[JONNY TERRIFIC] Jonny Gomes Non-Tendered By Rays, Now A Free Agent
Dioner Navarro, Gabe Gross, Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Jonny Gomes, Matt Joyce, Willy Aybar December 12th. 2008, 11:19pmMarc Topkin is reporting that Jonny Gomes has been non-tendered by the Rays and is now a free agent. The Rays did offer arbitration to the remaining five players that were arbitration-eligible (Willy Aybar, Grant Balfour, Jason Bartlett, Gabe Gross, Dioner Navarro).
With the Rays offering Gross arbitration, it suggests that there is at least a possibility that Matt Joyce will begin the season in triple-A as both players offer a similar skill set.
And so it is. Jonny Gomes’ career with the Rays has now come to an end…and yes, the 2009 season will indeed be less Jonny-Terrific.
Gomes non-tendered, now a free agent [The Heater]
What a sad, sad day. No more Jonny Gomes
I think he would be a great replacement for Raymond.
if i understand things correctly, joyce has trouble hitting left-handed pitching. i know somebody who doesn’t, but he’s apparently not with the rays anymore. too bad, cuz gomes was a lot of fun. i’ll miss his enthusiasm, and it was kind of cool having an enforcer on the team.
We traded for Joyce, so we don’t even need Gross. We never really needed him in the first place. I think Gomes would have been a better option off the bench than Gross
This day was a long time coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Jonny Gomes gave this team a heart and soul to go along with Maddon’s philosophies. For a young team questioning if they belonged, he was the one who stepped up to say “fuck yes, we belong”, even if he wasn’t out in the field every day.
I hope he gets the chance to continue mashing dingers somewhere, and I hope Rays fans always make him feel welcome in the Trop for the time he spent here.
Paraphrased, the last funny thing we ever heard from Mr. Gomes, said during either Game 1 or Game 2 of the World Series.
“What if you were from Europe, and you came to St. Pete and Tampa Bay for vacation? You see everyone with mohawks and t-shirts that say ’9=8′. What would you tell people when you went home?
‘They all have weird haircuts, and their math is all wrong.’
You’d never come back here again.”
Bad teams focus on what players cannot do; good teams focus on their strengths and how best to use those strengths. Fans who evaluate their team's players make the same mistakes that bad teams make.
Gabe Gross is a prime example of this phenomenon. We all know there are weaknesses in his game. He cannot hit lefties. He can be streaky. In 2008, his flaws were made more galling to many because he played poorly both at the plate and in the field in the post-season.
But that poor defensive play was uncharacteristic. As a matter of fact, he played good defense all year and was often used as a late inning replacement when he did not start, to excellent effect.
Additionally, he is an extremely patient hitter who sees a lot of pitches, takes a lot of walks and has good pop in his bat. Against righties, he is particularly useful getting on base as his lifetime .352 OBP indicates (it was .356 last year).
Gross is not a great player; he is not even a particularly good player, at least not as a regular. But he is a valuable player as a 4th outfielder/reserve. He has a useful role to play.
With the addition of Joyce, he may now be superfluous, although his presence allows the Rays to keep Joyce at Durham for a while to hone his skills if the Rays think that advisable. But we certainly did need Gross in 2008. In fact, given Gomes's failure, Ruggiano's apparent inability to play at the major league level (yet?) and Baldelli's absence, Gross was more than needed; he was a crucial part of the Rays' success, and we should be grateful for his presence.
Just to reemphasize the point, as a starter he had a .782 OPS which, given that most of his games he batted 8th (and 7th the second most often) is really quite good. And in the two months that he had the most PAs, June and August, his OPS was .868 & .910 which is all-star caliber.
I just read that Jonny is open to a minor-league deal with the Rays if no other team signs him at the MLB level.
Perhaps we’re not entirely through with him yet…
Also, I agree with Robert, I feel that Gabe wasn’t appreciated enough.
anyone who thinks Gomes was/is better than Gross is thinking with their heart not their brain… Gomes was nothing short of a liability in the field last season and posted some ridiculous average somewhere in the .190 range…
Gross (with the exception of the playoffs)was the Rays best option in RF last year…
Jonny had to Go(mes)!
“anyone who thinks Gomes was/is better than Gross is thinking with their heart not their brain…”
Yeaaa, in my heart of hearts, i've always said fuck the stat line when it comes to Jonny Gomes. To me, he will always be the first true representation of our bad news bears-esque team… a loveable loser that wasn't really supposed to be at this level in the first place, most don't think he belongs still… but brawling the empires til the end.
RIP… Jonny Gomes #31 forever an underdog, & a Tampa Bay Devil Ray
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