The Washington Nationals are 15 games out in the NL East, and nine back of the Braves in the NL Wild Card race. They’re three games unde .500. Thus, it made perfect sense for the team to want to make a move, and they did on Tuesday, acquiring Jonny Gomes from the Reds in exchange for minor leagues Bill Rhinehart and Chris Manno.
I’ll break down this deal from each side right now. For the Nationals, the move doesn’t make sense, just because the team isn’t in contention this year. Acquiring a platoon bat like Gomes is something that a contending team would do. For the Nationals to trade for him is weird, because they’re nowhere near contention, He’s a free agent after this season, so this really wasn’t a move to look at the future. However, the trade does improve the team. What the Nationals should (key word is “should”) be doing is starting Roger Bernadina in center field, and platooning Gomes with Laynce Nix in left. Nix currently is day to day with an injured achilles, so the team is starting Bernadina in left and the horrid Rick Ankiel in center.
Nix is able to kill right handed pitching (.287/.321/.517 in 209 at bats), but struggles against lefties (.087/.192/.174 in only 23 at bats). Bernadina also has a drastic platoon split against lefties (.197/.232/.242 in 66 at bats), but Rick Ankeil is devoid of any talent whatsoever, and shouldn’t be playing every day under any circumstance. Back to the platoon split. Why does it matters? Killing lefties is pretty much all Jonny Gomes does: in 54 at bats, he has a line of .333/.439/.537. That’s worth a platoon, and pinch hit appearances against lefties. But the Nationals aren’t going anywhere….trading for a platoon player doesn’t make sense at all.
What’s going on for the Reds in this deal? The prospects coming to them aren’t much to get excited about. Rhinehart has a .963 OPS in 276 at bats in the Eastern League, but is a 26 year old in AA. Plus, he’s blocked by Joey Votto at first base in Cincinnati. He’s organizational filler to the Reds. Manno is an interesting piece, a 22 year old who has a 69:15 K:BB ratio in 43 1/3 IP in the Sally League. He was a 2010 draftee out of Duke, so his career prognosis is limited. But hey, he’s a live arm in low-A ball….not much to lose there.
The big deal out of this for the Reds is that it opens the door in left field up for top prospect Yonder Alonso. Alonso is a natural first baseman, and a slug defensively, but can hit the ball pretty well. He has a .296/.374/.486 line. He takes a few walks, and has average power. At 24, now is as good of a time as ever to give him a shot in the majors, and since first is going to be blocked by Votto for the forseeable future, it was really now or never.
Quick summary of the deal: Nats get better in left, but why? Reds get a decent live, young arm and get a chance to play a top prospect every day.
(hat tip on the info about Alonso to the Outside Corner’s own Mark Smith. Thanks Mark!)
