The Red Sox have agreed to a two-year, $10 million with free-agent outfielder Jonny Gomes pending a physical, a major league source confirmed. He will receive salaries of $5 million in both 2013 and 2014.
Gomes, who turns 32 on Thursday, played 99 games for the A's last year, hitting .262 with a .377 OBP, .491 slugging mark and .868 OPS with 18 homers in 333 plate appearances in 2012. He had the highest OBP of any free-agent remaining on the market.
Gomes proved one of the foremost mashers of left-handers in the majors last year, hitting .299/.413/.561/.974 against them (compared to marks of .209/.324/.391/.715 against righties). He also posted big numbers away from his cavernous home ballpark in Oakland, with a line of .273/.409/.578/.987 on the road.
It remains to be seen how the Sox will utilize the veteran, who played for the Rays from 2003-08. In parts of 10 years, he's a career .244/.334/.455/.790 hitter. Though he played some right field earlier in his career, his limited range has kept him in left field for the lion's share of the past three seasons.
News that an agreement was close was first reported by Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald and Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was first to report the $10 million total of the deal.
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