The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a six year, $68.5 million dollar deal with outfielder Yasmany Tomas.
Tomas will get an almost identical contract to Jose Abreu, who defected from Cuba and signed with the White Sox last season.
The 24-year old slugger projects to be a corner outfield power threat, who will fit in nicely with Paul Goldschmidt in the middle of the Diamondbacks lineup.
Tomas hit .286/.343/.444 with six home runs over a span of 68 games in Cuba last season. In 2013, his number’s were even better, as he hit .289/.364/.538 with 15 home runs in 81 games.
Both the Phillies and Braves were at one time in on the sweepstakes to land Tomas, but the stud Cuban power threat will take his talents to the desert for his prime years.
The Mets sent scouts to watch Tomas, but “didn’t love him” according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Many thought Tomas could be the first Cuban player to land a $100+ million dollar contract, or at the very least surpass Rusney Castillo‘s $72.5 million dollar deal that he signed with Boston earlier this season, but he will settle for the same as Jose Abreu did just a year ago.
Thoughts by Rob Piersall
I’m glad that Tomas didn’t sign with the Phillies or the Braves. It would not have been pleasant to face that guy regularly throughout the season for several years to come. I’m surprised that he didn’t end up with a bigger contract like many were expecting him to, but Arizona managed to sign him for a very reasonable deal, and I think they are getting themselves a legit power threat.
Thoughts by Daniel McCarthy
The theme for the Mets over the last four years has been to get younger, shed albatross contracts and replenish a farm system that was once barren. They’ve gotten younger, shed the contracts and developed one of the best farm systems in all of baseball in around that time. How has the next move been to sign a will-be 36 year old outfielder with a questionable injury history and poor defense? After that, to bring the fences in for a +7 HR differential compared to the 2014 season. Now, to pass on a free agent with huge upside, for a comparable price in yearly salary to Cuddyer, simply because of the length?
This all sounds critical, the choices the team made may certainly have been the right ones. My confusion comes from how this offseason has played out in respect to the organization’s previously held philosophies and Tomas could emerge as a huge miss if his performance outplays his contract. Let’s hope the Mets did their homework and made the right call for the right reasons.
Thoughts by Joe D.
It was interesting to note that multiple executives from teams interested in Tomas hint that the $100 million number being thrown around was baseless, and even Tomas’ agent had to address it and say it was far from accurate. An average annual value of just under $12 million is Cuddyer money.
As I’ve said all along, I didn’t like this year’s free agent class one bit, but Tomas is someone that the Mets should’ve been looking at. And by looking I mean more than just a passing glance. The experts endorsed him, scouts were widely impressed, and plenty of executives and GMs were in hot pursuit. That’s quite telling.
