Milwaukee Brewers 2011 - 25 in 25 - Carlos Gomez (6 of 25)

Yeah I know that I already used this picture last year when I introduced center fielder Carlos Gomez to Brewers fans in the 2010 edition of "25 in 25." But I had to use it again for a few reasons - that chick is smokin' hot, she wears work gloves and this picture ties more into this year's subject matter than it did last year's. That's because I say that Carlos Gomez is a boob. And not the kind of boob that babies and grown men alike yearn for. Get you head out of the gutter people! Show some class damn it! I do on a daily basis. The least you can do is meet me halfway. I mean boob as in stupid, idiot, dunce, fool, goof, goon, imbecile, dimwit and dumbbell. That's because Carlos Gomez has more raw talent than a mime has invisible rope to hang himself with. He certainly has the potential of a 5 tool player: one who hits for average, power, possesses base running skills and speed, and has plus throwing ability and defense. The only problem is that his career batting average is .246, he has hit only 17 homeruns in the majors, averages 19 stolen bases a year, has inaccurate cannon for an arm and has 4 errors a year. Well 2 out of 5 (base running and defense) ain't bad I suppose. But if he were to just work on his plate discipline and tweak a couple of minor things, there is no reason to believe that with a little work and effort he couldn't acquire the other 3 tools to form a complete set.

And speaking of 3 tools in a set, check out this 3 tittied bitch from Total Recall. Even though I censored this shit a little bit (this is a family site after all) you certainly can relate to the mutant Benny in the movie who wishes that he had three hands. I mean, what good are two hands when you have three things to grab hold of? You don't want one of the objects to go to waste. I'd say that you could call a friend over to offer you a hand, but even then he'd still have a free hand. So either way you're kind of screwed. But one can dream, right? And I'm dreaming by saying that Carlos Gomez can be a fantastic ball player. There's a reason why the New York Mets gave up on him (and traded him to Minnesota in the Johan Santana deal) and that the Minnesota Twins also gave up on him (and traded him to the Brewers in the JJ Hardy deal) and there was a reason that the Brewers gave up on him last season - he can't get on base enough to take advantage of his skills. There is no question that he is an excellent defender (although his throwing accuracy is suspect) and I predict that he will one day win a Gold Glove providing that he plays in 150+ games. And therein lies the problem.

Carlos Gomez is a black hole on offense, which led to him playing in only 97 games with the Brewers last year. Jim Edmonds, Lorenzo Cain and a cast of garbage characters filled in for the other 65 games. And that was because Carlos Gomez had an on base percentage of .298, which is uncalled for, atrocious and unacceptable for a person of his speed. He is so fucking fast that I call him Go-go-go-Gomez and make comparisons to Speedy Gonzalez, which is more a reference to his quickness and not necessarily the fact that they are both of Latin American decent. If he made an effort to hit the ball on the ground instead of the air his in base percentage would rise, which would also lead to more stolen bases, more runs and a higher batting average. Instead he chooses to keep on hitting the ball in the air, and despite popular belief, you can't outrun a pop fly. Hitting coach Dale Sveum is making Gomez his personal project for the 2011 season in attempt to turn his career around. There is still time for this raw talent because at the start of the season, he's still only 26 years old. Up until this point however, Gomez has proven that he is just a giant boob because he neglects to take advantage of his God given talents. Which is why I stood in front of Milwaukee's man made boobs to discuss the future of the Brewers' center fielder.

Although I was a little drunk at the time that I filmed this video, I was still sober enough to make my first bold prediction of the 2011 season: Carlos Gomez will have a breakout year. The biggest reason is that the Brewers simply don't have a replacement at center field after trading Lorenzo Cain to Kansas City in the Zack Greinke deal. All of the other players who could potentially fill the backup outfield spots on the 25 man roster (Mark Kotsay, Brandon Boggs, Chris Dickerson and Jeremy Reed) are projected to be corner outfielders, so that means that Gomez will be given every opportunity to succeed as the every day center fielder. So really the only player that can beat Gomez is Gomez himself. And I believe that manager Ron Roenicke will slot him in the #2 spot in the batting order providing that he gets on base, which will give him plenty of opportunities to steal bases and score a ton of runs. I might be smoking some wicked crack, but if I'm right, Gomez will put up these stats in 2011:

.272 AVG, .313 OBP, 7 HRs, 41 RBIs, 27 stolen bases, 139 games played, golden glove type defense

I may be way off base with Carlos Gomez because I want to see him live up to his potential, and one player that I was way off base with last year was right fielder Corey Hart. It's no secret that I don't really care for him because he burned me in the past. But Corey Hart more than made up for it in 2010 and then some, and signed a 3 year $26.5 million dollar contract that will keep him around through the 2013 season. So even though I may never like him ever again, I do have to learn to deal with his goofy ass. But there may be some room in my heart for uhh... Hart if he continues to put up numbers like he did in 2010 that led to him being the starting right fielder in the 2010 All-Star Game. But that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Roll out the Barrel! We'll have a Barrel of Fun!

- pookon -

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