AGon: "Spit in your palm and shake my hand"

Pulled from ESPN.com:  “I made a comment to Theo, ‘Make the trade happen by itself, and I promise you during the season I’ll negotiate,”’ Gonzalez said. “I’m not going to come here and be like, ‘OK, we’ll see you at free agency and see if you outbid the other teams.’ We’ll negotiate during the season. We’re going to be fair. We won’t be looking for record-breaking deals. We just want market value.

 “We gave them our word that we were going to negotiate during the season in good faith. We’re not going to go in there and ask for Albert Pujols’ contract, something along those lines.”



“That was one of their comments, what if he gets this humongous deal and you want to be closer to him?” Gonzalez said. “I said, ‘Trust me. What the market is today might change by then, but we’re going to negotiate based on what the market is today.”’

Can it get any better?  First the full page ad in the SD newspaper, and now this story?  Gonzales and the Sox agreed early on that an extension would not get in the way of finalizing the overall trade.  Instead, they acted like men, spit in the palm of their hands and shook on it.  If AGon proves the surgery to be a non issue early in the season (which is expected) and absolutely rakes at Fenway (which is also expected), he's going to land himself some serious money. 

He doesn't need Albert Pujols to set the bar for him, he can do that all on his own merit, but it's nice to hear that AGon is not an irrational, egotistic maniac.  I'm telling you, this team is made up of winners.  I feel as though 80 percent of my recent posts have been about the class of the talent we've brought to Boston this offseason.....meanwhile the Yankees are trying to resign that DB Johnny Damon.  Good work Cashman.


Pujols’ presence was clearly felt at the table. The Red Sox couldn’t shake the notion that if Pujols signed a mega-deal, the shared parameters of what market value was could change overnight.

Adrian Gonzalez: Straight Class Homey....

"My wife Betsy and I have been fortunate to call the San Diego area home - both during childhood and the past five seasons with the Padres.  While my baseball career continues on the "other" coast, family, friends, and Padres fans will remain close to our hearts.  It was a dream come true to play for the hometown team for five wonderful years.  It was a privilege to put on a uniform bearing "San Diego," and to live and work amidst so many wonderful people.  This is truly an amazing city.

Betsy and I will miss seeing so many of you on a regular basis.  You always raised our spirits and have a profoundly positive impact on our lives.  For this and so much more, we are grateful.

For now, I will refrain from saying goodbye; the Adrian & Betsy Gonzalez Foundation will continue to honor its commitment to helping area youth and we have every intention of doing our part to better this already great community."

Many thanks and God bless....and F the Yankees.

So I took the liberty of adding in the "F the Yankees" part, so what?  You and I both know he was thinking it.  

 Think Arod would ever even consider doing this?  No way, he's too busy holding Cameron Diaz's purse (...or is it actually his?).  

Either way, AGon is joining a team of hard workers and class.  Bring on Spring Training, bring on the Yanks.

Shutting the Door and Getting the Save for 2009...

2009

2009 has been a crazy year in the world of baseball. Let's do one last quick ITM around the horn to close the door on the decade....


J-Bay: We all know by now that J-Bay will be a Met next year. It's going to be really difficult to see....both because the Mets franchise is run by a 4th grader and because he won't be playing in front of the green monster at Fenway. At least he is out of the AL and Boston pitchers won't have to strike him out too often. Obviously, as an obsessed baseball fan I've had a lot of J-Bay related discussions....here are some takeaways:

• "he's going to lead the league in sacrifice flies" - T Muph


• "Over/Under on J-Bay hitting 30 taters? - I've got the WAY UNDER" - Joe Murph


• "I think it's a definite upgrade for this year, but who knows 3-4 years down the line. As of right now Bay, Beltran, Francoeur is our outfield and that looks pretty sick, probably one of the best outfields in baseball. Too bad our pitching staff looks like AAA Buffalo, save for Santana. " - A Met's fan that will remain nameless in order to keep him safe

-Matt Holliday: News broke today that he's close to resigning with St. Louis for 8 years, 140 million. Wait...WHAT? I'm I the only one that thinks this offer is absolutely ridiculous and Bud Selieg should intervene to rid the game of such stupidity? 8 years? Really, 8 years?!? Is this the friggin NHL or something? 140 million guaranteed over 8 years?...something has to be wrong, I honestly thought I was reading the articles wrong, or there had to be typos..... He can't possibly getting twice the length and dollars that J-Bay is (that's what she said)...can he? Only in the NL...and the American League East....

-If Mike Lowell has surgery...but no one actually reads the column...does it actually happen? I feel like we read about a Mike Lowell surgery story every 6 weeks. Nothing against the guy, but still.


