Gonzo's Here!:Peter

Well, after a long series of negotiations and a lot of back and forth the past few days, it's official--Adrian Gonzalez is the new Sox first sacker! Welcome, Adrian! Sox gave up three leading prospects to the Pads for the rights to Gonzo--and are very likely still negotiating with Gonzo and his agent, John Boggs, on terms for a long term extension of the power hitting player's contract. Main diffs reported in various circles are contract length and whether Gonzo wll get $24 or 25 mill per year. One mill per year doesn't seem like a big diff at these levels, but, hey--a mill is still a mill!
On other free agent fronts, another Sox target, Jayson Werth, late of the '09 World Champ Phillies,is now officially a Washington National. He got a huge contract, around $18 mill per for something like seven years. That leaves the Sox with two options for more/continued power on the team: 1.) nail down Crawford; 2.) or forget Crawford and resign Beltre to a long term deal. The first would mean Youk would be the 3d baseman, while the second possibility would mean that Gonzo covers first, Beltre repeats at third and Youk (you're going to love this suggestion)--plays the wall in left. It's not such a far-fetched idea when you consider how well he already plays two separate positions.
Theo appears to have done it again.

By the way, Theo also made a pretty good offer to one of the only two Yankees I'd ever want on my team, Mariano Rivera. But Mo finally resigned with the Stripes. The guy (along with Jeter) is one of the few true gentlemen on that team, and, while I might have to take time to get used to seeing him in a Sox uniform, he would be an asset wherever he goes. When we won in '04, he publicly congratulated the Hose. As for Jeter (who agreed to a new 3 year Yank deal today), I still remember him tipping his cap and saluting the Sox as they moved to a final closeout in Game 7 of that memorable '04 ALCS victory over the Stripes. That is true class!