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MLB Team X-Factors for 2017, Part II: AL Central

By Jim Turvey

Nov 2, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller hands the ball to manager Terry Francona in the 7th inning in game seven of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller hands the ball to manager Terry Francona in the 7th inning in game seven of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /

Cleveland Indians – Yan Gomes

Yan Gomes really represents the Cleveland catcher position as a whole. As any Cleveland fan (and really any tuned-in baseball fan) knows, the catcher position for Cleveland in 2016 was a black hole. By all available metrics, Cleveland had the worst catchers in the league last season. They posted a combined -0.7 fWAR (30th in MLB), .244 wOBA (30th in MLB) and 44 (!!!) wRC+ (30th in MLB). It’s hard to do worse than that. The team’s wRC+ of 44 was by far the worst for any one position on any one team in 2016, and the fourth-worst of any group of catchers for a single team this millennium.

Gomes was a large factor in that failure to produce offensively, as he slashed .167/.201/.327 in 264 plate appearances last season. Gomes was struggling so mightily at one point that the team performed a sacrifice to “Jobu” (a reference to the movie Major League) in order to get him out of an 0-for-27 slump. For a minute, it appeared as though the sacrifice had actually worked, as Gomes broke his slump with a double. Of course, he also dislocated his right shoulder later in the same game, costing him 68 games from July 17 to Sept. 30.

During their 2016 playoff run, Cleveland relied more on Roberto Perez (he of the .183/.285/.294 slash line in 2016) than Gomes, but Terry Francona has already named Gomes (the more established of the two) as the starting catcher for 2017. Gomes has, at times in his career, looked like a legitimate big league catcher. From 2013-2014, he posted an OPS+ of 122 with 8.1 bWAR over 223 games. It’s been all injuries and incompetence since, however, and 2017 will probably be the last shot Gomes gets. If Gomes is able to turn things around, a scary lineup gets even scarier. If he isn’t able to turn things around, Cleveland merely look like the second or third-best team in the American League.

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