Comments on: Report: Jonny Gomes gets $10 million from Red Sox

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:54:09 +0000

On point Clyde. Great clubhouse presence. I know a lot of Reds fans who loved him in Cincinnati as well. Theres something to be said about a guy who is well liked everywhere he goes. Dudes a little eccentric but fun to watch. And again…its what he brings to the clubhouse. Hes not going to break the bank from a salary stanpoint either. Every team needs a Jonny Gomes. About the only thing I disagree with you about is his defense. He very much can kill you in LF. Hell…I would be hard pressed to name a worse OF’er (from a defensive standpont anyway)..

By: nbasux

nbasux — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:10:33 +0000

what’s embarrassing as a Sox fan is listening to whiners like you. I’m not crazy about the move by any means. but you tools who think they are supposed to have an All-Star at ever position, complain about every move, please feel free to go cheer for someone else. it’s sickening

By: clydeserra

clydeserra — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:53:36 +0000

Dude, those two guys must hate each other

http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/001/954/764/hi-res-153892766_crop_exact.jpg?w=650&h=440&q=75

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/New+York+Yankees+v+Oakland+Athletics+cG9Qrknw6PPl.jpg

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Coco+Crisp+Jonny+Gomes+k8q_5WH2vqDm.jpg

By: richwizl

richwizl — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 04:13:06 +0000

Sheesch…. Must be a real lack out there.

By: Carl Hancock

Carl Hancock — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:33:00 +0000

Is it? Dmitri Young hit .320 with 18 home runs and 74 RBI’s with the Nats in 2007. He was hurt a lot in 2008 so that season wasn’t too good but had he been healthy and repeated his 2007 numbers it wouldn’t have been a bad deal at all. The Red Sox won’t see numbers like that from Gomes. Young had much better career numbers also. There have been far worse signing in MLB that the Dmitri Young deal the Nats made.

By: APBA Guy

APBA Guy — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:18:39 +0000

Good call, Clyde. But I don’t think the RS fans are going to be dancing in the streets after this signing. They want “big” moves, not nibbles. They should probably start noticing that John Henry’s hedge fund has less than $ 100M under management now, which means less cash for the RS.

By: skeleteeth

skeleteeth — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:31:13 +0000

Cripes..

http://www.blakestreetbulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/brawl.jpg

By: skeleteeth

skeleteeth — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:30:30 +0000

Yay Jonny Gomes…

By: crisisjunky

crisisjunky — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:30:56 +0000

Sadly, he passed away.
Buy a big bottle of rum and ask Jobu for lots of rain.

By: johnnyb1976

johnnyb1976 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:14:29 +0000

Good for Jonny. He is a good guy, he was a real good clubhouse guy in cincinnati.

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:25:38 +0000

A waste is an understatement. Gomes defense being subpar is an understatement. This is a mediocre player at best who had one solid season in Oakland and suddenly he is paid like a solid player. Elsbury and Pedroia make about $8 million each year. Does anyone think Gomes is 2/3s the player those 2 MVP caliber guys are, cuz he is being paid like he is…

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 12:00:21 +0000

I always think it’s funny when a Red Sox fan does a take off on the Yankees name like you did.. BTW, when I say funny I don’t mean funny as in ha, ha, funny. I mean funny as in pathetically sad funny. Since anyone can do that with any teams names. For Example: Blow Sox or Red Sux. See how easy that was.
As for your other comments, fans that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw around the “steroid” comment so easily. Need I remind you that Big Papi was chastised for “illegal supplement” and this year couldn’t make it around the based without coming up lame like an old war horse.
And about the Red Sox reloading that implies that the Red Sox are in the thick of it (the pennant race that is) year in and year out only very occasionally missing out. That obviously does not apply to the Red Sox and their 69 win 2012 team for 2013. The Red Sox have missed 3 straight postseasons and 7 in the last 13 years. That doesn’t sound like a team that should be reloading, that’s a team that needs to rebuild which is a whole different animal.
Over that last 15 months or so the Boston Red Sox and their Ownership have made a great case that they are on their way to becoming the next Houston Astros or Pittsburgh Pirates.
This entire Red Sox retrospective could have easily been avoided, if you hadn’t tried to incorrectly build up the Red Sox at the expense of the Yankees.

By: buddaley

buddaley — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:48:19 +0000

If you are measuring his value in WAR, then according to the FanGraphs version he is a bargain. Over the past 4 years, his WARs have been 1.2, -.1, 1.5 & 2.1. At a standard of @$5 million per WAR, he is being underpaid. (The negative figure resulted from a huge deduction for horrible defense and probably from getting 571 ABs which exposed his weakness vs. righties.)

BB-Ref is less kind to him, but puts his value at close to $5 million per year if you use their WAR calculation.

It seems to me people should be focused on what he can do rather than what he can’t. He hits lefties very well and should thrive in Fenway. He is a decent base runner. He gets on base at a pretty good rate. As a 4th outfielder, occasional DH and pinch hitter, he can help a team win games. His signing does not preclude the Red Sox acquiring other players, and while it hardly is the final piece in fielding a contender, he is useful on a 25 man roster. As things stand, neither Cody Ross nor Ludwick are that final piece-or even that critical piece-either, so paying more for them would make little sense.

