Carlos Gomez: Is His OBP A Threat To His Playing Time?

Minnesota Twins' CF Carlos Gomez left yesterday's game after being hit in the helmet by Ivan Rodriguez' throw to second base on Gomez' second successful swipe of that bag in the game.  That is worth noting.  Gomez is so good at swiping bases that he ran on the vaunted arm of Ivan Rodriguez twice.

Unfortunately, Gomez is not an OBP type of player and that will always leave him on the cusp of being demoted according to most baseball analysts.  His slash stat line is 272/299/379, and the aggregate American league CF has one of 275/348/444.  That certainly gives more than enough justification to think he could be sent down.

In addition to the Twins' commitment to him, the team itself doesn't take pitches anyhow.  The Twins are last in the AL with a .311 OBP and 26th in the majors.  (ed:  How about four NL teams with a worse OBP than that!)  The team's AVG is .266 (5th/10th) and its SLG is .373 (11th/25th).

Within the team context, Carlos Gomez does not appear to be in any danger of losing his job.  If the team had good options in the minors, I would feel differently, but Denard Span offers less than Gomez.  Jason Pridie could possibly bring more, but will it make a difference when netted against the speed Gomez provides at the plate and in the outfield?