Adrian Gonzalez

[Outshined_One]

Get ready for another never-ending thread.

 

Link

 

''There's definitely a lot of positives about Chicago that if they made an offer, I would be interested in it,'' said Gonzalez, 28, whose ability to hit for power to all fields is one reason he has a career .693 slugging percentage at Wrigley Field (85 plate appearances).

 

''Chicago's a great town, and they have great fans, and I like the fact that it's a small ballpark. I know the wind can play against you, but it can play for you, too. There's definitely some positives. And my wife loves Chicago, for the shopping.''

[mookie]

Oh hell no. No, no, no, no, no. He would cost too much. They probably want Starlin, and Hendry is probably stupid enough to make the trade.

[Flames24Rulz]

Oh hell no. No, no, no, no, no. He would cost too much. They probably want Starlin, and Hendry is probably stupid enough to make the trade.

 

Hendry's stupid but he's not mentally challenged.

[davell]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Pads have already came out and said they won't have him on the market over the offseason. They'll try and contend next year and if they fall back to normality, they'll shop him at the deadline......

 

That said, if we DO try and trade for him now, Castro isn't going anywhere.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I think a fair offer for Adrian would be:

 

Vitters

1 of Junior Lake/Hak Ju Lee

1 of Jay Jackson/Chris Carpenter/Casey Coleman

Trey McNutt

Another low level prospect or major league ready type, IE Darwin Barney, Robinson Chirinos, Wellington Castillo, Marquez Smith.

 

Remeber, this is one of the elite players in baseball. If Aramis is back for 1 more year, this could be the last chance to pry back open what is a seemingly closed window and with a lot of money off the books, he should be given a large extension and build around him for the future. I know the general sentiment would be wait until 2012 when hes a free agent, but we all know that there will be a ton of teams after him.

[ddwyer]

I am probably in the minority on this board, but I would just as soon see the Cubs do the rebuilding thing this off season. Lets see what some of the young kids can do and then reassess next off season.

 

This is probably a decent offer for Gonzalez and even though he is a great player, I don't think that I would make this trade.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I am probably in the minority on this board, but I would just as soon see the Cubs do the rebuilding thing this off season. Lets see what some of the young kids can do and then reassess next off season.

 

This is probably a decent offer for Gonzalez and even though he is a great player, I don't think that I would make this trade.

 

And where exactly do the kids play? Assuming that Aramis returns, 1B is the only open position, and we really dont have any 1B prospects to speak of.

[Sammy Sofa]

Plus most of "the kids" suck.

[davell]

I think a fair offer for Adrian would be:

 

Vitters

1 of Junior Lake/Hak Ju Lee

1 of Jay Jackson/Chris Carpenter/Casey Coleman

Trey McNutt

Another low level prospect or major league ready type, IE Darwin Barney, Robinson Chirinos, Wellington Castillo, Marquez Smith.

 

Remeber, this is one of the elite players in baseball. If Aramis is back for 1 more year, this could be the last chance to pry back open what is a seemingly closed window and with a lot of money off the books, he should be given a large extension and build around him for the future. I know the general sentiment would be wait until 2012 when hes a free agent, but we all know that there will be a ton of teams after him.

 

It may be a fair offer, but personally I wouldn't give up that much for him. Not unless the Cubs are going to go "all in" next year. Gonzo only makes 5.5 mill next season, which makes him a bigtime bargain obviously. But, he's not enough to make this team a contender immediately. If you can go get Cliff Lee in this scenario, then I'd be maybe I'd be willing to part with this much. Otherwise, just go sign Dunn and try out some more of the youngsters next season, let some more money fall off the books and build around the youth we have currently.

[Sammy Sofa]

Damn right. Dunn it up.

[JonJayCutler]

Damn right. Dunn it up.

[ScrubMD]

I think a fair offer for Adrian would be:

 

Vitters

1 of Junior Lake/Hak Ju Lee

1 of Jay Jackson/Chris Carpenter/Casey Coleman

Trey McNutt

Another low level prospect or major league ready type, IE Darwin Barney, Robinson Chirinos, Wellington Castillo, Marquez Smith.

 

Remeber, this is one of the elite players in baseball. If Aramis is back for 1 more year, this could be the last chance to pry back open what is a seemingly closed window and with a lot of money off the books, he should be given a large extension and build around him for the future. I know the general sentiment would be wait until 2012 when hes a free agent, but we all know that there will be a ton of teams after him.

 

I think it would be absolutely insane to give up that much for him. You could just wait a season and sign him as a FA. I would give up something like Vitters, Jay Jackson, and a lower guy, but I wouldntn't trade McNutt straight up for one season of Gonzalez. Especially when we could just sign Dunn without giving up anything.

