My question: If Gomez wins the CF spot, should Casilla break camp with the Twins?

I am going back and forth on this one. I want to say yes and then of course I want to say no. I shall attempt to show the pros and cons of having Casilla up with the Twinkies.

Pros:

Gomez bats at the top of the lineup, Casilla at the bottom...both have exceptional speed thus forcing the pitchers to throw more fastballs to the power hitters: Young, Morneau. If Casilla can get on, he forces the pitcher to throw fastballs to Gomez, which Gomez will definitely take advantage of. If Casilla and Gomez are on together, that sets up the potential for the double steal, thus the pitcher will be wary and throw fastballs to Mauer and Young and Morneau. All three of them will take advantage of this.

Casilla can play 2B and SS and maybe 3B. He could come off the bench and run for guys like Harris or Lamb or Kubel and move into scoring position. He is a good defender except he makes his share of mental mistakes that he has been ironing out. Casilla has great range, great speed, great reflexes, great agility...all things that make a good ballplayer.

Cons:

He will make mistakes this season, which are of course just rookie mistakes. His bat still isn't solid so we can't expect the Castillo .300 average numbers from him this season. I wish he was around more with the Twins when Castillo was on the club, since he could have learned from his twin then. The only weak side of Casilla right now is his ability to drive the ball into the gap and hit homers.

That is all of the cons that I can think of.

So, it looks like the pros outweigh the cons but the question is: Do they? Would you rather have a man on the club that will make his fare share of errors but has great speed and everytime he hits on the ground he has a good chance of beating it out? Would you want that one-two punch of Gomez and Casilla with each one playing off the other?

I say Casilla should make the team either way. Not as the last bench player, but as the guy taking Punto's spot on the roster. What is the point of making him stay in AAA any longer? Punto doesn't help this team one bit, and letting him waste a spot is pointless.

exactly....I think Smith will release Punto after ST...Punto has done nothing at the plate and isn't getting playing time. No matter how much Gardy cries, I do think Smith will release Punto. What is the point of having him? Casilla can do more at the plate than he can and Casilla is young and ready to learn the league. Everett is just as good a defender if not better and Casilla will do just as well as Punto in the field. RELEASE PUNTO!

We should start a petition and send it to Billy Smith!

I wish they would just get rid of him. I just can't see them doing it. They need to get past the 'veteran' thing and realize that going with the youngsters is sometimes the better move.

Especially this year...

yes....look at what Colorado and Arizona did with their youngsters and look at Cleveland, they have a few youngsters that beat out the old guys for jobs....

Billy Smith is doing some good things, but he wont get rid of Punto because Gardy likes Punto because he gives him massages and brings him coffee with the newspaper in the morning....Gardy, just get a dog!