Pittsburgh Pirates Trade Target Profile: Jeanmar Gomez

As part of our Trademas in July series, we’ll take a look at potential trade targets for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today, we look at Jeanmar Gómez, old friend and right handed relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.

With the annual Major League Baseball Trade Deadline now a week away, the Pittsburgh Pirates will likely look at trade targets to bolster the starting rotation and bullpen.

When it comes to bullpen arms, we have already highlighted left handed options such as Fernando Abad and Marc Rzepczynski. However, the Bucs could look at Jeanmar Gomez as another right handed arm out of the pen.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have already been known to have scouted the revitalized Gomez, as Buster Olney reported.

Among the teams watching Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez: Pirates, who had Gomez for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Looking for bullpen upgrade.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 20, 2016

Profile and Performance

Jeanmar Gomez was originally signed as a free agent in 2005 by the Cleveland Indians. After spending a few years in the Indians minor league system, Gomez made his major league debut in 2010, starting in 11 games. Gomez started in 38 of his first 42 career games, but has primarily served as a relief option since spending the 2013 and 2014 seasons with the Pirates. In his seven seasons, Gomez has played for the Indians, Pirates and Phillies.

Gomez carries a five pitch arsenal that includes a fastball, slider, changeup, cutter and occasional curveball. Throughout his career, Gomez has relied primarily on his fastball, throwing it 61.4 percent of the time. Despite using his changeup more this season, he has thrown it at a 17.7 percent rate throughout his career. This is even with the usage of his slider, a pitch that accounts for 17.9 percent of his pitches thrown.

Career To Date

 

 

The case for Gomez

• Gomez doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he does get quality ground ball outs. This season, Gomez has a 52.1 percent groundball rate, which is the highest it has been since he induced ground balls at a 55.4 percent rate with the Pirates in 2013.
• As a Pirate for two years, Gomez provided a solid long relief option. He compiled a 3.35 ERA in 2013 and 3.19 ERA in 2014. In 2013, Gomez made 34 appearances and made eight starts. He held batters to a .223 batting average and 1.15 WHIP in 80.2 innings that year. This was a few years ago, but the Pirates are very familiar with the type of pitcher that Gomez can be.
• In January of 2015, the Phillies signed Gomez to a very friendly minor league contract. If the Pirates were to trade for Gomez, who is making $1.4 million this season, they would have control of him throughout the rest of the season and he would be eligible for arbitration in 2017 at the age of 29.
• Since his first stint with the Bucs, Gomez’s strikeout and walk rate are drastically different. His strikeout rate this season (5.72) is better than his 2014 rate (5.52) and his walk rate this season (2.17) is a lot lower than his 2014 rate (3.34). An argument can be made that he does pitch less innings as a closer than he did as a long reliever, but he has improved in these areas nonetheless.

The Case against Gomez

• Gomez has proven to be a good long relief option in the past and the Pirates organization knows this. However, decisions have to be made in regards to who is the better fit in this role. Jonathon Niese, Juan Nicasio and Arquimedes Caminero are the Pirates current long relief options with Ryan Vogelsong also remaining an option on the disabled list.
• The Pirates would primarily be looking at Gomez to help the bullpen in this second half surge. However, throughout his career, Gomez has struggled historically during the second half of the season. In his career, Gomez holds a 4.63 ERA and opponents are hitting .284 against him in the second half.
• Gomez has historically struggled against left handed hitters. In his career, Gomez has compiled a higher BB/9 (3.66), lower K/9 (4.80) and higher FIP (4.86) against lefties than righties. This season, Gomez has a 3.38 K/9 rate, a 3.38 BB/9 rate and a 5.77 FIP against lefties. He holds a 7.33 K/9 rate, a 1.33 BB/9 rate and a 1.96 FIP against right handed hitters this year.

What it might take

In the past, closers have brought in huge hauls in deadline or even offseason trades. However, a deal for Gomez may not get the Phillies the type of haul that they received for a guy like Ken Giles.

The Phillies have a very balanced farm system, with eight of their top 12 prospects being position players and 14 of their top 30 being pitchers.

The Pirates could offer up some lower level prospects including RHP Tyler Eppler and first baseman Edwin Espinal, both of which are playing at the Double-A level. The Phillies also lack third base depth within their top 30 prospects, so a guy like Jordan Ludlow could also be a possibility. All three of these prospects wouldn’t be included in one package deal, but one or two of them could get the deal done.

Conclusions

When it comes to relief arms, Gomez serves as one of the most underrated options available at the deadline. He has played for the Pirates before and has had an impact while competing in the long relief role that the team would plan on using him in.

The Pirates do have some young prospects who could serve as bullpen options, but Gomez could be a good veteran to have back in the “Shark Tank.” He is a better option than Niese in a relief role and could provide another quality right hander to the pen.

This wouldn’t be a blockbuster deal for the Pirates, but it would be one that could have an impact when it comes to the second half surge.

[irp posts=”7923″ name=”The Pittsburgh Pirates will be OK if they do nothing at the deadline”]

Featured Photo used under Flickr Creative Commons