The Reds non-tender Johnny Gomes.

by: pageian

On Saturday, December 12th the Cincinnati Reds non-tendered outfielder Johnny Gomes, meaning there is a good chance he won't be back with the team in 2010.  Gomes is eligibile for arbitration and would have likely gotten a hefty raise from his 2009 major league salary of $700,000 plus $100,000 in incentives that he reached.  His 2010 salary will likely end up in the $3 million a year range.

Normally non-tendered players aren't all that interesting simply because the team that's letting them go knows the most about the player and have usually deemed him not worthy of the salary he's about to get by going to arbitration.  Gomes is a bit of a special case though because he will likely be worth what he's going to earn in 2010 if his performance in 2009 is any guide.  He finished the season with 20 home runs in only 314 at bats.  On the season he had a very good OPS of .879 and an OPS+ of 127.  Those are the numbers of a productive player, and the Reds can use all the productive players they can get.  They were expected by some to contend in 2009 after their pitching staff shined in 2008.  They had a lot of young talent either in the majors or on the way.  Things didn't work out that way though.  Some of the young pitchers got hurt while some of the veteran starters struggled.  The offense wasn't much help either, scoring only 36 more runs that the Pirates who finished last in the National League in runs scored.

At the trade deadline last summer General Manager Walt Jocketty traded erstwhile third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and two young power arms to the Toronto Blue Jays for aging, oft injured third baseman Scott Rollen.  The Jays picked up the remaining $4 million dollars of Rolens salary in 2009 but don't appear to be liable for any of the approximately $11 million he's owed in 2010.  Essentially the Reds traded three young, cost controlled players for the right to pay Rolen $11 million in 2010.  They may have marginally improved themselves at third base provided that Rolen can give them 120+ games in the coming year.  He's a better defender and a better hitter than Encarnacion but in most years he's not much more than a payroll liability due to his health.  It wouldn't be any surprise if the Reds get nearly nothing from Rolen and then let him walk via free agency or possibly retire.  For their $11 million dollar investment that also cost a younger third baseman with power and two power bullpen arms the Reds could end up getting essentially nothing in return.

When you look at that deal and the amount of money it's costing Cincinnati you come to realize why they couldn't afford to take a chance on Gomes.  They've maneuvered themselves into a spot where adding an additional $3 million dollars or so to payroll can't be done and it's cost them a productive hitter.  Add Gomes to the cost of acquiring Rolen and that trade starts looking even worse than before.

The Reds just don't seem to be a very well run franchise.  They don't seem to have a plan or direction that they're going in, no organizational philosophy a la Billy Beane in Oakland or Andrew Friedman in Tampa Bay.  The Reds appear to try to do things on the cheap, a quick fix here and a big name there.  $11 million for Rolen who's likely to spend a large chunk of time on the DL and doesn't have nearly the power he once had.  $12.5 million for a closer who, while he's good, is largely unnecessary  for a team with a limited budget and no realistic chance of contending.

Teams around the majors like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates need to be taking notes and trying to grok what's going on in Cincinnati if they want to someday break away from their losing ways.  When Dusty Baker loses his job eventually, and here's guessing it's going to be sooner rather than later, if anyone else gives him a managing job we'll know whether they were paying attention or not.  Some people just never seem to get it.

Johnny Gomes had a .338 on-base percentage in 2009, not great but apparently it was too high for Baker who, as we know, doesn't like it when men get on base for fear that they're going to "clog up the bases".  Perhaps Gomes will hook on with a team that appreciates stats like OPS and they'll give him a shot to see if he's found a new level of production or if 2009 ends up being an out lier.