The two most prominent beat writers for the Braves – Mark Bowman and Dave O’Brien – weighed in separately this afternoon on the same topic: Jonny Gomes.
Gomes still available for a platoon type role. RT @TrpThr: @DOBrienAJC aoki rasmus gone and no interest in ichiro who's Braves 3rd OFer
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) January 20, 2015
The #Braves are still pursuing Jonny Gomes. He's a potential option to platoon with Almonte in LF.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) January 20, 2015
I’ll caution that nothing is said to be in motion at this time, but such a signing would fit the braves’ modus operandi of this off-season:
- Trade away assets to obtain prospects
- Hang on to those prospects
- Don’t use trades to fill holes; sign free agents instead… relatively cheap ones, at that.
Here’s Jonny…
Jonathan Johnson Gomes is now 34 years old and has 9 seasons of major league experience, most of that with his first team: the Tampa Bay (then) Devil Rays. He then has bounced around: Cincinnati, Washington, and Oakland twice – with Boston in between. His career batting average isn’t anything to cheer about (.244), but that’s not where his value lies.
Gomes is a right-handed hitter who hits lefties reasonably well – at a .276 clip in 2014 (.277 over his career) with a .373 OBP (.376) and .743 OPS (.861). Very consistent.
That helps because Zoilo Almonte, officially a switch-hitter, is said to hit RHP better (as a lefty). He doesn’t have enough major league AB’s to demonstrate this to any degree, but Dave O’Brien did some homework for me to help us out:
Gomes still avail, possible #Braves LF platoon early w/ ZAlmonte, who was .360/.415/.558 vs. RH in D.R. Gomes .276/.373/.371 vs. LH in '14
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) January 20, 2015
Jonny Gomes (15). Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
No, the D.R. Winter League isn’t the majors. But it’s a fairly close AAA equivalent, which does suggest that Zoilo may have found something this Fall/Winter while down there. At least that’s certainly the Braves’ hope… Almonte has been a consistently good hitter in the minors, though had a rough go in 113 major league PA’s in 2013 (.236) – and was worse in 36 more (.139) in 2014. Those results have “AAAA Player” written all over it… which the Yankees apparently recognized, and perhaps the Braves do as well.
The Affordability Angle. If you’re counting the numbers, Gomes made $5 million in both 2013 and 2014 as a member of the Red Sox. I would expect a 1-year deal of about $4 million… if he’s amenable to doing that with Atlanta.
There’s one other aspect of Gomes’ game that would definitely appeal to the Braves – his clubhouse presence. Once again, I defer to O’Brien:
IMO, could've definitely been helped by Gomes in clubhouse in '14 RT @kevjen1: @DOBrienAJC in losing huddy they lost "locker room guy"
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) January 20, 2015
Next: Are the Cardinals Doing the Right Thing?
Are We Doing This?
I would not be surprised. As I suggested, such a move would definitely fit the mold of the 2014-15 off-season. This might help the clubhouse leadership situation in addition to taking pressure off of Almonte.
The Braves tried a platoon 2 seasons ago with Juan Francisco and Chris Johnson at third base. Francisco ultimately swung himself out of a job with too many strikeouts and too few attempts to employ actual situational hitting… something we expect to be an emphasis in the coming years.
Sounds like the Braves are considering an attempt at this again: perhaps for both left field and third base.