Pittsburgh Pirates Acquire Jeanmar Gomez, Another Ray Searage Project

Jeanmar Gomez flew out  of the starting gate in 2012 for the Cleveland Indians.  After four  starts, he sported a 2.35 ERA.  Then the wheels fell off–the command was gone.  Hence, being DFA’d recently as the Indians made room on their 40-man roster for Nick Swisher.

May 30, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Home plate umpire Dan Bellino (left) and umpire Jerry Layne check under the cap of Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez (58) during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Gomez gained attention when he beaned that guy with all the M’s in his name last year.  The right hander was suspended five games you might recall after MLB concluded that he intentionally threw at the Royals’ Mike Moustakas

The lanky hurler has made ten starts, seventeen starts, and eleven starts the past three years with the Tribe.  Unfortunately, not many of them were real good, he is hittable and doesn’t strike out a lot of the opposition.   He earned the Indians’ fifth starter spot after a strong spring last year.

The numbers aren’t real pretty folks.

Gomez has had some signs of dominance including a perfect game at Double-A Akron back in ’09 which was a year before he broke into the Indians rotation.   Last September, the Indians moved him to the bullpen.  And with the likes of Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, Corey Kluber, David Huff and Scott Kazmir battling for the final spot in the rotation, Gomez had to go.

Nonetheless, the 24-year old pitcher has been acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Quincy Latimore.   Q was a powerful, undersized, over swinging strikeout machine who was our favorite Australian League Baseball player last winter when he tore through the league.

Latimore turns 24 next month and back in 2007 he passed on a commitment to UNC to sign with the Pirates after being selected in the fourth round.  His prospect status hit the skids as he failed to show plate awareness despite putting up some nice homerun numbers.  The 245 strikeouts the past two years show that he still has some work to do before getting a shot at Triple-A.

Perhaps a change of scenery will work out for both players.

Perhaps Ray Searage will be able to get Gomez back to the form that he opened the year with last season.

Perhaps my new favorite word this year will be the word perhaps.  It seems like we have been using it a lot recently.