The New Guys: One Week In

The Associated Press runs the same baseball preview every year, which includes a breakout box with the following information.
He's here: Whoever they added in the offseason.
He's outta here: Whoever the team in question got rid of.
I remember one year (2001) the Twins preview said this after he's here: Tom Prince.
That was it. Tom Prince. The Twins offseason consisted of signing Tom Prince, a backup catcher who was great behind the dish but couldn't hit his weight. And the Twins improved by 16 wins that year.

Anyway, I learned to get used to that every year.
But this season, the Twins offseason consisted of alot.
The 'He's here' consisted of Carlos Gomez, Adam Everett, Mike Lamb, Brendan Harris, Delmon Young, Livan Hernandez and Jason Pridie (not to mention Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra, Zach Day, Randy Ruiz, John Knott and other minor leaguers).
It's been a week and the Twins are 3-5. Here's a quick look at what the Twins new acquisitions have given them.

Gomez
I didn't think he'd be ready, and let's remember, he's still really raw with lots of holes in his swing. But I'll be the first to admit that I underestimated his potential. I made a big deal about the Twins inability to land Fernando Martinez in the Johan Santana deal, and while I still think Martinez has amazing potential, I can certainly see why the Twins liked Gomez. He's a fun guy to watch. As of right now he's a terror on the basepaths, 5 for 5 stealing bases, with a .333 average and .353 OBP. But the 10 Ks and only 1 walk suggest it won't last.
Still, I love this kid. My guess is he finishes the year with an OBP in the .320s or so, but he's still awful young. He'll get better.

Everett
The best shortstop in the game was how he was touted, with some calling him better than Ozzie Smith. And while he's made some nice plays early, he's also made some bad throws, keeping Justin Morneau busy. Hopefully he'll straighten that out. The bat appears to be as advertised: Weak.

Lamb
He had a nice game at the plate Monday, which will hopefully shake him out of a slight slump. I haven't seen him field enough balls to make a judgment about his fielding, and while he hasn't hit much yet, I like his approach and swing.

Harris
He's made some highlight reel plays at 2B, but they look like the kind of plays that Nick Punto would get to flat-footed, so the questions about his defense seem warranted. But early on it looks like his strong season at the plate last year was no fluke. He can hit. He'll handle the 2-hole OK while Michael Cuddyer is hurt, but hopefully he'll be moved back to the bottom of the order when Cuddyer comes back. He sure makes a good 8-hole guy.

Young
The question about how good Young will be revolves around his power and plate discipline, and so far he's shown none of either. He's hitting .290, which is fine, expect for the fact that his OBP is also .290 since he has no walks, and his slugging percentage is .323 since he has only a double among his 9 hits. I'm hoping that Young's power will develop as he gets older and matures as a hitter, but I've been hoping for the same thing from Joe Mauer for a few years, and so far haven't seen it.

Hernandez
Hard to argue with the results so far. I'm not getting worked up, because I had high hopes that Ramon Ortiz could be decent last year, and after a terrific start, he was soon getting bombed. Livan may thrown about as hard as me, but he mixes it up well and so far has been throwing strikes. If nothing else, I do believe he'll have a positive influence on the rest of the young rotation, whether or not he continues to pitch well.

Monroe
Looks bad so far (one hit, five Ks in 11 ABs). Playing him over Jason Kubel is stupid times 10, but Gardy seems to have figured that out already, to the degree that now that Cuddyer is on the DL, light-hitting Denard Span is getting starts in RF instead of Monroe. Monroe can still contribute something, but only if he's limited to playing against lefties only (though he still wouldn't be worth $3.8 million at that point). I guess, at the very least, it's nice to have a guy on the bench who at least has the potential to hit the ball over the fence.

Matt Tolbert
A surprise addition to the roster after a good spring, Tolbert is hitting .500 (7-for-14). I wouldn't expect that to keep up, but he shows promise as a utility guy. Punto has barely seen the field so far, and for that alone, we should heartily celebrate the presence of Matt Tolbert.