Melvin tried. He identified pitching as his top offseason priority and was working offers with several teams for Hardy. None offered the sort of pitching that Melvin sought.
"In the end, there wasn't anybody who matched the ability of Carlos Gomez," Melvin said. "When you can't get pitching back, you try to find something to improve your pitching."
Defensively, Gomez should do just that, but he remains raw at the plate. In 348 games over parts of three seasons, he's a .246 hitter with a .292 on-base percentage, 12 home runs, 99 RBIs and 59 stolen bases in 70 tries. He doesn't turn 24 until Dec. 4.
The Twins acquired Gomez as part of the mega-trade that sent pitcher Johan Santana to the Mets in February 2008, and Gomez made 90 starts as Minnesota's leadoff hitter that year. He hit .258 with 59 RBIs, 79 runs scored and 33 steals, enough to enter 2009 as the Twins' center field incumbent, but then lost the starting job after hitting .195 through the 2009 season's first month.