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We should have shaken the Gomes virus while there was still a cure

By on February 23, 2010
We’ll tell you all right now: Jonny Gomes won’t have anywhere near the season he had in 2009. Like, ever again.
The Reds made the decision to re-sign Gomes and add him to the stable of outfielders that are vying for a spot.
This list includes Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, Chris Dickerson, Laynce Nix, Wladimir Balentien, Drew M. Anderson, Drew T. Anderson, Brady Anderson, Anderson Varajeo, Uncle Jesse from Full House, Rick Dempsey, Your Aunt Michelle, Lebron James, Maria Sharapova, Ernest Hemingway, Lance Armstrong, Rick Smits, Ned Flanders, Hilary Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Lance Bass, Nick Nolte, Gary Busey, the guy who does the weather on the 11 o’ clock news from your parents hometown, Carrie Underwood, Dennis Haysbert, Wesley Snipes, David Justice, Robert DeNiro, Jake from The Bachelor, Jesse Palmer, Carlito Brigante, and Emilio Estevez.
I know the guy says all the right things and hit some home runs down the stretch last year. Look, he surprised me too. But I was heavily rooting against any type of return for the 29-year old; who will do his best to take away at-bats from young guys who need the experience this year when Jonny Gomes is an afterthought.
I’d like Gomes to become a guy who is the 25th man. The last guy off the bench. I like him as a lightning in the bottle type guy who can pinch hit and spot start against a left-hander. You see, that’s never the case with Dusty Baker.
Dusty is a sure bet to go and turn what could be a good thing into solid shit in the wink of an eye. He’s never seen a veteran he didn’t like over a youngster. And he’ll take away at-bats from the Stubbs, the Balentien’s, the Dickerson’s in order to get this guy at-bats.
Sure, he had a career year last year. He appeared in 98 games for the Reds last season, hit .267 with 20 dingers and 51 RBI. But two points on this: 1) I’ll bet you drinks anywhere you want in the greater Columbus area that he won’t ever do that again over a 98 game stretch, and 2) Those numbers still weren’t really warranting of adding him to the mix at any cost.
Let him go elsewhere and hit .240 with his 11 homers and 31 RBI while he struggles to find that 2009 form that will never come back. We’ll go with the youngsters. Tampa Bay isn’t in the business of giving away young and talented players but they let Gomes go pretty easily. We’ve got a lot of talent in this organization. I was ready to begin the season with the Jonny Gomes era behind us.
How many times have we seen it? Guy comes out in a contract year and sets the world afire. Good for him. Then he comes back after he gets another year (and thank God it wasn’t a multi-year deal the Reds gave him, we’re sure he tried) and you’ve got a lemon on your hands.
Good guy, good story, but the curtain had fallen I had thought on Gomes in a Reds uniform. And I’d bet that if he doesn’t get the playing time that he thinks he should get, he’ll be belly-aching about it.
I hope Todd Frazier comes out and hits .426 this spring and makes Gomes an after-thought.
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