Two winters ago the Twins got Carlos Gomez from the Mets as the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade and made the 22-year-old Torii Hunter's replacement in center field despite little evidence that he was ready. He predictably struggled, batting .248/.293/.352 over the next two years, and started just 10 of the final 37 games this season as Ron Gardenhire sat him in favor of Delmon Young. And now just 21 months after trading for him the Twins have traded Gomez to the Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy.

Gomez has gotten a bum rap, because he wasn't ready for the job handed to him and his ineptitude is overstated by those undervaluing defense and overrating Young. He's been awful offensively and great defensively, but with the exact same overall value split instead between an average bat and poor glove Gomez would be perceived far differently. Consider that he's been about 30 runs above replacement level in two years with the Twins, while Young has been about 20 runs below replacement level.

All of which isn't to suggest that Gomez is destined for stardom, but rather that he's way closer to being a good, solid starter than most people think. He doesn't need to be a great hitter to have big-time value because he's a great fielder, whereas Young must be a great hitter to have huge value because he's a brutal fielder. I'm far from convinced that Gomez will develop into an above-average hitter, but combined with his defense even something as modest as .275/.325/.400 would make him All-Star caliber.

For all the talk about how the Twins are buying low on Hardy they're also selling low on Gomez, but they were smart to pull the trigger. Hardy is a truly elite defensive shortstop who prior to struggling this year hit .277/.323/.463 with 26 homers in 2007 and .283/.343/.478 with 24 homers in 2008. In each of those two seasons he was worth around 50 runs above replacement level. To put that into some context, Joe Mauer was about 85 runs above replacement level this year and no other Twins cracked even 40 runs.

Hardy has been an exceptional all-around player in the past, but this year he hit just .229/.302/.357 in 115 games while spending three weeks at Triple-A following a late-season demotion. By conveniently sending him to Triple-A for the 20 days needed to impact his service time the Brewers pushed Hardy's free agency back an entire season, which no doubt added to his value in talks with the Twins. He's now under team control through 2011 rather than 2010, although he'll be fairly costly thanks to arbitration.

Even if he can't bounce back from what was a career-worst season and repeats his 2009 performance Hardy will still be a decent starting shortstop comparable to the options available in a weak free-agent crop. And as a 27-year-old with no major injury concerns he's certainly a good bet to get back on track. Hardy has a chance to be a hugely valuable player for the Twins and they did well to get him for a player who'd clearly fallen out of favor, but Gomez still has lots of upside and the deal creates a few problems.

For one thing, Young is now an everyday player after batting .290/.322/.416 with awful defense through 452 games in the majors. He's certainly still young enough to improve, but has a long way to go just to be a decent all-around player and so far at least has shown no signs of progress. If the Twins give him 150 starts in 2010 and Young again fails to take a significant step in the right direction he'll be one of the least valuable players in all of baseball while wiping away much of the good done by Hardy.

Beyond that, parting with Gomez means that the Twins are committed to Denard Span as their starting center fielder. Span is an excellent all-around player and clearly deserves to be in the lineup every day, but if Ultimate Zone Rating is to be believed the one weakness in his game thus far has been defense in center field. When they paired Gomez and Span together in the outfield the Twins had great gloves in center field and left field, but moving Span to center field full time hurts both positions.

In other words it's not just about Span replacing Gomez, because in addition to that dropoff in center field the defense also takes an even bigger hit with Young replacing Span in left field. An alignment of Young, Span, and Michael Cuddyer could be among the AL's worst defensive outfields and for a team that consistently has one of baseball's most fly ball-heavy pitching staffs that has the potential to hurt a lot. The hope, of course, is that Span's ugly UZR numbers in center field are a small-sample-size fluke.

In isolation swapping Hardy for Gomez is a quality move for the Twins, but the trade is not without risk given Hardy's problems this season and comes with some potentially negative ramifications. If it turns out that Span simply isn't a very good center fielder or Young fails to step forward offensively the Twins will have downgraded the outfield and upgraded the infield using $5 million of precious payroll room. Still, the front office deserves credit for getting good value for Gomez and I'm cautiously optimistic.

