Friday, April 1, 2011

MAX Deal For Gomez!

Syracuse has swallowed hard and made Jesus Gomez the highest-paid player in Belle, awarding the former Scranton and San Juan star a 5 year, $110MM contract.

Gomez, 27, was a Season 12 international FA ($19.1 bonus) signee of the Scranton organization. He needed just one minor-league season and won the AL ROY in Season 13 with a .334/28/126 effort. In 6 full ML seasons, he has 3 All-Star appearances, 3 Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove.

After consecutive sub-.500 seasons (following 7 straight with 90+), many observers believed the Warriors were entering a rebuilding phase. But the signing signals an unmistakable intent to contend. With $12MM or so still available to spend and a good number of FA's still unsigned, we expect some more moves. The already very-interesting NL North just became even more so.

The last cycle saw 4 other Type A signings:

San Diego topped the apparently-vigorous bidding for Tomas Cruz, paying $53.6MM over 5 years for the former New Orleans swingman. Look for Cruz to move into the Surf Babies' rotation and get a big boost from the huge ballpark.

Chicago corralled lefty bat Theodore Beckett for $15.9MM over 3 years. It's currently a crowded OF for the Swingers, with Beckett, Gant, Davis and Stokes competing for PT.

Scranton grabbed iron-man C Odalis Gutierrez for 2 years, $11.2MM. If he hasn't already, he'll probably set the record for most games caught during his tenure in Scranton.

Burlington signed defensive whiz David Lee for 2 years, $8MM. He's likely the starting 2B for the Lake Monsters this season.

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