8:55am: There is indeed a sense in the organization that Gomes could be moved today, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. That could, however be the final move for them, he adds.
Meanwhile, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that the Blue Jays do have “real interest” in bringing Gomes back to the organization.
1:59am: The Blue Jays and Athletics are among the teams interested in Nationals catcher Yan Gomes, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The veteran backstop is widely expected to wind up on the move by Friday afternoon’s deadline as the Nationals continue to move players off the big league roster. Gomes recently missed a couple weeks with an oblique strain but he was reinstated from the injured list this morning.
As an impending free agent, Gomes is a logical trade candidate for the suddenly-retooling Nats. He’s on a $6MM contract for 2021, with about $2MM still to be paid out. That’s not too onerous a sum, although it might be noteworthy enough to concern the A’s, who have shown little willingness to take on payroll in any midseason deals to this point.
Gomes is having a nice season, hitting an above-average .271/.323/.454 across 235 plate appearances. That’s particularly strong output for his position, considering catchers entered play on Thursday with a cumulative .226/.307/.387 slash leaguewide.
The Jays would be something of an odd fit for Gomes, who actually broke in with Toronto back in 2012. The club already has Reese McGuire, Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen on the 40-man roster. That glut likely contributed to the Jays decision to trade young backstop Riley Adams to Washington for Brad Hand. That said, Gomes would add a veteran presence to the mix, and Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins are plenty familiar with the player from their days with the Indians.
A Gomes pursuit would be a more straightforward move for the A’s. Sean Murphy is having another good season, but backup Aramis Garcia has a .205/.239/.318 line in 94 plate appearances. Gomes would be an obvious upgrade and could help shoulder some of Murphy’s workload for the stretch run.
Gomes seems like an exceptionally good deadline catcher. This article doesnt even mention he is at the top of baseball when it comes to gunning down runners.
What sort of gun does he use? 😉
Like all catchers, the same one he keeps in his glove compartment.
Man, the flood gates have opened in Washington.
We should call them the watergates, just because…
Political puns. I like it.
Or just the Nuts.
I wonder how Nats fans are taking this. Two years after the biggest feel-good moment of the franchise (winning the World Series) management is evicting most of the main contributors. Bittersweet, I imagine. But that’s modern baseball. Win now. Self destruct later.
The only semi-surprising move is Turner. The others would all be free agents anyway. At least they’re using their lost season to somewhat restock a pretty bleak farm system.
Nats fan here. Sure, it’s a little emotional watching the team shed these guys, but I think they’re absolutely doing the right thing. Even if they were to re-sign Scherzer, they’d have little else in the rotation. Sadly, the odds are stacked against Stras ever returning to ace-level production, even if he makes it back in ’22. And I wish they would’ve gotten more from the Dodgers, but I suspect that’s the only team to which Scherzer would’ve approved a move. Anyway, how can I, as a fan, begrudge Scherzer and Turner, and everyone else they’ve traded, head out for a shot at another ring? It was a glorious, decade-long run as a true contender, but it’s clearly time to re-set. Plus, we still get to watch Juan Soto every night 🙂
Wondering why Turner wasn’t just signed long term? Do the Nationals truly feel they can replace him that easily?
Gomes was, at one point, “the one who got away” for the blue jays. Him finally becoming a jays near the tail end of his career would be poetic in a sense.
Another catcher barely helps them.
I think the idea would be to acquire Gomes if they deal Kirk, perhaps in a deal for Berrios (Groshans + Kirk might get it done). Gomes would then take over as main catcher until Moreno is ready for a call up.
The idea makes sense… but that’s too much for Berrios.
Dodgers are reportedly giving up Ruiz and Gray for Turner AND Scherzer. Prospect value would be similar there… but Turner alone is more valuable than Berrios.
One top 100 prospect with a couple second tier guys should do it.
I’d rather give up Martin, but I guess anything’s possible re Gomes.
I disagree. Berrios isnt well paid yet and so that weighs in to his value . Dodgers took on a lot of money
That’s true. Turner is probably looking at $18M to $20M next year. Berrios will be probably $9M -$11M.
Man that still seems like a lot for the Jays to part with for 1 year of Berrios. Especially at the beginning of what they expect to be a very long competitive window.
The Twins have 4 catchets already. They really have no use for Kirk.
And their top position playing prospect is a SS.
No way.
