Veteran center fielder Carlos Gomez has agreed to a one-year deal with the Rangers, pending a physical, FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets. He will receive $11.5MM, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman (on Twitter). Gomez is a Scott Boras client.
That Texas would have wanted to re-sign Gomez perhaps isn’t surprising — the Rangers, who were set to lose both Gomez and Ian Desmond to free agency this winter, were short in the outfield and had lately had talks about a variety of off-the-beaten-path outfield options, including Travis Jankowski and Matt Szczur. They’ve also shown interest in Jarrod Dyson.
Gomez gives the Rangers a more obvious solution to their hole in center field, where he’ll be flanked by Nomar Mazara and Shin-Soo Choo. After struggling with the Astros to start 2016, Gomez signed with the Rangers as a free agent at midseason and hit a terrific .284/.362/.543, looking a lot like the Carlos Gomez who played his way to the fringes of the NL MVP race with the Brewers in 2013 and 2014. While advanced metrics suggest Gomez isn’t quite the defender he once was, he’s also still very much a legitimate center fielder. MLBTR ranked Gomez 19th on its list of the top 50 free agents this winter, predicting he’d re-sign with the Rangers. (Desmond also looked like a candidate to return, but Gomez re-signing would seem to suggest Desmond will sign elsewhere, although that’s not yet certain.)
That Gomez, who’s still just 31, would receive only a one-year deal is surprising, but perhaps he’s hoping to continue rebuilding his value after his ugly performance in Houston. If he were to do so with another strong year in Texas, he could position himself for a big payday next winter. The deal is a favorable one for the Rangers, who are assuming very limited risk despite Gomez’s somewhat erratic performance history — even given Gomez’s success with the Rangers, his total line for 2016 was still just .231/.298/.384. If, for whatever reason, Gomez’s 2017 looks more like his Astros performance than his 2016 Rangers performance, the Rangers are still only out $11.5MM.
SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo wrote that Gomez and the Rangers met today (Twitter links), with Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweeting that a deal could come together quickly. Yahoo!’s Tim Brown tweeted the length of the deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Anything more than 2 years will more than likely turn out to be awful.
Nvm they’re playing it smart
Most likely a 3 year deal. I saw this coming. Now that JD is moving he needs to sign Napoli for 3 years too, and trade Gallo or profar for a pitcher
1 year deal? JD I love you
Napoli is too old for that. Gallo has good potential. Profar is likely a trade chip unless the Rangers sell high on Andrus
I agree… Andrus has more value as a member of the Texas Rangers so any other team would likely balk at their asking price also he’s coming off his best offensive season so let’s see if he can keep it going.
I’m sick of this Gallo potential. I’ve watched him in AAA. It’s scary. Somebody with a 30 % k rate at AAA will not succeed at the majors. Moving Gallo is a necessity. If they can get Nap on a 2 year deal i would be happy. But most likely if we don’t sign nap we go in on EE
I don’t think EE is going to come here. I will be honest, i think we should trade Yu. We won’t for Beltre’s sake, but he’s walking after this year and we could get a haul. I see Dodgers in his future.
Sad but true, I don’t see him returning to the Rangers after 2017.
Agree that Gallo is overrated been saying it since Day 1. That being said your comment is about as ignorant as it comes. “Somebody with a 30% K-Rate in AAA will not succeed in the majors”. You do realize the NL MVP and World Series champ Kris Bryant had a 29% AAA K Rate.
That reply was for Joshkind82
Look at Chris Davis. To me that is Gallo’s ceiling. Prob more of a Chris Carter/ Perdro Alverez type, but I’d still take 30 hr and a .230 avg at 1st.
I agree that’s probably his ceiling and I’ll take it but I was talking about the Rangers chances of re-signing Yu… I just don’t see it happening.
Darvish is my favorite player too. Will be sad to see him go.
Who’s to say Gallo can’t be Mike Napoli? 34 bombs, hit .239 and a OBP of .335….
Save the money for someone else.
Thought he’d be perfect for Cardinals. And 1 year deal their is no risk.
