There are rumblings late on this last day of November that the Nats and Cleveland are at advanced stages of trade talks that will yield Yan Gomes for the Nats, with no word yet on what other pieces might be involved.
The mlb.com website is reporting that the Nats have traded for Yan Gomes, sending minor league outfielder Daniel Johnson (their number 7 prospect) and pitcher Jefry Rodriguez to Cleveland in return.
Kurt Suzuki and Gomes both bat right-handed, so they wouldn’t platoon in the traditional sense, but both have been productive offensively, at least for catchers. Pairing them would mean that the Nats wouldn’t be surrendering a lineup spot 40-50 games per year, like many teams do when the backup backstop plays.
The piece(s) that head to Cleveland will be of particular interest to me, because whatever they trade for Gomes will be pieces that can’t be traded for a starting pitcher, assuming that they fail to sign one of the big free agents available this winter.
It’s not a terribly steep price for the Nats to pay, as Johnson was still a long way from the majors and Soto and Robles should be holding down two of the three outfield positions for many years to come. Rodriguez, on the other hand, made his MLB debut last year, pitching in 14 games, with 8 starts, but only one that went even six innings. He would’ve at best been a long man out of the bullpen this year.
Braves got Josh Donaldson and whatever’s left of Brian McCann, Mets trading for Cano and Diaz, Phillies loading up several Brinks trucks to sign free agents; Nats still have lots more to do to keep up with the arms race, but they’re not sitting still.
Fan Interference 
Apparently Gomes is a Gnat now. Heyman is making noises that the Borg are gunning for Realmuto but why would they? Son of Steinbrenner is luxury tax conscious and JT is looking for Buster Posey bucks. I am more and more convinced that if he goes anywhere this orfseason, Realmuto is going to the Astros.
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