I agree Gomez was rushed by the Mets, and then the Twins, but anyone could see the talent was there. (Opening day cycle for instance) The Twins really screwed up with him though, instead of nurturing his 5 tool talent, Gardy and co tried to turn him into a slap single (heh) hitting type of guy. Yes, Span had come on, but Span was hitting enough to be a RF with Gomez in CF (giving the Twins a helluva an OF) Sorry, I can't give the Twins a pass on giving up on a 5 tool prospect who was showing some flashes of brilliance in the majors (and was still not even 24 years old!!!) and had headlined the trade for the best pitcher in baseball only a couple years prior. The Twins gave up on him way too quickly because he wouldn't mold himself into Nick Punto version 2.0. No excuses for that. Let's not pretend like Hardy was some major haul at the time either, he was a non tender candidate for the Brewers as they had already decided to move on from him and likely could have been had for next to nothing. The same exact thing happened with David Ortiz, guy showed flashes of brilliance and talent and the Twins tried to change him to something he is not. Two hall of fame caliber players and all we have to show for it is Nunez and Escobar at DH and 1 year of JJ Hardy at SS. Sweet.