Adrian Gonzalez was supposed to be the biggest trade chip at the 2010 deadline, but the 51-37 Padres aren’t about to sell. That doesn’t mean Boston’s interest in the Padres slugger has faded, however. A baseball source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that the Red Sox still like Gonzalez.
"If they could get Gonzalez [before next season], that would solve everything," the WEEI source said. "And I think that's their Plan A. But the way things are going that might be pie in the sky type of thinking."
Gonzalez is hitting .301/.397/.533 and no Padres regular has an OPS within 170 points of that, so A-Gon isn't going anywhere yet. The Padres can keep the 28-year-old for $5.5MM next year, before he hits free agency. For now, Gonzalez says he doesn’t want to go anywhere.
"It's just a relief not to be in trade rumors and be in first place, more than anything,” Gonzalez said.
The Red Sox have a club option of their own coming up. Bradford says it “seems very unlikely” that Boston will pick up David Ortiz’s $12.5MM option for 2011 and notes that the sides haven’t made major progress on contract talks about an alternate deal. Big Papi appears to want a multi-year contract and believes he’ll stay in Boston.
In other news water is wet, a lot of teams would like him
For crap sake people really need to stop with this crappy “joke”… It is NOT funny AT ALL!
there’s about 25 teams that ‘covet’ Gonzo; this is the kind of non-story that grinds my gears.
At this point, there’s a better chance the Yanks trade Jeter
I am sure the sox also covet josh johnson, david price, and ubaldo jimenez doesn’t mean they are getting either of those players. it makes zero sense for the padres to trade adrian right now. first place, and he brings people to the ball park.
Are Josh Johnson, Price and Jiminez all on the verge of free agency and on teams that have zero chance to give them a giant extension? No? And the rumor says nothing about trading AGon this season. Try again.
Yea they will just have to wait…let youk play 1st next year and sign dunn to dh(or possibly even someone cheaper) then the year after they can go after gonzo and i guess move youk to third if they get dunn?(not really sure how his defense will be there anymore. Let v-mart go and sign a cheaper catcher who can play defense. And camerons contract will be gone by the time gonzo is a free agent so that should help a bit.
From what I hear, Dunn doesn’t sound too thrilled about DHing full time, and even if he was I wouldn’t sign him to a big contract as a DH. I can see what happened to Pat Burrell happening to Dunn. I would look to other alternatives. I’m not entirely sure what other alternatives will be available, but as much as I love Dunn, I don’t think it would work out.
I say forget about a-gon at the end of the season look into adam dunn dhing and john buck at catcher for a few years until exposito is ready to play everyday in boston.
Why is it that nobody seems to remember Ibarra?
until Ibarra plays in the minor league system it is hard to say what type of player he is going to be in the majors. atleast with Exposito he has played in the minors and they have a better understanding of the type of player he is, and plus Ibarra is probably at least a few years out from playing with the Sox.
I do, I’m hoping he can solve their problems at the backstop position.
He is a huge work in progress behind the plate but he has a cannon and his bat is supposed to be major league ready. But the sox didn’t give him a major league contract to sit in the minors for 5 years.
Why John Buck? Is he really worth it? I mean he’s career stats aren’t very impressive career .230 hitter only 300 RBIs in 7 seasons. Very mediocre fielder. I don’t get the interest by everyone this year.
If you look at Buck’s seasonal averages (per 162 game season) its 21 hrs and 74 rbi while the average is low .239 he has a higher caught stealing percentage than Victor and not to mention he will be cheaper.
Yeah but it is hard for a catcher to keep up seasonal averages because they will never play close to 162 games and even if they did their numbers would progress lower and lower as the season moves on and wear tear begins on their bodies.
yes, but if you sign Buck for 2 years with an option it can give a little time for the minor league catchers to be ready, and it will be a cheaper option than Victor where they can use the money elsewhere.
Aubry Huff has similar numbers…
Yes, they have similar overall numbers, the reason people are in love with Adrian outside of SD is his production outside of PETCO.
