According to a tweet by Jon Heyman, Adrian Gonzalez and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to terms.
One source close to the situation said that Theo Epstein walked into the meeting room holding a boom box over his head playing “Please Come To Boston” by Dave Loggins, a la John Cusack in “Say Anything”. In response, a teary-eyed Gonzalez broke down and signed the contract. Not a surprise when your name is “Adrian”.
The tentative trade of Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox has fallen through, and A-Gone will remain with the Padres — for now.
Gonzalez and the Bosox couldn’t agree on a contract extension, with the Gonzalez reportedly looking for something similar to the deal given Mark Teixeira two winters ago.
I can understand A-Gone’s demands, but I wonder if he’ll get that kind of money on the open market next winter. How many teams that will need a first baseman in 2012 can afford a $150M+ contract other than Red Sox? Maybe the Dodgers, if they sour on James Loney? Maybe the Angels? Not to mention the fact that Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols are also potential free agents next year — in which case it could be a crowded market.
Though the deal is dead as of right now, there is still a possibility that Gonzalez goes to the Red Sox.
Additionally, the Padres claim that if A-Gone isn’t traded to Boston, they will no longer field offers for him. I’m not sure I buy that, but we’ll see.
Steve Popper recently wrote that The Mets Could Use Omar Minaya’s Help in Digging Up Good Deals, pointing out Minaya’s apparent skill in finding undervalued talent:
While Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo are the contracts that are defining Minaya right now, think instead of R.A. Dickey, Endy Chavez, Jose Valentin, Marlon Anderson, Chris Woodward, Damion Easley, Darren Oliver and Chad Bradford. Think of Fernando Tatis – at least early in his tenure with the team. Angel Pagan and Pedro Feliciano were bargain pickups. Even in trades Minaya managed to find undervalued gems as often as he missed.
First of all, Angel Pagan was originally a Met but sold to the Cubs, then required two minor leaguers to get him back — so I’m not 100% on board with his being evidence of genius. Similarly, the Mets sold Pedro Feliciano to Japan for a year before bringing him back. I might also argue that the Dickey pickup was sheer luck, but I’ll grudgingly give Minaya the benefit of the doubt on that one. But the other players are good examples that support the argument.
It’s a common feeling among those who watch and cover the Mets that Minaya has a special eye for talent, and is particularly astute at finding “diamonds in the rough”, and/or gems from the junk pile. For a long time, I shared that belief, but decided to look further into this theory.
As for Minaya’s ability to find great value in trades — well, that’s absolute poppycock. Go to MetsmerizedOnline to see Omar Minaya’s trade history (through December 2009; it doesn’t include his 2010 blockbusters) and see for yourself.
But I didn’t think he was much of a trader anyway; for every Johan Santana steal there is a J.J. Putz debacle. So, I focused this myth on the free-agent pickups. My investigation consisted of sifting through all the free-agent signings, waiver wire pickups, and Rule 5 picks listed on the transactions page of Mets.com during Omar Minaya’s tenure. I may have missed some names, since it appears that Mets.com doesn’t list every single minor league pickup. Additionally, some trades that were for a player to be named later may have been misreported as free agent signings (i.e., Trot Nixon); but they still fit into the same myth. After looking at all the players signed through the years, and the number of “finds”, I have to say this myth is busted; Omar Minaya’s success in turning other men’s junk into some kind of treasure was more a function of “throwing as much paint on the wall as possible to see if anything sticks” — there were close to 200 free agent signings, waiver claims, and Rule 5 picks as listed below (191 to be exact).
Review the list of below and report your own opinion in the comments. Continue reading
It feels like decades ago, but it was only a year and a few months past that the Mets traded Billy Wagner to the Red Sox in return for Chris “The Animal” Carter and a slugging youngster named Eddie Lora.
At the time, the deal appeared to be a salary dump by the Mets, who were eager to rid themselves of the $3.7M owed to Wagner.
Check that; it didn’t just “appear” to be a salary dump — it clearly was.
While the Mets relieved themselves of nearly four million dollars, they also Continue reading
As we roll into the annual winter meetings, I thought it would be a good idea to take a quick look at what the teams in the NL East have been doing since the end of the 2010 season. After all, the Mets play each of the teams in their division 18 times — that’s 72 of their total games — so it’s helpful to keep an eye on what those teams are doing. Continue reading
According to many sources, the Red Sox and Padres have agreed in principle to a deal sending Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.
The Red Sox have been given a window of time to negotiate a contract extension with Gonzalez, who also will be taking a physical. Both must be successful for the deal to go through.
Rumor has it that Boston will be sending no MLBers to San Diego in return for Gonzalez. They will be sending top prospects Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, Reymond Fuentes, and a player to be named later.
WEEI has a quick rundown on these three minor leaguers.
Assuming the deal is successful, it should help spark considerable activity during the winter meetings next week. In past years, the meetings have been somewhat sluggish because teams were waiting on big-time free agents to sign and other players to move. This year, however, the free agent market has been busy, and impact bats such as Gonzalez and Dan Uggla have already changed teams. As Sir Isaac Newton once observed, a body in motion tends to stay in motion — so we can surmise that there will be a flurry of transactions in Orlando.
In case you haven’t heard, the Dodgers have non-tendered catcher Russell Martin, making him a free agent.
Immediately, Mets fans might think, “hey, this guy is a perfect fit for us”. After all, he is a 27-year-old, righthanded-hitting catcher with promising offensive skills who can also play third base and probably the outfield if necessary. In fact, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti suggested that he could also play second base.
However, Martin is also coming off of a major hip injury that ended his 2010 season in early August. Additionally, his offensive performance fell off drastically since 2008 — particularly in terms of power — and has been on a steady decline since hitting 19 HRs and posting an .843 OPS in 2007.
For the record, I’ve always been a big fan of Martin — so much so that I suggested in October 2008 that the Mets acquire him in a deal for Carlos Beltran (funny, I figured Beltran’s value was peaking back then).
I still would love to see Martin come to the Mets, but it appears to be unlikely — mainly because there are a number of better, deeper-pocketed teams already clamoring for his services. For one, the Dodgers are still negotiating with Martin, and the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rockies are all reportedly bidding for his services as well. Unfortunately, I don’t see the Mets competing with those teams from a financial standpoint, and I doubt that Martin would choose the rebuilding Mets over clubs that have a more more realistic shot at the 2011 playoffs.