Jonny Gomes is not impressed by the New York Yankees recent spending spree as the Bronx Bombers try to bounce back after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008 last season, and the Boston Red Sox outfielder says that his team is still the defending World Series champions heading into the 2014 season and believes that Boston will be a force as they return with most of their core.
According to ESPN, Gomes said he wasn't fazed by the fact that the Yankees signed outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury out from under them along with outfielder Carlos Beltran, catcher Brian McCann and Japanese superstar pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.
"People can go out and sign whoever they want right now," Gomes said per ESPN. "Boxing rules, we still have the belt. Whoever else, reloads. Kind of flattering a little bit, you know, that [a division] rival has to reload as much as they did. We lost some core players; at the same time, this organization is extremely deep. The majority of our core group of guys is back. We're champs. We have to uphold that title. I don't think the mindset is going to change.''
The Yankees were able to wrestle Tanaka away from many suitors earlier this week and the two sides agreed to a seven-year $155 million deal on top of the $20 million that the Yankees paid the Rakuten Eagles, his Japanese team, for a posting fee. The Yankees spending in total this offseason is nearly $500 million.
"That's flattering, right?'' Gomes said, according to ESPN. "I'll tell you what, [Yankees GM Brian] Cashman and [manager Joe] Girardi are about as professional as they get. They run a pretty tight camp. But it's kind of interesting, with $500 million and still some questions, you know. You got McCann, he hasn't been in the American League before. The pitcher [Tanaka] who hasn't pitched a game over here. They've got some guys playing different positions."
He added: "But they've got some true professionals over there. They've got some guys coming back. CC [Sabathia]'s lost some weight, he's going to get back to ace caliber. But it's about winning the summer. It's not about winning the winter. That's what we're going to try and do again.''
The Red Sox haven't done much adding this offseason aside from their recent signing of Grady Sizemore.
"I know one thing from being in camp last year how deep this organization is,'' Gomes said via ESPN. "We've got some power arms down there. We got some athletic kids in the infield and outfield, a couple catchers down there. We're in a position where we have a lot of depth, which when push comes to shove, depth equals trade chips. I'm very happy with where we are right now."
Gomes hit .247 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs en route to helping the Red Sox to their third World Series championship in 10 years.
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