When he's right Hardy is one of the top handful of shortstops in baseball and the Twins haven't had a shortstop produce even 15 homers in a season since Roy Smalley in 1979. Hardy hits 20 homers per 600 plate appearances for his career and his right-handed bat adds some much-needed balance to a lefty-heavy lineup. He also keeps the Twins from re-signing Orlando Cabrera, which likely would have been a mistake. All in all a very positive start to the offseason, but there's more work to be done.

UPDATE: Twins have traded Carlos Gomez to the Brewers for J.J. Hardy. Lots more later, obviously.

Last spring, when NBCSports.com began planning to launch a new baseball blog, Matthew Pouliot and I were asked to think of a third writer to possibly bring into the mix. We both immediately suggested Craig Calcaterra, who has predictably been a perfect fit at Circling the Bases. In fact, he's such a great fit that Craig has decided to quit being a lawyer to become a full-time blogger. I've been giving him tips on how to live for weeks without showering and obviously he'll be moving into his parents' basement.

Turner president David Levy admitted that horrible play-by-play announcer Chip Caray made "some errors" during TBS' playoff coverage. In related news, I'm admitting to carrying "some" extra pounds.

As if Curb Your Enthusiasm could get any funnier, last week's episode featured Larry David getting into an argument about Derek Jeter with a stonemason, who called him "the most overrated player in baseball" and "the worst defensive shortstop in baseball statistically." David responded by screaming: "Oh Bullshit! He's a great clutch hitter, he's a great clutch player!" The whole scene made me giddy and the actor who played the stonemason, Eric Edelstein, e-mailed Will Leitch to explain:

I just wanted to let you know that, yes, I am "the rare mason familiar with advanced baseball defensive metrics." I had just read a bunch about SABR and UZR before the audition and I had to bring it up. I am not sure I buy it ... it has Aaron Rowand as below average defensively and I disagree wholeheartedly.

Edelstein also plays Lawrence (the angry townsperson) on Parks and Recreation, which was created by former Fire Joe Morgan blogger Michael Schur, so there's a pretty decent chance that we could see him dropping a VORP reference on Leslie Knope or arguing the merits of xFIP with Ron Swanson.

Two of my favorite things, together: Chocolate and a naked former Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com.

And speaking of nude women and desserts, Kelly Brook has some lovely cupcakes.

When all is said and done, there's little doubt that Lady Gaga's greatest contribution to the world will be Christopher Walken reading the lyrics to her terrible song:


"Oh!"

One of my "realistic free agent options" for second base can already be crossed off the list after the Pirates got Akinori Iwamura from the Rays for a run-of-the-mill reliever. Not sure if the Twins were ever in the mix, but at that price they should have been.

Shockingly, following Phil Ivey around the globe for four days produced some interesting footage.

Joe Mauer led the AL in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. This week Derek Jeter received the Hank Aaron Award that "recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each league." There's no need to get worked up about an award that's voted on by fans, but how can MLB.com's 1,200-word article about Jeter winning not even mention Mauer's name?

At least not all awards are undeserved: Diamondbacks rookie pitcher Clay Zavada has been named "Mustached American of the Year" by the American Mustache Institute.

Popeye Jones may be one of the few men for whom a bloody mugshot is actually an improvement.

Friend of AG.com Mike Chiappetta hosts "Inside The Ultimate Fighter" and this week's podcast has a pair of really interesting interviews with NFL first-round pick turned MMA heavyweight Marcus Jones and comedian/announcer/guy who once took a picture with me Joe Rogan. Listen to the whole thing if for no other reason than to hear Rogan talk about the time he almost fought Wesley Snipes.

Thanks to Us Weekly we now know that Alex Rodriguez has two painted portraits of himself "as a centaur hanging over his bed" and has impressed girlfriend Kate Hudson with his sexual ability.

Do we really want the police wasting their time and our money issuing 10,000 citations in two weeks to people who weren't wearing a seat belt? Really?