[Outshined_One]

It may be a fair offer, but personally I wouldn't give up that much for him. Not unless the Cubs are going to go "all in" next year. Gonzo only makes 5.5 mill next season, which makes him a bigtime bargain obviously. But, he's not enough to make this team a contender immediately. If you can go get Cliff Lee in this scenario, then I'd be maybe I'd be willing to part with this much. Otherwise, just go sign Dunn and try out some more of the youngsters next season, let some more money fall off the books and build around the youth we have currently.

 

I'm not so sure about that sentiment. The Cubs won't necessarily become a WS contender by trading for Gonzalez, but he would be a substantial upgrade over Dunn in terms of youth and production. With Gonzalez at 1B and the bullpen shored up, this team could conceivably win 88-90 games next year. Moreover, if you trade for Gonzalez and sign him to an extension (which would be the goal, in my mind), you can still try out some of the prospects next season, let money fall off the books, and aim for a WS title in 2012/2013 with Gonzalez on the team.

 

To me, the key questions are whether the Padres would be willing to trade him (doubtful), what the Padres would want for him (a lot), and the likelihood of signing Gonzalez to an extension is (pretty good, from the looks of it). If this team can get Gonzalez without giving up half the farm, I say do it.

[davell]

It may be a fair offer, but personally I wouldn't give up that much for him. Not unless the Cubs are going to go "all in" next year. Gonzo only makes 5.5 mill next season, which makes him a bigtime bargain obviously. But, he's not enough to make this team a contender immediately. If you can go get Cliff Lee in this scenario, then I'd be maybe I'd be willing to part with this much. Otherwise, just go sign Dunn and try out some more of the youngsters next season, let some more money fall off the books and build around the youth we have currently.

 

I'm not so sure about that sentiment. The Cubs won't necessarily become a WS contender by trading for Gonzalez, but he would be a substantial upgrade over Dunn in terms of youth and production. With Gonzalez at 1B and the bullpen shored up, this team could conceivably win 88-90 games next year. Moreover, if you trade for Gonzalez and sign him to an extension (which would be the goal, in my mind), you can still try out some of the prospects next season, let money fall off the books, and aim for a WS title in 2012/2013 with Gonzalez on the team.

 

To me, the key questions are whether the Padres would be willing to trade him (doubtful), what the Padres would want for him (a lot), and the likelihood of signing Gonzalez to an extension is (pretty good, from the looks of it). If this team can get Gonzalez without giving up half the farm, I say do it.

 

A couple of caveats that make me think this way include the fact I think we're trading Fukudome, which would be a mistake as far as I'm concerned, since he gets on base better than anyone on our team(other than Soto) and by giving up THAT much for Gonzo,(that scenario included potentially 4 of our top 6 prospects) it'd cripple our system and I'm just not confident in ownership to spend the money to replenish it quickly. And I definitely think we're going to need our system to produce a good bit for us to be contenders for any length of time.

[RammyFanny]

The whole article, and question to Adrian, was in reference to free agency 2012. Not trading for him.

[daske17]

The whole article, and question to Adrian, was in reference to free agency 2012. Not trading for him.

 

Not only that, but there are few players that would openly diss a potential employer (especially a team with deep pockets that can be played against other teams).

[muntjack]

Anyhow,

 

wOBA

 

Dunn .379

 

AGonz .378

 

Obviously a difference in age but how do you justify wiping the farm clean for one when the other is available in FA?

[dew1679666265]

Anyhow,

 

wOBA

 

Dunn .379

 

AGonz .378

 

Obviously a difference in age but how do you justify wiping the farm clean for one when the other is available in FA?

 

WAR the past two seasons:

 

Gonzalez: 6.6, 5.3 – career average: 3.15

Dunn: 1.2, 3.9 – career average: 2.7

 

If we go back a third year, it's 1.0 WAR for Dunn vs 3.9 for Gonzo.

 

Even factoring in Dunn's move to first this year, he's still a couple of wins worse than Gonzalez. Add in that Dunn is 31 in November and will still cost quite a bit over 3-4 years, trading for Gonzalez looks like a pretty good option. Keep in mind also that Gonzo is still in his prime years, whereas Dunn is getting near that age that decline is very reasonable to expect.

 

I wouldn't trade the farm for Gonzalez, but I'd give a decent amount for him.

[Sammy Sofa]

Anyhow,

 

wOBA

 

Dunn .379

 

AGonz .378

 

Obviously a difference in age but how do you justify wiping the farm clean for one when the other is available in FA?

 

WAR the past two seasons:

 

Gonzalez: 6.6, 5.3 – career average: 3.15

Dunn: 1.2, 3.9 – career average: 2.7

 

If we go back a third year, it's 1.0 WAR for Dunn vs 3.9 for Gonzo.

