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| Jonny Gomes |
The Washington Nationals acquired outfielder Jonny Gomes on Monday, a move that had most of the Nats' Nation scratching their collective heads.
He's not young, and he's not an everyday player. He's also due to be a free agent at the end of the year. One of the "advantages" of this deal, or so says General Manager Mike Rizzo, is that he is projected to be a "Type B" free agent, which means the Nationals will gain a compensatory pick in next year's draft if they don't sign him.
Well, sure, but the team gave up two prospects to get him. I'm not sure I see the advantage in trading two prospects to get one.
I would much rather keep the 30-year-old Gomes and let him platoon with his former teammate and friend Laynce Nix in left field. Gomes doesn't hit right-hander's well, batting only .226/.308/.429 over his career while Nix is only .179/.230/.270 against lefties.
But take a look how the two of them would have produced in a platoon in 2011, using this year's production statistics as a guide. Typically, the left-hander in a platoon gets 450 at-bats in a season while the right-hander amasses about 150. Take a look:
Nix: .287/.323/.537, 28 HR, 72 RBI
Gomes: .333/.439/.537, 9 HR, 33 RBI
Nix and Gomes, then, would have combined to hit .293 with 37 home runs and 105 RBI.
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| Laynce Nix |
The two players would give the Nationals some above-average pop in left while providing good-enough defense. And the player not starting would be a quality bat off the bench.
Laynce Nix and Jonny Gomes would keep left field warm for as long as the Nationals need before Bryce Harper is ready to take over, say sometime late in 2012 or early in 2013. Something tells me, however, that the team won't be keen on resigning either of them this off-season.
But here's hoping .....
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