Washington Nationals To Re-Sign Yan Gomes
The Washington Nationals have re-signed Yan Gomes to a two-year contract worth 10 million dollars. Gomes is one half of a successful catching tandem with Kurt Suzuki that was part of the Nationals world championship team.
Yan Gomes Career
Yan Gomes, 32 has played eight seasons and with three teams. Gomes broke into the major leagues in 2012 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was traded by the Blue Jays to the Cleveland Indians. Gomes spent the next six seasons with the Indians before getting traded to the Nationals for the 2019 season.
Gomes has a career .245 batting average with 99 HR and 351 RBI. But Gomes is more known for his defensive skills. Gomes is the personal catcher for Patrick Corbin and proved to be very reliable when he was needed.
With Suzuki nursing right elbow inflammation this past September Gomes really stepped up. Gomes hit six HR in September and appeared in 11 games this past postseason including the last four games of the World Series.
The Nationals were wise to get the Gomes deal done as the free-agent market for catchers is getting smaller every day. Yasmani Grandal signed with the Chicago White Sox last week setting the market. The Atlanta Braves inked Travis d’Arnaud earlier this week. It was a possibility that a team looking for an inexpensive catcher would try to sign Gomes.
Nationals Outlook
It is very hard to keep a championship team together. But that is the task the Nationals are facing right now. Superstar players Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg are going to test the free-agent market and could fetch 30 million dollar a year contracts. It is a possibility that the Nationals are going to lose one of those players.
The Nationals still have plenty of toys in the toy chest. Not many teams have three young players like Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Trea Turner to lead them into the next decade. Additionally, the Nationals do have money to spend. It will be difficult to replace Rendon or Strasburg but the Nationals seemed to have the necessary resources to do so.
Everything magically came together for the Nationals en route to winning the World Series. Usually, teams that win it all take a breather the next season. There will be no time to take bows in the National League East which was a really competitive division in 2019. The Nationals are not taking a mulligan on the 2020 season.
