I wanted to leave the stuff about Santo up for the rest of the weekend, but I couldn’t go without commenting on this– the Red Sox and Padres have reached an agreement on a deal that will send Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.
Honestly, I was really disappointed when I heard the news. The Cubs may never have been favorites to land Gonzalez, but as late as last night they were believed to still be very much in the hunt for his services. Early reports have the Sox sending a package of prospects to San Diego including top pitching prospect Casey Kelly along with 1B Anthony Rizzo and OF Reymond Fuentes. A fourth player will reportedly be added to the deal once the freeze on 40-man rosters is lifted following next week’s Rule V Draft, so it’ll end up being a 4-for-1 swap.
The frustrating thing is, the Cubs probably could have matched this kind of offer. I’m sure they would have balked at including Chris Archer in any deal, but he’s pretty much every bit the prospect that Kelly is. Meanwhile, guys like Jay Jackson and Trey McNutt are fine prospects in their own right who didn’t experience the kind of monumental struggles Kelly did in 2010.
I suppose one of the key differences between the two teams’ offers was that the Sox, unlike the Cubs who have almost no minor league talent at first base, were able to offer a potential replacement for Gonzalez in Anthony Rizzo. He’s just 21 years old, but he’s a lefty with a chance to have plus power down the road, which is big for a team that plays in one of the most cavernous ballparks in the game.
It’s hard to say exactly what kind of impact Jed Hoyer’s relationship with Theo Epstein and the Red Sox had on these discussions. Hoyer was Theo’s top lieutenant in Boston before being hired in San Diego, so you have to believe that his familiarity with the organization and the farm system facilitated a deal here. I guess this is one of the benefits of surrounding yourself with bright young guys in the front office– when one of them invariably gets his big break, all of a sudden you’re that much more plugged into another team’s dealings.
It looks like ultimately the Cubs were just unwilling (rather than unable) to put together an equally valuable package. There are worse things than seeing your team stick to its plans on building from within, but the reality is, prospects are a numbers game– some of them will pan out; more of them probably won’t. I get why they wouldn’t be willing to discuss a guy like Brett Jackson, who’s easily the best prospect in the organization, but one of the benefits of having a good farm system is being able to swap prospects for established players, and opportunities to bring in bonafide superstars like Adrian Gonzalez don’t come along too often.
So I guess this is where I should say “credit to Theo and the Sox for getting a good player…”– But ya know what? I’m bitter here. I don’t think I’m the only baseball fan tired of seeing Boston scoop up every damn player they want. And more importantly, the Cubs’ already slim chances of making the playoffs in 2011 may have just taken a deathblow.
