Mets said to be interested in Carlos Gomez
By Ted Fleming
Former two-time All Star was thought to be headed to New York at last year’s trade deadline before they went out and landed Yoenis Cespedes.
The New York Mets have an ‘open mind’ about bringing back Carlos Gomez into the fold after his release by the Astros, according to a report in the New York Post. The 30-year old centerfielder broke in with the Mets in 2007 before being sent to the Twins in a package to acquire Johan Santana.
In the final hours of the trade deadline a year ago, Twitter was all abuzz that a trade had been made between New York and Houston. Wilmer Flores and Zack Wheeler were said to being involved for Gomez, but GM Sandy Alderson had to hold an impromptu press conference to say the deal was not consummated. Now a year later, and he may be coming back anyway.
“We always have an open mind,” Alderson told the paper.
Gomez has a career .256/.310/.411 slashline to go along with 234 stolen bases and has a little pop too with 108 homers although he has struggled this year with .210/.272/.322 splits. With Juan Lagares out, his presence in the lineup would be a big boost especially with 3B/SS Jose Reyes currently out. The Mets do not have a legitimate leadoff hitter at the moment.
The biggest problem the Mets might have to deal with, if he returns, is the same issue they had when they acquired Jay Bruce – where is he going to play and how much. Currently, Yoenis Cespedes is healing from a sore quad that landed him on the disabled list. However, once that happens, manager Terry Collins will have to do some juggling to keep everyone happy as there will be a glut of outfielders all wanting to play every day.
This is the same issue that arose when the team brought back Jose Reyes. Flores was hot playing third and no one expected him to sit. As it turns out, Reyes will now slide over to short – when he returns from his rehab assignment – in place of the injured Asdrubal Cabrera – and Flores should return to third.