Dead Man Walkin' in SD?
=== Adrian Gonzalez ===
Larry Stone, following Tim Sullivan, has an insightful article that alertly catches big "poker tells" from the Padres' brain trust.
Padres' CEO Jeff Moorad issued the following quote. Now, imagine if Lincoln/Zduriencik had, in December, said this about Felix Hernandez:
“I think the fairest description of our point of view is that we continue to be committed to doing what’s best for the long-term interest of the organization,” Padres CEO Jeff Moorad said yesterday. “As a result, no player is untouchable. And while we’re mindful of players’ individual popularity, we won’t put one player ahead of the long-term interests of the club.
“I’m confident that (General Manager) Jed (Hoyer) and John Boggs will have a discussion at some point about Adrian and his future. While I’d be thrilled to have him part of the organization for the long term, the early signals indicate his cost will be greater than our ability to pay.”
And imagine if Alan Nero followed that on the way that Gonzalez' agent John Boggs did:
"I don't ever want to speak for ownership because I have no knowledge of what they have and what they don't. (But) the feeling we're getting is more than likely (the Padres) are going to have to trade Adrian Gonzalez because (they) can't afford him."
Visualize the next 500 cyber-posts on Felix that would follow those quotes.
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=== SSI-O-Vision Translation ===
What has happened is that Padres ownership and Gonzalez' agent got together. They kicked numbers around and they were far apart. They took a rest, came back at it ... and the agent said, "No, we mean it. We're not going to give you that kind of hometown discount. You're going to have to give Adrian $X or we're going to go free agent. Seriously."
And then the owners went back and asked each other, and said, "Okay, what do you want to do." And they agreed, no way Jose. We are not getting into that kind of contract.
We are 15 miles from the economic catastrophe that is Mexico and we don't run with the big dogs.
.........
Then, the owners started talking to the fans. Hey, this doesn't look good.
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=== New Era in Seattle ===
Just to show you how bad I feel for the Padres fans, let me circle the carcass by drooling over AGone's road stats last year:
- 77 games started
- 28 homers
- 63 RBI
- 59 R
- .306/.402/.643
- 46 walks, 0.90 EYE
- 182 OPS+
Turning from age 26 to 27, Gonzalez also showed growth in the second half, moving his OPS+ in all parks from 142 to 169. A left-handed Albert Pujols, the last three months we saw him.
..............
Zduriencik on his January radio spot emphasized that he'd much rather have Cy Young starters and legit #3-4 hitters than do the quiltwork he's been doing. "The funny thing is, in Milwaukee we had Fielder, Braun, J.J. Hardy, and people said, hey, you really like the bangers, don't you?"
Zduriencik loves LH power and loves to shed Bavasi projects. ;- )
Supposing you wanted to get Gonzalez done now, go all-in rather than bid at the deadline... would you give Triunfel, Saunders, Liddi, Pineda, and Shawn Kelley for Adrian Gonzalez before spring training?
Cheers,
Dr D