For an Astros fan this is great news. This guy is terrible good luck and good riddance.
He didn’t play terrible for the rangers. Pretty sure the astros coaching staff just can’t work with talent. That’s probably why the astros had a younger and more talented roster last year and the rangers still “stomped them in the ground” all year.
As an Astros fan you should be embarrassed by your organization. Did you CLOSE your eyes/ears when he went to TX?? Don’t get me started on Villar
JD Martinez?? Lol
Exactly
Good for Carlos Gomez. Amazing that he ended up with 11 mil after looking completely lost in Houston. Good guy, great player. Hope he has continued success and can cash in on an even bigger payday next offseason.
Dude gives 100% on every strikeout, fly out, etc., no question. Gross overpay but it’s only a 1 year deal and they can cut ties mid season like the Astros did. I hope he plays like the Gomez of the second half, even though he probably won’t. More heart and hustle than most teams combined, just can’t get out of his own way most of the time.
He’s had more good seasons than bad. I think he just didn’t mesh well with the Astros for whatever reason.
The Astros took a 100+ OPS+ hitter and turned him into a 71 OPS+ hitter. The Rangers pick him up and he posts the best stint of his career, 134 OPS+…
Don’t forget that he was trending down in Milwaukee though, so it’s not like Houston screwed him over or something
Go look at his stats, he was strong in 2013 and 2014, his best years actually. He was ok in 2015 and had a 1.6 war through 74 games (would be a 3.5 war season) but then tanked in Houston. Difference in all of those teams is that he stopped getting called out with the Brewers and was expected to be a leader on a young team in Houston. He is not a leader, probably even a little immature but the Rangers can handle that, especially on a one year deal.
And his one really big war year in 13 was mostly due to defense, his offense stayed steady.
Also for the Ranger fans that suggest that Gallo should be traded, well he has no value right now. It would behoove the Rangers to give him at least a month at 1st base with regular ABs to start 2017. He doesn’t have the same glove as Moreland but let’s see what he can do with the bat.
Agreed on Gallo. We’ve seen what happened what happened when the Rangers gave up on Chris Davis. It took Nelson Cruz a long time to “get it.” Mike Schmidt hit 195 his first year in MLB. It took George Foster several years before he became a star. Same for Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Harmon Killebrew, Gary Sheffield and the guy Gallo could one day replace: Adrian Beltre. There’s no reason to trade him unless someone offers a great package and that’s not going to happen. So why not just wait and see?
Okay, I appreciate the Cardinals’ “patient” approach, but that was the one move I was counting on. They would be smart to trade for Jarrod Dyson at the very least. Yadi is getting old and too thin, Wong is unpredictable, Peralta isn’t very good, and Pham shouldn’t be starting. I don’t know how, as a contending team, they can happily enter 2017 knowing Peralta, Pham, Wong, and Yadi are 4/9 of their offense. Maybe Justin Turner is in play. Rajai Davis would be a decent acquisition.
Oh and and I say resign desmond. Choo is our future DH. No one is taking that contract. we be stuck with him. I’d like an outfield of Mazara Gomez and desmond in left.
I second that.
Good signing.
Yeah, in 2008
Ranger fans will be tired of him by June
Sorry your team doesn’t know how to handle veteran players…
Doubt if they will get tired of .284 8hrs in 134 plate appearances.
Rangers can have him that’s the biggest waste of 11 mil I’ve ever seen. This team is getting older as well as getting worse
Gomez is just 31, not like he is pushing over the wrong side of 30. Also, his game is based on hitting for a decent average along with some pop and playing stellar defense and last I checked, those kind of qualities age well for the most part unlike say a speedster.
31 is the exact definition of the wrong side of 30. Less than 30 is the good side and 31 or over is the wrong side.
But I like the signing. Cheap for what he could be and easy to release if he becomes an issue. Too much leadership here for him to be an issue though.
The Rangers have won the AL West the last two years. Their window is NOW. Gomez showed he can still play once he got out of Houston. The change of scenery proved wonders.
Texas has Beltre and Elvis as the “leaders”. All they need Gomez to do is play like he did the last month of this season.