Red Sox president Larry Lucchino confirmed on WEEI's the Dennis & Callahan Show what most of the team’s fans have been assuming since December. The Red Sox will extend Adrian Gonzalez before he hits free agency after the season.
"We're not going to let him get away," Lucchino said. "We're going to get him signed for sure."
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein says there's "no timetable" for talks between the team and its new first baseman, but it would be a surprise if the sides don't agree to a long-term deal by April. The Red Sox avoid a luxury tax hit if they wait until the season begins, so they may be inclined to finalize the deal in April, as they did with Josh Beckett last year. Though Gonzalez has denied that he has an agreement with the Red Sox, the sides have been working toward a long-term deal since December.
Kirk Minihane has the transcript of Lucchino's comments and the audio's here.
??????
fo sho?
fo shizzle
Grow up children!!! Oh I’m the first to comment so I have to be retarded and immature.
I think there is certainly the chance the deal doesn’t get done. It will in all likelihood be one of the largest contracts the Red Sox have ever handed out, and Pujols hitting free agency is probably a carrot dangling from the end of a stick. If the talks hit a snag or if Gonzalez has any health issues/trouble adjusting to the ALE/Boston market, I can see ownership deciding to wait it out and they can bid on either Gonzalez or Pujols. They have a very good chance of landing either imo assuming Gonzalez hits free agency and ownership is still willing to spend.
When did Brian Cashman start posting on MLBTR?
Apparently he really likes sheffield too..
I don’t like him, but I don’t hate him like you do.
lol I dont hate the guy, I hope he continues to lead a successful life and lives for a very long time. I just dont think he belongs in the hall.
Chances of that are slim to none. Epstein and Lucchino have wanted Gonzalez for years, Gonzalez has come out and stated a preference to want to play in Boston WHILE he was already with the Padres in the past and Henry has the money to spend.
Let’s also not forget that Boston just gave up 2 of it’s best prospects in Anthony Rhizzo and Casey Kelly, not to mention Ray Fuentes. Boston is not a team that generally gives out top guys for rentals when they project the person they are getting to be a impact player for years in return, this is not VMart here, but one of the top 5 players in the game.
3 of its best prospects*
also let us not underestimate the hardness of the hard-on epstein has had for gonzalez for years now. especially when you account for how risk-averse the boston FO is, i don’t think even the prospect of albert pujols could pull them away from adrian
I agree that the deal is very likely to get done. It’s not yet set in stone, but chances are, the deal is at least agreed upon in principle. The Red Sox exploit almost every loophole possible and are very creative when writing contracts (see Andrew Miller’s contract, Beltre’s option, Beckett’s deal, etc.).
They probably won’t sign Gonzalez to a bigger deal purely because they have sunk costs in Rizzo, Kelley and Fuentes (in the off chance that he does decide to play hardball). Valuation decisions are based on future costs and benefit. The past is irrelevant for making moves concerning the future.
Bottom line, the media doesn’t get all the facts, or paint the picture accurately anywhere near 100% of the time. The fact that no deal has been confirmed by the media means next to nothing.
I didn’t say it was likely, I said there is a chance. I agree it is very slim for all the reasons you mentioned, but look at the upside of adding Pujols instead of Gonzalez. He offers everything Gonzalez offers at first, he is a better hitter, most likely more marketable as the best player in the game, and will offer better lineup balance between left and right handed hitters in what has all of a sudden become a lefty heavy lineup. The only real drawbacks are that he will probably cost at least 10 mil more per season and he is older.
I don’t think having lost two top prospects for a year’s worth of Adrian Gonzalez at 6.5 mil are going to be a big deal when you look at the possibility of being able to sign the game’s best player. Theo is the one who values the prospects, not the ownership. They care about making money. If the ownership wants to go after Pujols they will, because Pujols will make them money in Boston guaranteed. You’re probably one of the people who think that Crawford and Gonzalez being in Boston is because Theo is some sort of master of negotiation. The reality is that the Red Sox were losing viewers and the way ownership increased it’s stock was to open their wallets. And hey, it worked. The point is that if ownership thinks they will get a better return on Pujols they will go after him.
If you ask me, the better deal is to stick with Gonzalez and extend him. But you have to assume the lure of possibly adding the best player in the game is enticing to the owners.
.
cool story, but everyone everywhere knows that you bring fans in by winning. pujols is much better than gonzalez right now, but commodity-wise, he won’t make them much more money off the field. on the field, the red sox are a team that will spend the difference in salary to improve the team’s other weaknesses, probably ending up better off overall
gonzalez is younger, much cheaper, and already partially paid for in prospects. you’re right that they care most about money, but that’s exactly why they’re likely to stick adrian. they’d sooner try to sign both of them than pass up gonzalez for pujols
Pujols to Boston is a terrible, terrible idea. Why? The rumored cos, being 10/275M being Arod like and the likelihood of him being productive in the final 4-5 years of it is very slim to deserve even half of that amount, especially when Gonzalez, at the “rumored” 22m or so salary will probably be signed for 7-8 years and is the 2nd best 1st baseman and gives production at close to that amount and is a better fielding 1st baseman, plus is 2 years younger.
The thought you have regarding NESN are common knowledge to most any that pay attention and the FO pretty much had to bring in some stars to bring the ratings up and Crawford was an obvious choice, along with Gonzalez perhaps even 1 year sooner, so no idea why you bothered to bring that up.
Yep.. Better deal all around on AGone.. Pujols to where is the question?? Cubs?? I would like to see him mashing 50+ a year like Kong Kingman used to in old Wrigley.