-Does anyone else remember Gary Sheffield hitting his 500th home run earlier this year? It was a question at trivia last night, and it had the entire bar pretty much stumped (we don't go on our blackberries or iPhones and cheat like the rest of you). Anyways, I thought Sheff was dead.


Alright, 2009 is fading out and beverages are to be had. Happy New Years to all, and let's all pray for a 2010 that includes Adrian Gonzalez playing first base for the Sox...at some point at least.

Go Sox.

Adrian Gonzalez.....Yes?...No?...Maybe?

Days like today take years off my life. Really, the same can be said for everyday since the winter meetings got cranking.

Anyways, first, studly first basemen Adrian Gonzalez was "being targeted" by the Red Sox, in a matter of hours, miraculously, multiple sources were reporting that a deal of Gonzalez for Buchholz and Ellsbury would be finished before Christmas, still later, media outlets stated there was no chance in hell the Sox would package both of their young studs in a deal together....and now, WEEI is reporting:

"Multiple major league sources suggest that rumors of progress in talks between the Red Sox and Padres about a deal involving San Diego slugger Adrian Gonzalez have been dramatically overstated. One source said that there was nothing to the idea that trade talks are heating up."

All this, in one day? Give a fan a break for God's sake. Talk about a roller coaster of emotion....I'm sure people walking by my desk today saw me doing cartwheels, followed by biting my nails, and then crying.

Just think about what this man could do in Fenway Park. Honestly, 50 taters wouldn't be realm of possibility. Between A-Gon actually having lineup protection, seeing some good pitches to hit, and the friendly dimensions of Fenway....this guy would absolutely rake in Boston. Plus, have you ever seen anyone look more Mexican than Adrian Gonzalez?? Honestly, I'm not even kidding, it's amazing. I know he's from Cali, but he should win an award, it's impressive...

All that said, A-Gon for both Buchholz and Jacoby? I'm not 100 percent sold on that idea...talk about completely reshaping the franchise....thoughts?

Hoyer: "Adrian is Staying Put"

Today was a stressful day for the ITM writers....the number of random chats, emails, and links sent between the three of us on day one of the winter meeting can't be quantified....borderline obsessive to say the least.

That said, apparently, Jed Hoyer is out to sink our battleships. As the new Padres GM, news is just coming out that Hoyer has stated: "it makes no sense to deal Gonzalez now."

Gonzalez is due to make $4.75 million in 2010 and has a club option for $5.5 million in 2011....both of which are complete bargains in the grand scheme of things. The Padres ability to hang onto Gonzo on a long term basis is considered slim at best.

Is it possible that Hoyer is already trying to drive up the price for Gonzalez? Surely, Hoyer must have concerns about making his first big deal as a GM with his old buddy in Boston. At the same time, he likely has the best true valuation of Boston's organizational talent and resources...so he may have the best information to make an educated trade.

Certainly, time will tell. There were no lack of rumors being thrown around today...too many to document here on ITM so we'll try to stick with some of the bigger items and address the smaller ones later.

I'm pretty sure my fingers hurt from hitting the refresh button. You can't beat the Winter Meetings.

Someone Put This Lineup On Their Back

It looks like the Red Sox sure could use a Jim Rice-like bat in their lineup these days......The day after a partial offensive breakout at Fenway Park, the Sox again looked lifeless at the plate, losing to the O's and yet another rookie pitcher 6-2.

The game of baseball is a marathon not a sprint, we hear Tito say that all the time, but Red Sox Nation can't help but be concerned with the prolonged offensive slump. Personally, I'm looking to someone in the middle of the lineup to put this team on their back and carry them until either Theo is able to bring in more firepower, or this offense decides to wake up.

Jason Bay has been all but dead since June 1 (pretty sure he's batting negative .120 since then). David Ortiz has been anything but dependable all season, Youk has been surprisingly inconsistent, JD is making 14 million dollars while batting .235, and Mike Lowell tosses in a few doubles here and there to keep his head above water, but timely production from the middle of this lineup has fallen off the table.

Jacoby is settling back into the lead off spot nicely, Pedroia can only do so much out of the two hole, and we surely can't expect Tek or Lowrie to pull this team out of it. Sure, baseball is a cyclicle game, everyone goes through slumps, but a team-wide slump like this is tough to swallow.

Boston's 3-6 hitters are dropping the ball and this division is simply too good to suffer through rough spots like this for much longer. Perhaps that's why it appears the Sox are looking outside of the organization for an offensive jump start. There appears to be numerous issues for Theo to work through in order to pull off the deal, but the fact that he continues to call the Padres shows limited confidence in the current lineup.