 

Even factoring in Dunn's move to first this year, he's still a couple of wins worse than Gonzalez. Add in that Dunn is 31 in November and will still cost quite a bit over 3-4 years, trading for Gonzalez looks like a pretty good option. Keep in mind also that Gonzo is still in his prime years, whereas Dunn is getting near that age that decline is very reasonable to expect.

 

I wouldn't trade the farm for Gonzalez, but I'd give a decent amount for him.

 

But how are they going to trade for him now? It's highly unlikely that they trade for him now, and likely won't until the deadline next season at the earliest, and even then it would be better for the Cubs just to wait to see if he tests FA in 2012.

 

That said, I'd rather go for Dunn now since he's liked the Cubs for a while, is available now and likely could be had for less money and years (and Gonzalez would be 30 if the Cubs signed him for 2012).

[dew1679666265]

But how are they going to trade for him now? It's highly unlikely that they trade for him now, and likely won't until the deadline next season at the earliest, and even then it would be better for the Cubs just to wait to see if he tests FA in 2012.

 

It depends on what the Padres demand. I would assume they'll want quite a bit, but Gonzalez has been quite a bit better than Dunn for a while now, that gap has gotten bigger the past two years and he's almost 3 years younger than Dunn.

 

If he's available right now, then the Cubs should look very hard into trading for him. If he's not available, then this whole discussion is kind of moot.

 

That said, I'd rather go for Dunn now since he's liked the Cubs for a while, is available now and likely could be had for less money and years (and Gonzalez would be 30 if the Cubs signed him for 2012).

 

If Gonzalez can be had in a trade now you have to consider him since he's by far the better player than Dunn – especially when you take into account that Gonzo is still in his prime years while Dunn is near the age of regression. If it's going to cost an arm and a couple of legs, however, I'd lean more toward Dunn. Given a reasonable trade, however, I'd favor Gonzalez over Dunn.

[Sammy Sofa]

Why do you think they would opt to trade him before next season, and why do you think a trade that early would be one where the Cubs don't have to pay out to get him? Of course, he can be had earlier for a "reasonable deal," go for it, but how likely is that?

 

The Cubs have their most realistic chance to land him in 2012. He's almost certainly going to cost much more in years in money than Dunn. If the Cubs get him then they really wouldn't be getting for a significantly greater amount of "prime years" vs. if they sign Dunn in 2011, especially since Gonzalez is likely going to want something like 7 years.

[davell]

I don't expect the Pads to trade A-Gom this season, unless it's at the deadline, because they're out of the race. That said, if they do, I would think they'd ask for a package much like the Texeira trade to the Braves. That trade netted Texas Saltalamacchia(sp?), Beau Jones, Matt Harrison(3rd rated Braves prospect at the time) Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz. Needless to say, quite a haul. What do we have that is in THAT realm? Hak Ju Lee(Andrus), Cashner(Feliz), McNutt(Harrison), Colvin(Salty, same status or close anyway), and some fringe guy to take Jones' place?

 

If that's what it would take, I'd pass.

[dew1679666265]

Why do you think they would opt to trade him before next season, and why do you think a trade that early would be one where the Cubs don't have to pay out to get him? Of course, he can be had earlier for a "reasonable deal," go for it, but how likely is that?

 

The Cubs have their most realistic chance to land him in 2012. He's almost certainly going to cost much more in years in money than Dunn. If the Cubs get him then they really wouldn't be getting for a significantly greater amount of "prime years" vs. if they sign Dunn in 2011, especially since Gonzalez is likely going to want something like 7 years.

 

The reasoning behind trading him now would be that there would likely be more interest for him now, with a full year left on his deal, than there would be at the deadline. It's probably unlikely that they look to deal him now, but that wasn't the question – the question was do you trade for Gonzalez or sign Dunn. My answer to that question was that I'd much rather have Gonzalez and lose some prospects than to pay a lot for a possibly declining Dunn.

 

And a reasonable deal for a guy like Gonzalez can still be quite a lot. I would't give up Castro, Cashner or Brett Jackson for him, but you could build a deal around 1-2 of Marmol/Vitters/J Jackson/Colvin (probably one of the first two and one of the second two) and have a reasonable offer that could make some sense for the Padres – depending on their opinion of each of those players.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'd rather have him now, too, but it's not likely that he'll be traded now, plus if he was the demand would be too high and the Cubs would have to give up too much.

[UMFan83]

The whole article, and question to Adrian, was in reference to free agency 2012. Not trading for him.

 

Also, Adrian directly responded to this article saying the quotes were taken out of context. I forgot exactly how but I read an article about it the other day. Adrian was asked a couple of questions about his thoughts on the Cubs and their young players or whatever and said some complimentary things about the Cubs, and next thing you know it looks like AGonz is ready to bolt to Chicago at his first opportunity.