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Except he hits very well against left handed pitching...a huge weakness of the Royals. A platoon against lefties is great with Rios playing like dog crap all year.
So then the way an opponent could stop Gomes would be to bring in a right hander.
If only the other teams had some right handed pitchers.
So then the way an opponent could stop Gomes would be to bring in a right hander.
If only the other teams had some right handed pitchers.
Surely you realize then what a platoon actually means, right?
The Royals needed someone who can smash lefties. Gomes is that. The Royals have other outfielders that can play against righties. It's providing the Royals an alternative to our weakest position instead of Rios every day. Surely you understand making a move for Gomes makes the Royals better able to play the matchup, right?
Gomes slash line against lefties is .276/.379/.485. Surely you can see how that makes the Royals better than Alex Rios or Jarrod Dyson? This isn't rocket science.
Does it mean they will win the World Series, absolutely not. If they need Gomes to take the crown, they are in serious trouble. Is it upgrading the Royals weakest position....absolutely. They already upgraded garbage Infante with Zobrist so this move makes sense.
Does it mean they will win the World Series, absolutely not. .
That was the OP thesis, so we are in agreement on the basic thrust here.
Gomes is a serious liability defensively, so his utility will come being used as a DH or pinch hitter against left handed pitchers.
Morales has been the principle DH for KC this year and plate appearances for Gomes should come at his expense. Gomes does handle lefties better than Morales, .276/.379/.485 to .300/.344/.406, but Morales clearly wasn't helpless against them, so Gomes represents a small improvement, not a great leap forward.
The Royals already had a lock on their division before acquiring Gomes, so his actual practical utility will not begin until the post season. Given the restrictions on his use, he isn't going to compile enough playing time to leave behind a sufficient sample base of stats that validates or invalidates the acquisition. What it will boil down to is whether or not he happens to be hot in these limited appearances. If he gets some key hits the move will be hailed as genius, if he craps out probably no one will even remember that he was there.
That was the OP thesis, so we are in agreement on the basic thrust here.
Gomes is a serious liability defensively, so his utility will come being used as a DH or pinch hitter against left handed pitchers.
Morales has been the principle DH for KC this year and plate appearances for Gomes should come at his expense. Gomes does handle lefties better than Morales, .276/.379/.485 to .300/.344/.406, but Morales clearly wasn't helpless against them, so Gomes represents a small improvement, not a great leap forward.
The Royals already had a lock on their division before acquiring Gomes, so his actual practical utility will not begin until the post season. Given the restrictions on his use, he isn't going to compile enough playing time to leave behind a sufficient sample base of stats that validates or invalidates the acquisition. What it will boil down to is whether or not he happens to be hot in these limited appearances. If he gets some key hits the move will be hailed as genius, if he craps out probably no one will even remember that he was there.
Not really true. He's played the past 3 nights as Rios is sidelined for 2 weeks with Chickenpox. Yes, I said chickenpox! Plus Rios has been garbage, so a platoon with Dyson makes a ton of sense. I am not worried about the defensive effect of a RF'er considering the prior one has been garbage at the plate. It's a negligible difference and they need hitting help more than defense, plus Rios is not a great defender either.
Royals will be better off losing a bunch of games in September and get passed by the Yankees/Blue Jays (whichever team makes it out of the East as division. So far the Royals are on my short list of "early favorite to be sent home early" and actually I will pick ANY Wildcard winner EXCEPT the Twins to beat the Royals in the ALDS:
The Jays offense will devour that mediocre Royals starting pitching for lunch, and what's the point of saving Herrerra, Davis & Holland if you never have a lead where you can use them?? And that will be the case with a Royals/Jays series.
Yankees will be closer as they seem to be the same type of team: great bullpen, mediocre starting rotation. Yankees offense with all the switch & lefty hitters get a slight advantage over the Royals offense, plus I think it's better anyways.
Astros. Dallas Keuchel, enough said! Collin McHugh is underrated too, he's having a pretty good year.
Rangers. Cole Hamels is a World Series winner, Johnny Cueto dropped the ball on the PNC Mound in Pittsburgh in the second inning of the Wildcard game, who do you want starting a potential game 5??
I think they could beat the Angels & Rays however, but those are 2 long shots to win the Wildcard though.
I'd hold off on the parade.....AND start a bunch of A & AA guys for the final 27 or so games.
Gomes is a positive clubhouse presence who occasionally gets one big clutch hit which helps everyone forget his terrible hitting the other ~80% of the time. Extremely nice guy though.
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