Reds sign Jonny Gomes to a minor league deal

[IndianaRed]

Per mlbtraderumors.com:

Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times reports that outfielder Jonny Gomes has agreed to terms on a minor league contract with the Reds.

The deal will pay him $600K in '09 and provides $200K in performance-based incentives. The Rays decided not to tender him a conract this offseason afer he hit just .182 with eight homers and 21 RBI in 77 games in '08. He'll have a shot at some outfield at-bats with the Reds if he impresses this spring.

[Emin3mShady07]

I think this is a good signing, not a big move, but Gomes could be a good hitter off the bench and a spot starter out in LF. He has OPSed over .900 before so maybe the reds could catch some lightning in a bottle and maybe Gomes does well, but even if he doesn't he deal does not necessitate playing time and is less than $1 Million

[redsfandan]

Ok. I like this especially since it's a minor league contract with low $.

[FlightRick]

Great pick-up in terms of adding depth... he hits lefties to the tune of .270/.370/.510 over the course of his career, and up until last year's catastrophic breakdown, he'd been rocking a career OPS+ of about 115.

No great shakes as a defender, unfortunately, and he does strike out rather a bit... but as a bat off the bench, a possible platoon player, or as a guy who can spell Bruce once/twice a week if Bruce keeps having problems versus LHP as he develops, you won't find many better pick-ups that only cost six figures. Six figures even *if* he makes his incentives. Nice.

Where the problem(s) creep in is when you consider that this now pretty much fills out our OF (no big, middle of the order bat is coming, folks; Bruce, Taveras, Dickerson, and Gomes, with Hairston and Kepp as super utility options is it), which means we didn't sign him for "depth," we signed him to get at least 450 ABs. If he rebounds from last year, that's actually not a bad thing at all.... but it's at that point that I also realize we only got him for one year on the cheap, so if he owns in 2009, it's not like we get to keep him around as "depth" for 2010 and beyond when we might be an overall stronger and more-contender-y team.

Oh well...


Rick

[redsfandan]

Originally Posted by FlightRick

... Where the problem(s) creep in is when you consider that this now pretty much fills out our OF (no big, middle of the order bat is coming, folks; Bruce, Taveras, Dickerson, and Gomes, with Hairston and Kepp as super utility options is it), which means we didn't sign him for "depth," we signed him to get at least 450 ABs. ...

It's a minor league contract. Just like Nix. So this doesn't mean anything except he's an option to help. It doesn't mean they won't, or can't, still acquire a better outfielder if the price is right.

[FlightRick]

I think this is different from Nix... I think the "minor league" element is more a matter of administrative neccessity than an actual indicator of how we intend to use Gomes.

If I'm not mistaken, our 40-man is currently full (another thing that speaks against another major free agent move, and kind of pushes us towards making a trade if we do anything)... so, for the time being, if we talk to Gomes and his agent and say "Listen, we don't want to rush anything, but we're gonna clear a spot for you once we evaluate things more closely, and you WILL have a spot on the Big Club in 2009," then I think Gomes and Agent listen, and I think we get 2 more months in which to decide how we want to manage our roster.

I really think that's the under-the-table subtext of this deal, otherwise, Gomes would have kept shopping himself around. And he would have found a taker. Make no mistake: I love the pick-up and love it more at this price... but that doesn't mean I don't still see a deviation between Gomes' best usage and how we'll end up using him. Barring a major trade or something truly shocking (and of course, also barring an injury to Gomes), I'd go so far as to wager a body part (my appendix) that Gomes sets a new career high for ABs in '09 with the Reds, which may not necessarily speak to us contending for anything other than a .500 record.

I think his previous best was about 375 or so.


Rick

[captainmorgan07]

Very good pickup for Walt. He kills lefties and it's not an overly big contract. Good guy to have off the bench with major pop in his bat.

[TheBigLebowski]

I like it. I like it a lot, actually.

[Bip Roberts]

Cant wait to have him in left field everyday.

Let the run scoring begin

[Slyder]

So we clear Dunn and Junior off the books and we use that money to bring in 2 ofs with power potential but cant hit the ball unless its off a tee, Trade Freel for Hernandez, and waste perfectly good money on Willy Tavares...

If he's on the major league roster at any point were in deeper trouble than even the most pessimistic fans think. Especially if Flight Rick is right with his instinct.

[jmac]

Good signing by Walt !

[Bip Roberts]

He could be decent as a LF platoon but thats asking a lot of the Reds to notice it.

[NorrisHopper30]

I'm surprised Gomes couldn't get more than that.

Nice pick-up, I can't complain.

[Newman4]

This is a nice signing with some thought apparently behind it. Now....how about Sheets?

[Chris Sabowned]

This is a good signing only if Gomes is our 25th man, pinch hitter, occasional platooner. If he sees extended playing time, we likely won't be a very good team.