Twins - Acquired Hardy

Minnesota Twins - Acquired SS J.J. Hardy from the Milwaukee Brewers for CF-9th Carlos Gomez.

Hardy had a terrible 2009, capped off by a trip down to Nashville.  That being said, Gomez hasn’t really developed as a hitter at all and at this point, I’d take the player who has actually been a good player over the one who hasn’t.  The Twins tried to get Gomez to be more selective at the plate, but if you look at Gomez when he’s trying to be selective, he doesn’t appear to realize that the purpose is to get a good pitch to hit.  Gomez’s version of selectivity is staring blankly at a random pitch and then flailing at the next one.

As noted, Hardy had a pretty embarrassing season, but 2007 and 2008 aren’t a decade in the past and Hardy’s not 40, so there’s no reason to think that Hardy can’t rebound decently in 2010.  He’s a very good defensive player as well, so he doesn’t even need to have an OPS+ of 100, as he did in 2007 and 2008, to be an excellent pickup.  In the Twins case, SS is an organizational problem and I’d rather have Hardy than bring back The OC.

Hardy, of course, was good trade bait given the existence of El Cid at short, but the Brewers didn’t really fill a hole.  They may not know it, but Mike Cameron still needs to be replaced, because Tom Goodwin doesn’t cut it.

2010 ZiPS Projections  
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Player        AB   R    H  2B 3B  HR RBI  BB  SO  SB    BA   OBP   SLG  OPS+   DR
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Hardy        480  72  124  22  2  17  68  39  84   1  .258  .314  .419   94     9

Gomez        396  63   99  19  5   6  41  28  91  23  .250  .308  .369   79    10
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