Report: Alex Gonzalez signs with Toronto

[TheKilo]

Per Rosenthal's Twitter:

 

Alex Gonzalez won't be BOS shortstop in 2010. Signed a one-year deal with TOR last night. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/HeadLines.aspx?sport=MLB&hl=279016

 

[BoSox21]

Why the hell would they have Alex Gonzalez AND John McDonald?

[ehaz]

I never thought he'd sign this fast... I hoped we'd have more time to use him as a fallback.

[a700hitter]

What is with this FO and Shortstops. Marcos Scutaro is not the answer. I hope they don't think he is the answer. They can't expect Lowrie to stay off the DL beyond April 15th and he'll be hitting .150 when he hits the DL.

[TheKilo]

To be fair, Alex Gonzalez isn't the answer either. Give me Scuatro before Gonzalez, since both were getting multi year deals anyway.

[Dipre]

To be fair' date=' Alex Gonzalez isn't the answer either. Give me Scuatro before Gonzalez, since both were getting multi year deals anyway.[/quote']

 

Don't give me Scutaro.

 

He'll get good player money for a career year. He's a 34-year-old one year wonder.

[a700hitter]

To be fair' date=' Alex Gonzalez isn't the answer either. Give me Scuatro before Gonzalez, since both were getting multi year deals anyway.[/quote']Alex Gonzalez is the far superior fielder. Scutaro is not much more than a part-time player. He had a career year last season, but faded badly at the end. He's a utility guy. I hope they don't get him, but there isn't much out there.

[BoSox21]

I'm absolutely baffled by the Jays signing Gonzalez. Between him and John McDonald, their two shortstops have good gloves and no bat.

[a700hitter]

I'm absolutely baffled by the Jays signing Gonzalez. Between him and John McDonald' date=' their two shortstops have good gloves and no bat.[/quote']That idiot Joe maddon penciled in two 3B for a game last season. Maybe the Jays plan on playing two SS.:dunno:

[a700hitter]

Maybe the Red Sox will petition the league to drop the SS position since they have such trouble filling it with an adequate player.

[redsoxrules]

we're f***ed if Lowrie is our starting SS

[Rdsxmbnt]

we're f***ed if Lowrie is our starting SS

 

Not really. Gonzalez sucks, Lowrie has upside

 

And it is absolutely ridiculous to look at Lowrie's 70 AB sample size (in an injury plagued year) and draw ANY type of conclusion. The year before he had a .740 OPS in 260 AB. Was an .800 OPS SS in AAA during that 08' season and had OPS of .900+ and .860+ in AA and AAA respectively the year before that. The guy is legit

[Rdsxmbnt]

What is with this FO and Shortstops.

 

Probably because there is like 3 SS's who are good players year in and year out?

 

Hanley/Jeter/Tulowitzki. That's about it, and unfortunately we aren't one of those 3 teams and likely won't be anytime soon.

[Dojji]

Probably because there is like 3 SS's who are good players year in and year out?

 

Hanley/Jeter/Tulowitzki. That's about it, and unfortunately we aren't one of those 3 teams and likely won't be anytime soon.

 

Jimmy Rollins?

[Rdsxmbnt]

Jimmy Rollins?

 

If he didn't have a .296 OBP this year I probably would have

[Keeper]

Yunel Escobar and Asdrubal Cabrera are also pretty good.

[Dipre]

What about some of the younger guys like Erick Aybar , and what about Jose Reyes?

[Dojji]

Elvis Andrus is pretty good too.

[Dipre]

Stephen Drew has tons of upside.

[Dipre]

If he didn't have a .296 OBP this year I probably would have

 

It's annoying when someone not only doesn't take the time to check the stats, but discounts an entire body of work because of one year.

 

Rollins has a never been a big OBP kinda guy, but he's made up for it with stellar defense, and above-average power for a SS while maintaining a strong batting average to make up for his OBP shortcomings.

 

Last year, he had a .253 BABIP, that's so low it's nearly impossible to sustain.

 

Also your entire premise that only 3 SS produce "year in and year out" is outrageous, as has been shown in the rest of the thread.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Im not saying there are only 3 SS who put up numbers in a given year since there are clearly more. But Ill pick apart each of your examples to show why there are an extremely small number of teams that maintain high offensive output from the SS position every year.

 

I almost put Escobar on the list, he's still young but has been consistent for the time he's been in the majors.

 

Aybar JUST had his first productive year. His past years he has not been very effective so it remains to be seen whether he's the answer for the next 5 years in LAA.