Why bring the NESN issue up? Because it’s pertinent to my argument, no matter how many people know. And you backed my point- that the FO had to bring in some talent and spend some cash. Glad we can agree there.
I doubt Theo wants to screw around and end up with neither of them.
The Red Sox will sign Gonzalez. Next year, if Pujols is available, they can trade A Gon to the Cubs or Angels if they can strike a deal with Albert.
Overall, I think Red Sox fans and front office will be fine with Gonzalez being your first baseman for the next 7-8 years.
As a Sox fan, I’d PREFER Gonzalez over the next 7-8 years. Over 3-4? Pujols obviously. But for 7-8 Gonzalez clearly is the better option.
I think that the Red Sox do not want pujols. Yea, I said it. I think that if they really wanted him they wouldnt have traded for gonzalez. They probably prefer gonzalez because although he is not as good he is younger and will come at a cheaper price. So those that think “THEY WILL GET PUJOLS IF THEY DONT SIGN GONZALEZ” I think are wrong, I would be very surprise if theo was comfortable giving 30 mil to one player.
That being said they will lock him up, they probably offered him 8/150 or something similar to what they offered tex and he wants a little more.
music to a Cardinals’ fan’s ears.
both sides now have said just about all they can possibly say short of “we already have a deal agreed upon”, which would get them in trouble
especially when you hear about the way they structured andrew miller’s contract, for example, it’s not hard to imagine that they have bent the rules juuust as far as they can be without quite breaking
I’m sure the Sox will extend A-Gon, but hypothetically, what would the team do if A-Gon had a severe injury in the worst case scenario?
um, then they wouldn’t extend him.
What will NY do if that happens to Teixeira/Sabathia/ARod/Jeter? It’s always a risk with long-term contracts. Come on, as a Yankee fan you should know that better than anyone.
Before he’s extended? Likely hold off on extending him/not extend him.
After he’s extended? Same thing any team does when a player gets a severe injury: learn to get over it.
This comes as no suprise.
I feel a AGon/Puljos trade. Cards only want to pay about 20-25 mil. Agon deserves about that. Boston apparently has no budget anymore so getting Puljos close to what he wants doesn’t seem to be an issue. Not what bith teams want but I think it works out for everyone in the end.
That could be a reality, everyone knows that the whole reason a player has a no trade clause is only to give them leverage in any negotiation…If Boston was to tell Pujols they will pay him more than A-Rod, he could waive his NTC, and the fact that St Louis gets Agon really would take some of the sting away, I doubt this would happen though, St Louis would ask for Michael Bowden and Theo would hang up lol.
Pujols will veto all trade proposals
Didn’t Lucchino also say at one time he wouldn’t let Teixiera slip away and was for sure going to get him? (at the time he was only bidding against the Orioles and Nationals) and look what happened there. The fact that they are willing to ignore the reality that Albert Pujols is going to be a FA blows my mind and makes me wonder no more on why they finished third place last year, how they could sign John Lackey and not be in on Cliff Lee and now this, don’t get me wrong, Agon is a great hitter but ask yourselves this….in Fantasy baseball its your pick and you can have Agon, or you can have Albert Pujols…Who is on your fantasy team?
“in Fantasy baseball its your pick and you can have Agon, or you can have Albert Pujols…Who is on your fantasy team? ”
Is this a pay league or no? If I have to pay $30 compared to $20, I choose the less expensive player so that I can structure my budget to build a quality team around said player. There are a million and one reasons one would choose Gonzalez over Pujols. Pujols is definitely the better player and by a wide margin, but the fact of the matter is that this ISN’T fantasy baseball, there are other factors to account for.
In a single-year team, it’s Pujols, obviously. The problem is that Pujols will still be looking for 7-9 years next year, and in that kind of time frame its pretty obvious you should take Gonzalez. Considerably younger, will get a boost in stats by playing in Fenway, and may only switch to DH in the very late years of his contract, while Pujols could possibly be only a couple years away from that, if he gets an injury or something.
fantasy baseball doesnt have anything to do with constructing a real MLB team… not sure what your getting at with the fantasy team argument…
What I am getting at is how down played the whole notion is that the Red Sox aren’t monitoring the fact that they could actually get Albert Pujols.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush….
Come on Theo and Adrian, get the deal done awready!
Pretty good assessment about the situation they are in, but I think they are looking at that bush really close to see if they have 1 red bird in there that only comes around once in a generation.
I think they’re just looking really close at that luxury tax and thinking “We can avoid that…”
They might have cursory interest in Pujols because he’s Pujols, but I’d be SHOCKED if they changed any plans with A-Gon to try and nab Albert.
One interesting point about Lucchino as a possible successor to Selig and the only positive thing could see if he left the Sox front office: He could maybe find a way to dump “Yankee Bob” Watson from AL Chief and find someone who is not biased. Then that is the only thing positive can find about him taking over the reins from Selig.
Why do I go on a post about A-Gon “definitely” getting extended, as said by a major Red Sox executive, and get swamped by “BOSTON WANTS PUJOLS!” comments?
Where’s the correlation there? I’m confused.
Without sounding too naive, how (or perhaps why) is it possible that Boston and Mr. Gonzalez can essentially nullify the luxury tax when the raison d’etre for said tax is for this exact situation?
Gonzalez will be with the Sox for years to come. Other than the obvious reasons for this the one that sticks out is age/dollars. The Sox are gonna give Adrian something like 7yrs to cover him through his prime at less than it would cost to sign Pujols through his prime to his retirement.
Sox will extend Gonzo for 7 years at 22 or 23 mil per before May. Pujols would have to want to DH and be willing to accept closer to 26 or 27 million over 8 years to land on the Sox. I don’t see it happening.