Monday, March 1, 2010

Padres' Gonzalez a future White Sox player?


So now, Jake Peavy is making a pitch for his Chicago White Sox to obtain first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from Peavy’s former team, the San Diego Padres.

Not a bad way for Peavy to try to make his voice heard during his first spring training with the White Sox.

Chicago could use Gonzalez, who most certainly will be gone from the low-budget Padres before his contract expires after the 2011 season.

The White Sox lack a big left-handed hitter, which is where Gonzalez and his 40 home runs/99 RBI from last season could fit in. (He was also walked 119 times last season as opponents habitually pitched around him in a weak San Diego lineup.)

The question concerns what the White Sox would be willing to give in return for Gonzalez.

Speculation has it they would be OK with trading power-hitting third baseman Gordon Beckham, who had 14 home runs and 63 RBI in 103 games last season.

The last time San Diego and the Chisox made a trade last summer, Chicago gave up plenty to get 2007 Cy Young award winner Peavy.

San Diego received its current No. 4 starting pitcher Clayton Richard, along with probable future major-league pitchers Aaron Poreda, Adam Russell and Dexter Carter.

If the White Sox are willing to trade Beckham and a couple other so-called prospects, they could likely land Gonzalez.

But if Chicago is unwilling to deal Beckham, then it probably does not have enough prospects to make a Gonzalez trade worthwhile for the Padres.

2 comments:

sam said...

Its really a shame that the Padres have to trade Adrian in the first place. He's a hometown guy and a hometown hero. Whatever happened to the Padres going after or keeping bigtime players once they got Petco Park?

kareem said...

I did not know the White sox were interetsted in Gonzalez but he would be a great addition to any team especially for them as they so desperately need a left handed power hitter. Like you said if the Padres could get the kind of value for him that they got for Peavy then you would have to pull the trigger on that trade for Gonzalez. Certainly Beckham and some more pitching talent would be a great temptation for the cash strapped Padres.