The Mets Have Gotten Santana

For me, it doesn't matter how raw your talent is, but when you come up, you certainly have to show something. Gomez had trouble fielding, locating fly balls and had a dismal .232 average. That concerns me, above all.

Granted, yes, he does have TREMENDOUS upside, but so did Alex Escobar, Alex Ochoa, Jay Payton, Bill Pulsipher etc.

For me to really, really have faith in him, I would like to see a spark when he hit the majors, similar to what Reyes and Wright did at about the same age. He really did not impress me from what I've seen.

But good luck to him in Minnesota. If one person is unhappy, it's got to be Gomez. That stadium, city, franchise...Ugh, I'd hate to be him right now. New York to Minneapolis in 60 seconds.

You can't go off of his rookie season. You just can't. He was brought up too fast due to injuries to Alou, Green, and Chavez, and he just wasn't ready.

Give a guy a full season to prove himself. Very few players are immediately spectacular. He'll be very good in a year or two.

And don't rag on Minnesota. They're getting a new (open-air, for some reason) stadium, the twin cities are, for the most part, pretty good places, and the franchise is in a rebuilding mode. At least he's not going to the Marlins.

Reyes and Wright both had well over 200 AB's their rookie seasons, Reyes close to 300. Granted, Gomez only hit .232 but he was a reserve/fill in and only had 125 AB's. Who is to say he wouldn't have hit .300 if he played another 250 AB's or so? And it's not fair to compare players like that, Reyes and Wright are both infielders, Gomez an outfielder. You can't expect every single 20 year old to hit .300 when the circumstances are so different.

Now, let's not make Minneapolis and St. Paul out to be Cabo San Lucas.

Anyways, I really, despite watching only 25 games, have little reason to believe that Gomez will become anything more than a .280 15 HR guy. Scouts have him at .325 and 35 HRs, and I frankly can't see those power numbers being realistic.

Those who call him a 5-tool player are sorely mistaken. He has an above-average arm, average power, decent fielding. He will develop good contact and is already blazing on the basepaths.

And you've obviously forgotten Gomez was hurt in July and missed the rest of the season (broken hand when HBP). He was also HBP playing in the Dominican Winter League, although he only missed about a week.

I have not forgotten that, but, since he missed the rest of the season, I don't really see how that's relevent to a near-Mendoza batting average.

I think his age is pretty relevant to his near-Mendoza batting average. 22 is very young, and he went from AA straight to the majors. I don't know a lot of players who hit .300 at 22.

Gomez went from being the Mets starting rightfielder to the Twins starting centerfielder. He won't have the same production in the American League as he would in the NL, at least not right away. Batting behind Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado is much more beneficial than batting behind Mauer, Cuddyer, Young and Morneau. Plus, the pitching in the AL is better. Plus the TEAMS themselves are better. The term five tool player is overused, especially by people who don't actually know what it means, (or what they are). And I haven't seen Gomez 25 times, I've seen him maybe four or five. But you can tell by the way he moves, he's got Dave Winfield written all over him.