Jonny Gomes could see the writing on the wall in Cincinnati. The Reds had a younger prospect at Triple-A whom they took high in the 2008 draft. Gomes started the year in a straight platoon, but in recent weeks was only playing against left-handed pitching. No surprise then when he was dealt to the Nationals on Tuesday for a pair of minor-leaguers. That doesn’t make it any easier to take, however.
“First time getting traded for me so I don’t really know how to take it – a team giving up on you or a team grabbing you and wanting your services and reaching out to you,” Gomes said. “So I’m definitely a glass half-full guy. Take the positives out of it. I’m excited to be here.”
Washington manager Davey Johnson went bench-heavy with his lineup tonight against the Marlins, giving Jayson Werth, Roger Bernadina and Ian Desmond the night off. But he wasn’t ready to just throw Gomes into the lineup. Instead, he’ll have the chance to meet his new teammates and get as settled as he can before playing on Thursday afternoon against Florida.
Gomes knows Nats outfielder Laynce Nix well. He’s also familiar with Jerry Hairston from their days together with the Reds. It’s been an odd year for the 30-year-old. His .336 on-base average is okay. He has 11 homers in just 218 at-bats. His OPS is .735 – not great, but also not terrible for a role player targeted for around 350 at-bats in a given year.
“I got a very interesting, unique line right now,” Gomes said. “If you were to cover up my average you’d be like ‘Alright, this guy’s doing alright.’ And then you pull the average and you’re like ‘What happened.’ I mean, the runs are there. The home runs – 11 in just over [218] at-bats – so everything is kind of there….I’m not bitter about [his role in Cincinnati], but your role changes three times it gets kind of tough. But I’m working on my swing, ironing some stuff out. I’m excited to get it going.”
Gomes comes to an area of the country where he’s had pretty good success in the past. Combined in 190 at-bats against the Nats and Orioles he has 46 hits – nine doubles and 14 home runs – with a .351 on-base percentage, .526 slugging percentage and an .877 OPS. Could be some shaky pitching staffs have the most to do with that success.
But he does know something about being on resurgent teams, too. Gomes played in 107 games for the awful 2007 Tampa Bay Rays. The next year they were in the World Series – though Gomes didn’t participate in the postseason at all. He was pretty bad that year (.665 OPS). Gomes moved to a Reds team that missed the playoffs for the 14th year in a row in 2009, but was there when they clinched the N.L. Central title last season. No guarantees on his role in Washington going forward let alone if he’ll be here next season. But Gomes has seen teams make the leap before from loser to winner.
“I’m biased not so much to the underdog, but to the sleeper team, if you will,” Gomes said. “I came up with the Rays in 2007. We broke MLB records we were so bad. Then in 2008 we went to the World Series. I went over to the Reds. Such a baseball rich city and winning, Big Red Machine, [19]90 wire-to-wire and they hadn’t been to the playoffs in [14] years in 2009 when I got there and 2010 we won the division and went to the playoffs. Obviously you can’t do it yourself. You need from the office down to be on the same page. But I know some similarities are here from my past playoff experiences.”
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