My new favorite Timberwolves player is Oleksiy Pecherov, who shoots almost every time he touches the ball and looks like a cross between Keith Van Horn and Stewie Griffin:


On a related note, my mom went to the Wolves-Cavs game and filed this scouting report on Australian center Nathan Jawai via instant message the next morning: "Made some points. Oliver Miller like."

In perhaps the least-surprising news of the week, Tim Lincecum was busted for having three grams of marijuana in his car following a traffic stop. He wasn't found to be impaired in any way and that small an amount is classified as "personal use" in his home state of Washington, so police rightfully let the 25-year-old off with a citation.

Jim Souhan is blogging now on the Minneapolis Star Tribune's website. That's all.

Tubby Smith's third season with the Gophers isn't off to such a fantastic start, but at least they aren't letting someone else write their research papers!

HBO is trying to talk Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie into doing another season of Flight of the Conchords, but it doesn't sound likely. We can still hold out some hope for a Murray Hewitt spinoff.

I've been on many flights where "a track suit" would have made someone the best-dressed person on the entire plane, yet a Best Buy executive was denied a first-class seat for being "too casual."

I've now officially seen every episode of Lost. Took me less than two months to go from never having seen a minute of the show to burning through 103 episodes, which says plenty about my social life. I'm now in need of another long-running show to obsess over and catch up on. I'd ask for suggestions, but admittedly that's tough without knowing every show that I've seen. So, well ... I dunno.

Some of the highlights from my NBCSports.com blogging this week:

- TBS boss admits Caray "made some errors"
- Diamondbacks rookie Zavada named "Mustached American of the Year"
- Hudson passes physical, extension with Braves all but official
- Chamberlain's mother pleads "no contest" to drug charges
- Angels re-sign Abreu to two-year deal
- Tracy a free agent after Arizona picks buyout over option
- Dodgers decline Garland's $10 million option
- Girardi wins World Series, helps crash victim on way home

Finally, in honor of Lincecum this week's AG.com-approved music video is John Mayer doing a live version of his new song "Who Says":

Projecting which free agents the Twins will go after is difficult because their pursuit of low-cost options depends upon how the market shakes out and who drops into their price range. In the past five years they've also wasted money on a lengthy list of washed-up veterans like Tony Batista, Livan Hernandez, Ramon Ortiz, Craig Monroe, Juan Castro, Sidney Ponson, and Luis Ayala (among others) with only an occasional worthwhile signing like Joe Crede or Dennys Reyes sprinkled in.

For the most part the Twins have targeted only bargain-basement options while far more often than not choosing badly, which makes it kind of pointless to predict which free agents they'll pursue. So, instead I'll focus on which free agents they should pursue. I'm trying to be realistic with the recommendations, highlighting guys who may actually sign modest one- or two-year deals rather than dreaming about the top-tier free agents. With that in mind, here are five shortstops the Twins should look into ...

Marco Scutaro: At the age of 33 he finally got the opportunity to be an everyday shortstop and Scutaro responded with a career-year, holding his own defensively while hitting .282/.379/.409 with 12 homers, 35 doubles, and 90 walks in 144 games. Repeating that performance would make Scutaro one of the best shortstops in baseball, but prior to last season he had a career line of just .261/.325/.377 in 2,423 plate appearances and never topped a .750 OPS.

Even a return to his pre-2009 offense would leave Scutaro as a decent starting shortstop if his defense holds steady and the Twins should certainly toss a two-year, $10 million offer his way, but my guess is that at least one team will be willing to pay for 2009 instead of 2002-2008. Making a big commitment to a 34-year-old former utility man coming off a career-year would be a mistake, so the Twins' interest in Scutaro should depend entirely on the market.

Jack Wilson: He hasn't been worth the $20 million that he's made over the past three seasons and the Mariners will likely pay him a $600,000 buyout rather than exercise his $8.4 million option for 2010, but Wilson's glove keeps him as a starting-caliber shortstop. He's always had an outstanding reputation defensively and Ultimate Zone Rating agrees, pegging Wilson as good from 2001-2007 and great over the past two seasons.

