Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes is on the Royals’ list of targets as the team continues its search for a right-handed bat, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter link). Kansas City has been rumored to be looking for outfield and bench depth in the wake of Nori Aoki’s struggles as the everyday right fielder.
Gomes has primarily played in left field throughout this career, though with Alex Gordon filling that role in K.C., Gomes would slot into right as the right-handed hitting side of a platoon with lefty bats Aoki and Raul Ibanez. Gomes would certainly provide the Royals with pop from the right side of the plate — the veteran has an .832 OPS in 119 PA against left-handed pitching this season, which is actually down from his very impressive .279/.379/.496 career slash line against southpaws.
While there has been some speculation about how much (if any) Royals GM Dayton Moore would be able to add to the payroll for trade deadline additions, Gomes comes at a fairly cheap price, with roughly $2.08MM remaining on his 2014 salary. The 33-year-old is in the final year of the two-year, $10MM contract he signed with Boston in November 2012. That expiring contract makes him an expendable piece for the Sox if they decide to become notable sellers before the deadline, despite Gomes’ popularity in the Sox clubhouse and his big role in last year’s World Series championship team (though Boston could also re-sign Gomes as a free agent this winter).
He’s never been rated higher than the 30th best prospect in MLB and Baseballprospectus has him at 69. He projects as a solid 3 on a good, potential playoff caliber team. He’s not someone that’s going to start games 1 or 2 of a LCS or WS. I’m not saying he projects as a 3rd starter for a bottom feeder team.
2014 midseason top 50 by baseball America had him at 15 so how has he never been higher then 30?. All I know is that ranking and his minor league numbers make him a better prompt then Lester was and look at what he became