Overall:
Huff: .295/.384/.544 9 HRs
Adrian: .301/.397/.533 6 HRs
On the Road:
Huff: .307/.409/.548 8 HRs (.957 OPS 196 PAs)
Adrian: .350/.412/.644 12 HRs (1.056 OPS in 180 PAs
It has nothing do with the overall production but based on past history and simply the thought of what Adrian could do if he was outside PETCO.
Plus a left handed hitter with opposite field power is perfect for Fenway and the Green Monster
AGonz and Huff aren’t on the same planet; no need to disprove the OP.
It’s not just this year. Adrian is a career .306 .374 .574 hitter away from Petco. He’s a beast that gets overlooked because of the team he’s on and park he plays in.
whats with all the agon boston rumors? there are too many guys on thier team to play 1 position anyway, look at it youlk, vmart,lowell play 1st, youlk, beltre, hall, lowell play 3rd…..youlk, ortiz, beltre, vmart, lowell play DH…
of course they COVET gonzo, every single team covets him, yes even the yankees and cards. But there is a difference between COVET and Want to get/ working a deal to get him. Money, players, and positions are too big of a combined issue for the bosox to add another 1st basemen/ dh..they should worry about catcher and out field before worrying about 1st base
You don’t think if he were made available again the quotes that this post is about proves that they would try their best to get a deal done?
First off, love the name….im a whitesox fan but still love the name….secondly. I know for a fact they would try hard to get a deal done. But so would the whitesox, angles, probably rangers, mets, giants and about 5-7 other teams. But im just saying that there is little room and little money for the bosox to realistically go after him. What would they do trade them lowell, vmart hall and some prospects? Getting Agon would cause the bosox alot of problems trying to find teams for their other players or cause them to release them and eat a TON of money
Actually that’s exactly what “covet” means. Definitions for covet include “desire,” “long for” and “wish to posess.” Look it up.
Anybody who was watching NL West baseball last year knew, A: The Padres would be good again this year as a result of the Peavy trade and the young pitching they picked up, and B. That AGon wasn’t going anywhere.
The only thing that gave this traction at all was Sawx fan who assumed that once one of their ex FO guys had the tiller in San Diego, AGon to Boston was a foregone conclusion. That was a very bad assumption based upon the arrogance of east coast baseball fans.
No one knew the Padres would be good this year and saying you did is giving yourself too much credit. Their pitching has been better than expected and their offense has been terrible but good enough.
people who watched the padres in the 2nd half last year knew they were going to be this good. pay attention.
I said this in just about every AGon to Boston rumor since last fall. A lot of people looked at the record from last year, and that they did not make many changes in the off season, and just assumed that they would be bad. But, as JanieJones says below, the friars were one of the best teams in MLB after the trade. That was also a result of good pitching and great D. There is no reason to expect that good pitching and D. are going to fall apart, so, yes, I expected them to be good. I have also said that the NL west will be a 4 or 5 team dog fight all year, which it has been. Based upon that, I have been posting since last fall that AGon is not going anywhere. Go back and look.
“If they could get Gonzalez [before next season], that would solve everything”
How would getting Gonzalez solve everything esp right now. It would only confuse things with Youkilis and Beltre. Try anything possible to solve the bullpen right now. This story could have just been in the “odds and ends” section.
It would solve things in the following way. Beltre’s contract will be done, and so will Lowell’s. That allows you to put the excellent fielding Youk back at third, and bring in the also excellent fielding AGon to play first. You can let VMart walk and get a cheaper, better defensive catcher. You could also then decide what you want to do with Ortiz. They could even if they wanted let Ortiz go and try to sign VMart to DH, play back up 1B and/or backup catcher. I don’t really care. The point is that if it happens in the offseason, it would solve a number of pending question marks.
And before next season doesn’t mean “right now”, it means in the offseason. I can’t believe how many people are going off on this rumor while completely misinterpreting the quote.
“that AGon wasn’t going anywhere. ”
————
But is Fielder (beside Arbit. in December)?
I’d say nobody with the RS in mind is thinking AGon anymore. It’s over. Time for alternative thinking. So long SDP.
Next thing you know, Red Sox will be complaining about the poor quality of their caviar. This is a team that has gotten everything it has wanted the last few years and it’s still not enough.