He's an awful hitter, batting just .255/.292/.362 this season and .268/.310/.374 for his nine-year career, but it's important to note that the average MLB shortstop hit just .271/.328/.393 this season. Duplicating his career numbers would make Wilson just slightly below average offensively and his excellent glove would put his overall value solidly above par. Of course, at 32 years old duplicating his career numbers may prove tough and the odds are against his defense remaining elite, so the Twins shouldn't go nuts.

Orlando Cabrera: He's getting tons of credit for the team's dramatic turnaround after batting .411 with 21 runs and 16 RBIs over the final 16 games, but Cabrera also hit a putrid .237/.268/.361 in his first 43 games with the Twins. Add it all up and he hit .289/.313/.430 with the Twins after batting .280/.318/.385 with the A's, both of which are very close to his .275/.322/.398 career line. As noted above that type of modest production qualifies as about average at shortstop, but Cabrera isn't near Wilson defensively.

In fact, UZR pegged Cabrera as 15 runs below average this season. He's rated well defensively in the past, but Cabrera is 35 years old and looked bad enough following the trade that Ron Gardenhire even admitted his range was lacking. Average offensively and well below average defensively is a recipe for disaster in a mid-30s shortstop, and Cabrera's poor OBPs are a terrible fit in the Gardenhire-preferred No. 2 spot. If he wants to come back cheaply that's fine, but hopefully the Twins didn't fall in love.

Alex Gonzalez: Similar to Wilson in that the vast majority of Gonzalez's value comes from a good glove. He was with the Marlins for eight seasons before a one-year stint with the Red Sox in 2006 and then signed a three-year, $14 million contract with the Reds, who were being run by former Twins assistant general manager Wayne Krivsky. Gonzalez had a career-year in 2007, batting .272/.325/.468 with 16 homers in 110 games, but missed all of 2008 with a fractured left knee.

He struggled mightily after returning this season, hitting just .210/.258/.296 in 68 games with the Reds before they traded him to the Red Sox, but then batted .284/.316/.453 in 44 games as Boston's starting shortstop. Gonzalez has been wildly inconsistent but mostly terrible offensively throughout his career, hitting .247/.294/.395 in 11 seasons, but makes up for it with consistently excellent defense that even graded out well after the injury. He's obviously no great shakes, but would beat overpaying Cabrera.

Khalil Greene: I'm not sure what to make of Greene at this point. Dealt from the Padres to the Cardinals in December, he seemed like a good breakout candidate after spending the first six years of his career calling San Diego's incredibly pitcher-friendly ballpark home. While in San Diego he hit .225 with a .658 OPS at Petco Park compared to .270 with an .802 OPS on the road, but Greene's move to St. Louis was wrecked by season-long struggles with anxiety and he hit just .200/.272/.347 in 193 trips to the plate.

I'm certainly not in any position to say whether Greene is mentally ready to bounce back in 2010, but he's still just 30 years old and showed 25-homer power away from Petco Park while with the Padres. I'd love for the Twins to kick his tires a bit and perhaps offer an incentive-laden one-year deal, although given Greene's disastrous season on and off the field a minor-league contract might even be enough. Either way, he's worth looking into considering the underwhelming crop of free agent shortstops.

Projecting which free agents the Twins will go after is difficult because their pursuit of low-cost options depends upon how the market shakes out and who drops into their price range. In the past five years they've also wasted money on a lengthy list of washed-up veterans like Tony Batista, Livan Hernandez, Ramon Ortiz, Craig Monroe, Juan Castro, Sidney Ponson, and Luis Ayala (among others) with only an occasional worthwhile signing like Joe Crede or Dennys Reyes sprinkled in.

For the most part the Twins have targeted only bargain-basement options while far more often than not choosing badly, which makes it kind of pointless to predict which free agents they'll pursue. So, instead I'll focus on which free agents they should pursue. I'm trying to be realistic with the recommendations, highlighting guys who may actually sign modest one- or two-year deals rather than dreaming about the top-tier free agents. With that in mind, here are five second basemen the Twins should look into ...

