St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals Need Carlos Gomez

Sep 27, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers left fielder Carlos Gomez (14) in the on deck circle in the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Texas won 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers left fielder Carlos Gomez (14) in the on deck circle in the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Texas won 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Last night the Texas Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Toronto Blue Jays thus ending the 2016 season for Carlos Gomez.  The St. Louis Cardinals want a new center fielder and Gomez is the perfect guy for the job.

I must admit that I was disappointed this season when the Houston Astros released Carlos Gomez and when the St. Louis Cardinals passed on him.  I felt the Cardinals should have grabbed him at that point but they did not.  Rather than joining the Cardinals, Gomez joined the Rangers and rode this bus to the post-season.

Now that the Rangers have been eliminated, Gomez begins his free agency.  Now, like before, but maybe more so now, the St. Louis Cardinals need to grab this center fielder.  The Cardinals have already announced that they would love to find a CF this off-season and move Randal Grichuk to left to replace the departing Matt Holliday (if a comfortable contract cannot or will not occur).

The free agent market for center fielders has some nice names like Gomez including Dexter Fowler from the Cubs (season hasn’t concluded yet) and others like Ian Desmond, Yoenis Cespedes, and even Michael Bourn.  Of these, however, Gomez is likely the least expensive.

Expenses aside, Gomez would add so much to this team.  Gomez would slot in nicely in the lead-off spot as he hits for contact nicely and has good speed.  Speed is something this team lacks and his legs could help dramatically.

Gomez, to his credit, reinvented himself somewhat with Texas after his release.  Prior to the release, Gomez produced a 2016 slash line of .210/.272/.322.  This was honestly too much like the other lame performances witnessed on the Cardinals squad at the time of his release.

For his time in Texas, however, he produced a slash line of .284/.362/.543.  These numbers would have been nice with the birds on the bat.

Defensively, Gomez produced 165 outs in CF on 173 chances.  How about Grichuk you ask?  Grichuk produced 221 outs in 229 chances.  Eight missed chances each.  In essence, they are both a wash in center if we were looking for one to be better than the other.

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How about price?  Gomez last signed a contract of four years at a total of $28.3M.  Factor in his postseason experience and he might be looking for something in the range of 3-5 years and maybe $30-40M.  Of course he could ask for far more but I doubt he would get it.  For this money, Gomez would be a great pick up for the Cardinals.

I’d like to highlight Gomez’s speed once more.  In 2016, he stole eighteen bases.  18 bases!  Kolten Wong stole seven bases in 2016 and Stephen Piscotty stole the same number but those were the greatest number on the squad.  Another speedy set of legs to add to this squad would be ideal and would change the came a good deal of the offense.

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In short, go get this player.  I like the other outfielders who are free agents but the asking price will be high in my opinion and the bidding wars will be costly.  Gomez needs to continue his reinventing and St. Louis has been a welcoming home for projects such as this.  Go CARDS!