Everything it wanted? A-Rod, Texiara, Pavano, Chapman, Halladay, Lee, Gonzalez? None of them ended up in a Sox uniform after the Sox we thought to be the front runner. There is not one big name bat on the Sox right now that hasn’t made a name for himself in boston(Youk,Ortiz,Pedroia) It’s stupid to say the Sox got everything they wanted, really stupid.
You could even say Beltre who they wanted before he signed his big contract that brought him to Seattle.
the red sox management is a bunch of spoiled brats.
So are their fans.
A-Gon going to Red Sox in December so prepare to pay.
No. Really doubt it and not for reasons you are probably thinking of either. Ryan Westmoreland had the unfortunate (and life threatening) brain surgery earlier and it would take 2-3 of Casey Kelly ++ to get him, just not worth it. Better to wait till the end of the season (from your Dec statement) and get him for a draft pick, will cost same amount to sign him and the NYY already have a 1B and roster full of DH’s as it is. Nobody else can match Boston anyway when they really want to sign a player except the Yanks.
Adrian has another year on his contract so they would have to wait until 2012 to sign him for a draft pick.
if they could get him this offseason that would be amazing for them as it would allow them to have him DH with Beltre at 3rd and Youk at 1st making their team a lot younger by getting rid of Ortiz.
A-Gon is NOT coming to the RS to DH. That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. With a glove like his you let Beltre walk and move Youk to third.
agreed
Wow, for a minute I thought I stumbled into a Peter Gammons’ backyard bbq, what with all the Red Sox fans treating themselves to a slice of “holier than thou” off the grill. JWRedsox…they play baseball on the West Coast, too, and I guess it takes a real Padres fan to understand that this first half of 2010 isn’t that big of a surprise given the second half of ’09, so I guess I am giving myself too much credit, which is unusual for someone who isn’t a part Red Sox nation. Lil’ Theo Epstein started in San Diego, so maybe as a Pads fan I should start thinking that with Jed Hoyer in SD that Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia and John Papplebon will soon be wearing the beautiful “sand and blue” of the Pads. The Friars will live and die in the second half as they did in the first: surviving one or two run games, ’nuff said. Hey Sox fans, any truth to the rumor that Jim Rice and Luis Tiant are available? Just about as much credence as Adrian Gonzalez packing his bags for Chowder Town. Remember, if “if’s and but’s were candies and nuts every day would be Christmas…”
Your hyperbolic tone is more than a little unnecessary. The important differences concerning AGon are as follows:
– he is actually playing
– he plays for a low-budget team that likes to sell things high
– Padres are conceivable one prolonged skid from deciding that they might just sell (ex. lose 10-12 of the next 14 games)…shit happens.
– the Sox want him probably more than any other player from the class of players that were previously or may soon again be made available (via trade or free agency)
The rumor simply serves as notice that though no deal has happened, the Red Sox’s interest has not waned. Somehow, you get offended by that news. I think that is what I find strange.
Holier than thouYou areHolier than thou You areYou know notSorry not sure if it was supposed to be a Metallica reference but I treated it as one. And I agree with Stark. This is just saying if Gonzalez were made available at SOME TIME before he was a free agent the Red Sox would be a major despite the play of some of their players because they think so highly of Gonzalez.
It would be nice to see the Sox get him, sign him to an extension and slide Youk to 3rd and have two solid players at first and third for years to come. But let’s be realistic here. If they make a push to get him sooner, wouldn’t the Pads want more? He has 1 1/2 years left on his contract which is extremely team friendly. And the Pads have every reason in the world to ask for a lot anyways, this guy is a stud. It would take at least 5 really good prospects if not more from Boston to pry him away from the Padres. It looks as if they’re going to have to wait until he becomes a free agent. Plus, why not do that, hold on to your prospects who have really bright future. This way here you don’t have to kill your farm system and pay for a huge extension.
What is the over-under that the Red Sox let Ortiz walk, pursue A-Gon, and end up with nada (or Nava)?
does anybody think that the padres will actually, *gasp* keep him because they will be able to muster the money up because they are after all having a playoff year?