Cleveland Indians Should Re-Acquire Jeanmar Gomez

With the Cleveland Indians on the hunt for bullpen upgrades, Jeanmar Gomez looks like a good option

It is no secret that the Cleveland Indians could use an upgrade in the bullpen. The Indians’ bullpen has received middling reviews, and it is certainly much worse than the team’s starting rotation when compared to an average unit. As the trade deadline approaches, it seems logical that the Tribe would upgrade this part of their team. After all, we all know how important bullpens become in the postseason.

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Unfortunately, the price of a quality late-inning reliever has skyrocketed. Just ask the Chicago Cubs, who gave up a top prospect, a decent reliever, and two other minor league prospects with legitimate potentials for half a season of Aroldis Chapman. Chapman, in whom the Indians showed some interest before the trade, brought back the New York Yankees a boatload of prospects despite only having a little bit of team control and no option to recoup some value through a qualifying offer. One can only imagine how much a top reliever with team control like Andrew Miller would require.

For this season, it seems to make sense for the Cleveland Indians to trade for a player of a slightly lesser caliber, like Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez, 28, previously pitched for the Indians five years ago before being sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a relatively small return. There, he turned things around before being designated for assignment despite overall good results. The Philadelphia Phillies inked the right-hander to a minor league deal, and he won a spot on the 2014 major league team.

Despite his relatively underwhelming pitching arsenal, he has pitched to great results ever since. In 74.2 innings of work last season, he prevented baserunners and runs at rates that advanced metrics felt were realistic. Combining his success with the Phillies’ struggles allowed him to become the team’s closer for this season, a role in which he has thrived. He already has accrued 26 saves despite the Phillies’ meager 46-57 record, and he has done so with a 2.70 earned run average.

While this may seem to price him out of the Indians’ range, his previously noted pitching arsenal should help their cause. Unlike Aroldis Chapman, who is both left-handed and possessing of an elite fastball, Jeanmar Gomez mostly relies on his sinker and changeup to get the job done. Neither of these pitches comes with overwhelming velocity, but rather he uses them to generate groundballs and weak contact. As such, he has a low strikeout rate of 5.59 per nine innings.

Since he lacks the quintessential closer pitches of a blazing fastball and power breaking pitch, he should come with a somewhat diminished price tag. By no means does this mean that he will be cheap on the prospect front, but he should not require a top prospect to land. The high demand for closers could become a problem, which makes Gomez a somewhat more attractive option since this is his first year closing.

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As for the financial capital required to land the right-hander, Gomez is on a cheap $1.4 million deal for this season, and he comes along with one more year of arbitration eligibility. He will probably take home a decent raise, but it is unlikely that it will be anything out of the Cleveland Indians’ league. Combining this with all the other factors in the deal makes Jeanmar Gomez an attractive option for a re-acquisition.

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