By: theskinsman

theskinsman — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:01:13 +0000

Wow, I wouldn’t have thought Boston signing a back up player to a contract would bring out the yankoff universe to show the depth of their understanding.
It’s not like Gomes has brittle bones from decades of steroid abuse,and will suffer from fractures for no apparent reason.
He also isn’t signed to be paid until he’s 72 years old like some yankoff players.
Red Sox fans, if you’re going to want Cherington to sign every star FA to reload the Sox this offseason, you’ll be unhappy. Building a team starts and ends with quality pitching. Those are the signings or lack thereof that will make a difference.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 08:19:31 +0000

I see that Ben is picking up RIGHT where Gorilla Boy left off.

Considering that The Jays got much better I guess SOMEBODY needed to show their soft spot!

By: soxfan1966

soxfan1966 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:37:32 +0000

Why? Why? Why?

I already hate Ben Cherington.

By: sawxalicious

sawxalicious — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 06:18:23 +0000

Here is an analysis from Bleacher Report ( not the most prestigious sports news, I know):

Jonny Gomes was a perfect pickup for the Oakland A’s last offseason. They’ve always liked good on-base guys, and Gomes has always been the type to hide a high OBP behind an unspectacular batting average.

He did it again for the A’s in 2012, hitting only .262 while posting an OBP of .377. He also slugged .491 and gave the A’s 18 home runs in only 99 games. Not a bad season at all.

But it was better than these numbers suggest. As far as Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) is concerned, Gomes was one of baseball’s most productive hitters in 2012.

For the record, wRC+ is indeed a variation of Bill James’ old Runs Created formula, which was designed to capture a player’s total offensive value in terms of runs. Weighted Runs Created Plus is a version of Runs Created based off wOBA, adjusted to account for league average. Similar to OPS+, it measures a player’s offensive quality in relation to his peers.

Gomes finished the season with a wRC+ of 142 this season, which was good for a tie for 21st in baseball with Aramis Ramirez among players with at least 300 plate appearances. Below Gomes on the list are names like Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, Billy Butler and Yadier Molina.

Hey, when you combine a high walk rate and a high on-base percentage with good power, this is what happens.

Hopefully Gomes will work out for the Sox. At least it’s only 2 years….

By: genericcommenter

genericcommenter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:46:59 +0000

David Ortiz made 1/4 the salary his first year in Boston. And he even made less than Gomes in 2004, after his first good year there.

By: dcrudy

dcrudy — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:29:19 +0000

Reminds me of the same kind of things said about the last time they signed a one-dimensional platoon type player … It was around 10 years ago, Some guy named David Ortiz ?

By: pisano

pisano — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:25:54 +0000

prosourcetalk…..That’s exactly what I was thinking.

By: prosourcetalk

prosourcetalk — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:49:20 +0000

Holy fuck.

By: rollinghighwayblues

rollinghighwayblues — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:45:09 +0000

Come on, man. Lou has zero time to manage, he’s too busy with another guy on the line about some white walls.

By: tfbuckfutter

tfbuckfutter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:25:39 +0000

No. Jonny Gomes playing for the Nats in 2012 did not happen.

The guy has 3 seasons that were good ’05 (OPS+140), ’09 (OPS+ 128) and ’12 (OPS+ 140). In those seasons he played 101, 98 and 99 games respectively which is why only once in his career has he cracked 2 in WAR.

He is a marginal player and he is continuing the transformation of the Red Sox into a marginal team.

By: rmcd13

rmcd13 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:04:12 +0000

Did 2012 not happen?

By: stairwayto7

stairwayto7 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:03:36 +0000

HE will be traded to a contender by mid season.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:51:48 +0000

Has there ever been a more perfect match of player and team? Horrific facial hair, mild psychosis bubbling just below the surface.

Honestly, with the Monstah to hit over and limit the zone he covers in LF, this should be a decent signing (albeit a bit of an overpay). The best case will be to let him hit 25 HR over the Monster in 2013, then trade him to some unsuspecting team who thinks they are getting a thumper (I’m looking at you, Mets).

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:49:06 +0000

Could the Sox possible be paying for the “club-house” guy to change their culture?

By: kkolchak

kkolchak — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:25:36 +0000

Dumbest $10 million, 2 year contract since the Nats gave one to Dmitri Young back in 2007.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:24:20 +0000

I just don’t get the Red Sox/Cherington’s thinking here. They probably could have signed Scott Hairston for less money and probably no more years. Or for a bit more money and maybe an extra year tried to attract Ryan Ludwick who they won’t have to platoon and is a much, much better player than Gomes. At least that’s my opinion. It’s beginning to look like the Red Sox aren’t really interested in contending at least not in 2013. Looks like they are trying to get one of those protected draft choices again next year.

By: clydeserra

clydeserra — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:20:08 +0000

$5 million a year is maybe a little steep, but not overly so. Before you bemoan this deal realize that he had 333 plate appearances in 2012 and hit 18 HR. playing in a pitchers park. he wil get on base a lot and not totally kill you in left.

Plus, if you believe in clubhouse people, he is your guy. Almost every Athletic on twitter after the season was over asked that he be re-signed.