On the other hand, when the Jays made back-to-back ALCS appearances Yan Gomes was putting up a .205/.240/.365 line for Cleveland while Russell Martin hit .235/.332/.427 in Toronto so I’m not exactly regretful that Yan got away.
Ted you are being a bit harsh on Gomes during that time… His production did fall off during that span but he was also dealing with some injuries then too so much so he was limited to just 74 appearances in 2016. Also I remember the Indians trying to bring in other catchers at that time, Johnathon Lucroy was one but never got, to help make up the loss of Gomes and his lack of production when he was “healthy”. He did hit 231 with 12 homers and 22 doubles in 95 games in 2015. Not great but not bad if you are comparing him to Martin.
I have no clue what’s going on this deadline
Same haha.. it’s been crazy so far, and I imagine these next 12 hours will be even more so.
It is awesome so far. Teams pushing other teams to make panic moves. After what the Dodgers have done, the Pads, Giants, & Mets better get busy today. Obviously, you still have to play the games, but on paper, LAD > NL…..and it’s not close.
In fairness, the Dodgers were better on paper even before these deals were made.
Maybe the most underrated season for a catcher this year
Having watched Garcia in the past with the Giants and seeing that slash line, if the A’s are gonna thin the already thin system for Marte I can almost see this as a done deal. Unless Blue Jays wanna overpay and face decisions w/ their existing options. The A’s cannot go into the end of the season/post season with Garcia backing up Murphy after trading Luzardo for Marte.
I’d rather bring up Austin Allen from AAA to be honest. Even for AAA hit-fest he’s hitting well as a catcher and is superb defensively…..
Well, if you’re gonna burn it down, you might as well go all the way. Gonna be an interesting next few years for us Nats fans…
If an old house is starting to rot you can waste a lot of time and money shoring up the roof and the floors while other parts age and deteriorate.
Or you can tear it down to the studs and start fresh.
Nice try, drewnats33, but no one does that with an actual house.
Sure they do, not just on HGTV. Plenty of people will take a 1920s house down to the studs, replace electrical and plumbing, new subfloor, put up new drywall and new laminate flooring and have a like-new house. Much cheaper than buying new construction in some of these red hot real estate markets.
A’s make sense for their stretch run.
If Kirk has prospect value I’m ok trading him. Maybe I’m judging him harshly, but I see “nice story” not “big prospect” when I look at his career so far. Yeah, he can hit ok for a C, but will he hold up as an everyday catcher? Eh… 5’8″ 265lbs doesn’t scream longevity to me.
The Jays have a bunch of C but none of them look like anything special to me. Happy to trade any or all of them and stick Yan behind the dish.
Maybe Kirk takes not of Guerrero’s physical changes and adopts his approach to conditioning? Probably not…
For the Blue Jays adding Gomes to pair with McGuire makes a lot of sense. Gomes would allow the Blue Jays to DFA or if possible trade Danney Jansen (who has greatly under performed on both sides of the ball for 2 plus years now). They could then send Kirk back to the minors for much needed seasoning.
Gotta like what the Nationals have done. They have a clear plan. Only guy they will miss in 2022 they dealt is Turner and he was gonna make 20 million or so and be a free agent next off-season. Rizzo is a good gm.
Are you a Nats fan, Joel?
Not at all I am a Cardinals fan. But I see the plan. They are going to compete next season and keep it going for years to come because of these recent trades.
Sooooo many losing teams have players that could help other teams and they just sit on their hands. This is how to do it Rizzo is a stud.
Was hoping White Sox maybe traded for Gomes. Rick Hahn you’re awesome btw & you know this but here are my ideas just in case. A cheaper & little more years of control guy is Jorge Alfaro. Alfaro gonna get little costly for low budget Marlins so send Collins back to Miami where he went to college.
Also please go get Tanner Scott for Jose Ruiz & a low level prospect (they share Jersey numbers so makes sense to me, Lol). Boom, then let’s go White Sox!
Red Sox and Rays aren’t rumoured they just aquire
Yankees are rumoured then aquire
Man the Jays sure do love being rumoured
That’s funny because it is so true.
I could see tbe Marlins actually being interested in Gomes, and trying to extend him for a couple of year, even at his age. They’re looking to address that position either today, or in the offseason, and obviously, they could just wait to sign him in FA, but not many options on that market, and I could see them thinking it might give them a chance to form a relationship
No takers for Jon Lester? Guess he’s stuck eating innings all season with whatever’s left of the Nationals pitching staff.