Boston Red Sox Finally Land Adrian Gonzalez

Earlier in the day, I compared Jack Cust and the Oakland A’s to a couple in high school that gets together, breaks up, gets together, tries to stay together when they both go to different colleges, and that lasts about a month until one of them realizes that there are a lot of better options out there.

Well, when it came to the Boston Red Sox and Adrian Gonzalez, it was like a girl and a guy who are best friends, but they date other people. Everyone thinks they will eventually get together and it’s only a matter of time. After years of failed relationships, they both realize they need each other, become more than just friends, and the rest is history.

After years of trade rumors and courting, the Red Sox and Gonzalez finally became more than friends today as Boston acquired the 28-year-old first basemen from the San Diego Padres. In return, the Padres will receive top prospects RHP Casey Kelly, 1B Anthony Rizzo, and OF Reymond Fuentes. The Padres will also receive a player to be named later.

When the New York Yankees signed Mark Teixeira two winters ago, I believe that was the signing that shifted the balance of power back to the Yankees in the American League East. Teixeira made that big a difference on both sides of the ball.

Now the Red Sox have a guy to fill the void that Teixeira was supposed to fill two years ago. Gonzalez has the ability to shift the balance of power back in the Red Sox favor.

Thanks to playing in market that cares more about the Channel 4 News Team than their baseball team, most casual fans aren’t that familiar with Gonzalez. I would bet that if you asked 100 casual baseball fans to name the 10 best players in the game, Gonzalez wouldn’t be mentioned about 90 percent of those people.

The truth of the matter is, Gonzalez is an All-World player.

All he has done over the past five years in San Diego is put up an average hitting line of .288/.377/.514 with 32 HR, 81 walks, and a 5.0 WAR. And those numbers were put up playing on a team that gave him no supporting cast and a ballpark that was an extreme pitcher’s park.

Now Gonzalez takes his talents and his natural opposite field power to Fenway Park, where he should thrive in a Red Sox uniform. Gonzalez hit .516 with 10 home runs on balls hit to the opposite field in 2010. Those numbers might even improve with the Green Monster looming in left for 81 games.

Here is how the Boston lineup shapes up with Gonzalez:

1. Scutaro, SS

2. Pedroia, 2B

3. Gonzalez, 1B

4. Youkilis, 3B

5. Ortiz, DH

6. Cameron, CF

7. Drew, RF

8. Saltalamacchia, C

9. Ellsbury, LF

With Gonzalez in the middle, this lineup all of a sudden becomes very deep.

Of course, trading for Gonzalez means that Adrian Beltre will not be back with the Red Sox in 2011. While Beltre has a phenomenal year in 2010, he is not in Gonzalez’s class. Kevin Youkilis will move to third, where Boston doesn’t lose anything defensively.

The last thing that needs to be worked out in this trade is a contract extension for Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a free agent at the end of the 2011 season and there is no way he will ever hit free agency.

According to reports, Boston and Gonzalez’s representatives are working on hammering out an extension as we speak and something should be finalized within the next day or two. Gonzalez is most likely looking at a Ryan Howard like contract, which is around five years and $120 million plus.

As for the Padres’ haul in this, I will talk about the three prospects in a separate post. However, I will say this about the Padres:

It has to absolutely suck to be a fan of this franchise.

Is there a more insignificant franchise in sports than the Padres? I don’t blame the fans for not showing up to support this team.

This team plays in the 36th wealthiest city in the United States, has an awesome new ballpark, and yet, can’t even afford one top-tier player. To me, that makes no sense.

The Padres had a $37 million payroll last season. That’s a joke. There is no way a team that plays in that area should have anything less than an $80 million payroll and nobody will convince me other wise that they shouldn’t.

After so many good things happened to this franchise last season, it appears the Padres will take a major step back in 2011.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg