Wednesday Night, December 3, 2008

Delmon Young: Fourth Outfielder?

Ron Gardenhire, Dave St. Peter and John Gordon were in Fargo today at an agriculture show. It is something that the Twins participate in annually which is very nice. Mike McFeely from the Fargo Forum went and got some really interesting nuggets from Ron Gardenhire. He would like to see Casey Blake with the Twins. He likes Nick Punto and would love to have him back. Usual stuff.

But in my mind, the most interesting news was that he feels that his starting outfield in 2009 would be Denard Span, Carlos Gomez and Michael Cuddyer. No Delmon Young, huh? Here is a quote, “ Those three guys need to play every day. Delmon is in the mix. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a talent. But to me, those three guys should be your outfield and then you go from there.”

I know that we all expected him to hit higher than .290. I think we all expected him to have more than ten homers and more than 69 RBI. But he didn’t turn 23 until late in the season. He does have incredible talent and power. That much is clear. Will it ever fully come to fruition? Who knows? But again, at 23, I think I’d take my chances.

I have been 100% against the Twins trading Delmon Young in the offseason unless overwhelmed. But based on the comments of the Twins manager, if he’s really not going to play, and he’s just going to be a fourth OF, they might as well see what they can get. I can’t imagine the Twins front office being terribly happy with Gardy making such comments since there are so many rumors to the Twins having Young available. I think they would want to be bragging him up in an attempt to make his perceived value higher.

Any thoughts, please e-mail me, or leave Comments here.

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