Placido Polanco: He turned 34 years old last month and has naturally lost a step on both sides of the ball, but Polanco still hit .285/.331/.396 this season while ranking among baseball's better defensive second basemen. He rarely walks and has modest pop, but Polanco makes as much solid contact as any hitter in baseball and batted .311/.355/.418 in five years with the Tigers. Assuming that his defense doesn't fall off a cliff, even something like .275/.330/.375 would make him above average.

Given his age and skill set it wouldn't make sense to offer Polanco more than a two-year deal, but he'd help solidify a middle infield that has been problematic for most of the decade and would actually be a decent fit in the No. 2 spot that Ron Gardenhire would surely reserve for him. Freddy Sanchez took $12 million over two years to remain with the Giants last week and Polanco would make plenty of sense for the Twins if he's willing to accept something similar.

Orlando Hudson: Injury concerns and Type A free agent status left the market for Hudson lacking last winter, so he ended up taking an incentive-laden one-year contract from the Dodgers. Hudson stayed healthy and hit .283/.357/.417 in 149 games to basically duplicate his .282/.348/.431 career line, which is very solid production from a switch-hitting second baseman and earned him over $8 million in total salary. He's likely to be a Type A free agent again this offseason, so the price tag should be palatable.

Along with his strong offense Hudson also has a sparkling defensive reputation, winning three straight Gold Gloves from 2005 to 2007. However, he turns 32 years old next month and Ultimate Zone Rating pegged him as below average at second base in each of the past two seasons. Not wanting to give up their first-round pick likely caused the Twins to shy away from Hudson last year and the same figures to be true this time around, but strictly in terms of money and production he'd likely be a nice fit.

Felipe Lopez: As noted here at the time not going after Lopez in July was a mistake, because Arizona wasn't asking for much and he would have been a nice upgrade at second base. He ended up going to Milwaukee for a mid-level prospect and hit .320/.407/.448 in 66 games. He's definitely not as good as he looked with the Brewers, but Lopez has hit .280/.349/.407 over the past five seasons. He has both a 20-homer and 40-steal season on his resume, but hasn't done much power hitting or running lately.

Lopez carries a poor defensive reputation stemming from his time at shortstop, but has graded out just fine at second base and is still on the right side of 30. He managed just a one-year, $3.5 million deal as a free agent last offseason and clearly wasn't a particularly hot commodity near the trade deadline, so the switch-hitter should be available at a reasonable cost again this winter. I'm not sure if the Twins have any interest, but they probably should.

Ronnie Belliard: Because he's somewhere between chubby and just plain fat Belliard looks like he'd be a disaster at second base, but he's logged nearly 10,000 career innings at the position while rating slightly above average according to UZR. That could change in a hurry given that he'll be 35 years old in 2010 and obviously the stat-resistant Twins will be much more focused on his gut than his UZR, but as a one-year pickup they could do a lot worse than Belliard.

After struggling for the Nationals to begin this year he was traded to the Dodgers and hit .351/.398/.636 down the stretch to overtake Hudson as the starter at second base. He hit .277/.325/.451 in 110 games overall, which is close to his .282/.337/.432 line from the previous five seasons. MLB second basemen posted a .752 OPS this year and the Twins got a measly .569 OPS from the position. Belliard has had an OPS above .740 in all but two of his 11 full seasons and has been below .700 just once.

Akinori Iwamura: Not technically a free agent because the Rays hold a $4.25 million option for 2010, but I'm listing Iwamura here just in case they choose the $250,000 buyout instead. Iwamura missed three months with a torn ACL in his left knee, which is a big concern for a player whose game is based largely on speed. Not only is his range at second base now in question, over 12 percent of Iwamura's career hits haven't left the infield.

However, if most of his speed and mobility return following the injury Iwamura is a very solid all-around player who provides an average glove at second (or third) base with a career .281/.354/.393 mark at the plate. A left-handed hitter with good plate discipline and modest power, he has on-base percentages of .359, .349, and .355 in three seasons since coming over from Japan while actually performing better against southpaws. Solid defense, good speed, and a .350 OBP would be nice if the Rays let him go.