Struggling Carlos Gomez is let go by the Astros
MINNEAPOLIS — The Astros admitted defeat on a failed trade Wednesday, designating center fielder Carlos Gomez for assignment just more than a year after acquiring him as the centerpiece of a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gomez, one of the least productive players in the majors this season, had become a part-time player with no turnaround of his struggles in sight. With the Astros still clinging to their slimming chances at a postseason berth, they opted to cut ties with the free agent to be before the season’s stretch run.
“It’s one of those situations where for whatever reason, it didn’t work out here the way he wanted it to, the way we wanted it to, and we felt like it was in the best interests of the organization, the team, to move on, let him try and get a fresh start somewhere else and give our guys a chance to take some of that playing time,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said. Gracious goodbye
Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch notified Gomez of the decision when the player arrived at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon. Gomez took it “very professionally,” Luhnow said. A still visibly upbeat Gomez exited the visitors’ clubhouse at about 3:30 p.m. after saying goodbye to his teammates and coaches. He flew back to Houston shortly thereafter to await news of his next move.
In a brief interview on his way out of the ballpark, Gomez told the Chronicle he was thankful for the opportunity the Astros afforded him.
“I know I didn’t do my best. I wish the best to them. They have a great team and organization,” he said. “The only thing I feel bad (about) is because I didn’t do my job.”
After designating Gomez, the Astros have 10 days to find a trade partner, release him or outright him off their 40-man roster and to Class AAA. His eventual release is all but a certainty given his dismal .594 OPS, increasingly common defensive lapses, and what’s left of the $9 million he is owed this season.
Considering the Astros will pay Gomez through the end of 2016, a team could take a flier on him at league-minimum salary for August and September. Gomez, still only 30 despite breaking into the big leagues 10 seasons ago, said he hopes to be acquired by another team.
The swiftness of his decline in production is staggering. As recently as two seasons ago, Gomez received National League MVP votes. He represented the Brewers in the All-Star Game in 2013 and 2014.
But with the Astros, Gomez was a different player. This season, he batted .210, hit only five home runs, and struck out in 31 percent of his plate appearances.
“I don’t know if anybody could’ve forecasted a change like that,” Luhnow said. “We didn’t. We expected him to continue to produce at a high level. So from that standpoint, it’s disappointing. But you can’t win them all. Some trades are going to work out. Some aren’t.
“We did the trade for the right reason: to try and help us get in the playoffs last year and try and help us win the playoffs, and we did accomplish that to a certain extent. This year, it hasn’t worked out.”
In what can now be recognized as the worst trade of Luhnow’s five-year tenure as GM, the Astros parted with four young players to acquire Gomez and back-of-the-rotation starter Mike Fiers a day before last year’s trade deadline. Two of those players, lefthander Josh Hader and outfielder Brett Phillips, are regarded as top-60 prospects by Baseball America.
In a news conference before Wednesday’s game against the Twins, Luhnow lauded Gomez’s effort and noted the significance of the veteran’s home run in last year’s wild-card game win at Yankee Stadium. He denied the notion that Monday’s game, in which Gomez’s consecutive defensive gaffes cost the Astros two runs in a two-run loss, was the tipping point for Wednesday’s transaction.
Luhnow insisted there was not one event that led to the decision. He and Hinch discussed it “for a while,” the GM said.
“I believe that he will figure it out and that he will continue to have a productive career,” Luhnow said of Gomez. “It probably won’t be here. I can’t really explain what happened. It wasn’t lack of hustle or desire or effort or the coaches around him.
“I think this game is really hard, and there are times that players go through slumps, even extended slumps, that you don’t really know why it happened. He tried everything. We tried everything. We just couldn’t get him to turn it around.”
Improved offensive from the defensively gifted Jake Marisnick made the decision easier, Luhnow noted. Marisnick, even with his .224 batting average on the season, had proved too much of an upgrade over Gomez to not play regularly.
Relegated to a pinch runner in Tuesday’s win, Gomez, in his final act in an Astros uniform, stole second base only to run his way into an inningending double play when Tyler White lined out to right field. The sequence, in a way, marked a fitting end to Gomez’s miserable tenure with the team. Self-imposed pressure
“Sometimes it just doesn’t work,” Hinch said. “I know he carried the burden of being a big acquisition in July. He often spoke of feeling responsible and trying to play better for the team, knowing that he was a big addition last July during the playoff race.
“Heading into this season, with his free agency looming, I just think he put a lot of pressure on himself to be perfect. The harder he tried, sometimes the more difficult it became. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It wasn’t a lack of preparation. It wasn’t a lack of anything other than production on the field.”
Production the reeling Astros sorely needed.