Mark Sheldon reports that the Reds have not made any progress on getting Jonny Gomes signed to the minor league deal they were supposedly working on. He also adds that if the Reds do not sign Gomes, they have no plans to pursue any other external options for the LF vacancy and will go with in-house options of Balentien, Dickerson, Nix, Heisey, and Frazier.
I’m probably in the minority, but I would have offered Gomes arbitration back in December and he would never have been off of the Reds roster. I would also have him penciled in to be the starting LF and the cleanup hitter.
Given that, I’m all right with the path they’ve taken, but only if Balentien/Heisey/Frazier will be Reds primary starters in LF next season. I really don’t have much faith in them following through on committing to these young players in LF, given that they keep ushering in 30+ year old veterans on the decline rather than playing the young players they have.
I fully expect if they are not able to get Gomes to come in on the cheap that there will be a couple of Jacque Jones-type signings and Dusty will run them out there every day since he does love him a veteran player.