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The Return of the Platoon and Jonny Gomes

Platoons used to be synonymous with the Rays. It was a market exploitation that the Rays loved, well, to exploit. The Rays took players with flaws and got them for cheap and then maximized their strengths. Gape Kapler, Gabe Gross and a few others come to mind. But over the last few years there have been less platoons for a variety of reasons (other teams starting to do the same, etc).

It may be time to bring the platoon back. With so many good outfielders available in free agency, every player can't all get big bucks, so it's possible the Rays could get a deal in the right situation (Melky Cabrera? Angel Pagan?). But if not, I have another solution.

Jonny Gomes.

After the Oakland A's made the trade for Arizona outfielder Chris Young, it all but guaranteed that Gomes will not be returning to Oakland. And that could be to the Rays benefit. While Gomes will not offer much defensively, there is one thing he does very, very well: hit left-handed pitching.

Gomes vs LHP 2010-2012

2012: .299/.413/.561/.974
2011: .311/.407/.456/.863
2010: .285/.378/.479/.857

A Gomes/Fuld platoon in LF would be a very nice solution for the Rays. A Gomes/Fuld platoon was worth 3.4 WAR in 2011. A Gomes/Fuld platoon could be worth 4 WAR in 2013.

Fuld vs RHP 2011

2011: .255/.323/.387/.710

And since Gomes signed a 1 year deal for 1 million in 2012, and Fuld is just entering arb, the Rays could get very good value in LF in 2013. Should the Rays go back to an OF platoon in 2013? Is it time for a Gomes reunion?

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.