 

Cabrera is again a solid SS who is coming off his first full productive year, too soon to make the call if he's going to be at this level every year.

 

I forgot Reyes, another franchise player

 

Andrus is a rookie who had a decent year, I don't think he's a sure bet to produce consistent high results by any means.

 

Drew has upside but is pretty inconsistent

 

So read my post again, I mentioned SSs who you can pretty much ALWAYS count on to put up high offensive numbers and that boils down to Tulo/Jeter/Hanley/Escobar/Reyes. There are other solid SS who have a chance but they could very well fall by the wayside. Point is there are very few SS who you can put out there and know what you are going to get (like say Youk at 1B/3B ). That's why there is very little consistency at the SS position here.

[Dipre]

Im not saying there are only 3 SS who put up numbers a year since there are clearly more. But Ill pick apart each of your examples to show why there are an extremely small number of teams that maintain high offensive output from the SS position every year.

 

I almost put Escobar on the list, he's still young but has been consistent for the time he's been in the majors.

 

Aybar JUST had his first productive year. His past years he has not been very effective so it remains to be seen whether he's the answer for the next 5 years in LAA.

 

Cabrera is again a solid SS who is coming off his first full productive year, too soon to make the call if he's going to be at this level every year.

 

I forgot Reyes, another franchise player

 

Andrus is a rookie who had a decent year, I don't think he's a sure bet to produce consistent high results by any means.

 

Drew has upside but is pretty inconsistent

 

So read my post again, I mentioned SSs who you can pretty much ALWAYS count on to put up high offensive numbers and that boils down to Tulo/Jeter/Hanley/Escobar/Reyes. There are other solid SS who have a chance but they could very well fall by the wayside. Point is there are very few SS who you can put out there and know what you are going to get (like say Youk at 1B/3B ). That's why there is very little consistency at the SS position here.

 

Elite players are scarce at any position, that changes the complexion of your post entirely.

 

"Very high" and "Elite" are very much apart, so the one who worded it poorly in the first place was you.

 

And you're shooting yourself in the foot by putting Tulo in your "elite" list, he had a good '07, a near lost '08 due to injuries, and a monster '09, that's two good years, just like Escobar and Cabrera.

 

Also, you need to include Rollins in the list, his 2009 was a fluke if i ever saw one.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Elite players are scarce at any position, that changes the complexion of your post entirely.

 

"Very high" and "Elite" are very much apart, so the one who worded it poorly in the first place was you.

 

And you're shooting yourself in the foot by putting Tulo in your "elite" list, he had a good '07, a near lost '08 due to injuries, and a monster '09, that's two good years, just like Escobar and Cabrera.

 

Also, you need to include Rollins in the list, his 2009 was a fluke if i ever saw one.

 

I literally never typed the word elite in any of my posts here. What I did say was maintain a high level of offensive performance which for a SS I judge to be .800+ OPS which is only accomplished by a small handful of players.

 

At pretty much every other position (1B, 2B, 3B, OF) except SS and C there are far more than a small handful of players who consistently put out solid offensive numbers relative to their position.

[Dipre]

I literally never typed the word elite in any of my posts here. What I did say was maintain a high level of offensive performance which for a SS I judge to be .800+ OPS which is only accomplished by a small handful of players.

 

At pretty much every other position (1B, 2B, 3B, OF) except SS and C there are far more than a small handful of players who consistently put out solid offensive numbers relative to their position.

 

That's why it's poorly worded.

 

Think about it slowly.

[Rdsxmbnt]

That's why it's poorly worded.

 

Think about it slowly.

 

Um no. My term used was high offensive output which I have since defined in the subsequent post. I'm not sure what else you need here

[Dipre]

Um no. My term used was high offensive output which I have since defined in the subsequent post. I'm not sure what else you need here

 

You defined it in a subsequent post, but it wasn't defined in the initial one.

[Spudboy]

In any case, I believe the Sox dropped the ball again here.

 

Gonzo signs for one year in Toronto? How much could it be for? Certainly not $6mil/yr.

 

I can't understand this. I just hope we don't see Scutaro with the Sox. Epic fail.

[Rdsxmbnt]

2.75/1 with a 2.5 mil option I believe. But again Gonzalez sucks so no loss here

[Spudboy]

Any way you look at it, the Sox f***ed up. They are paying Lugo $9mil in 2010 to play in St Louis.

 

Yet they would not pull the trigger on $3.mil for Gonzo?

 

Hahahahahaha!

 

OK.

[TheKilo]

If the choice is Gonzalez or Scutaro, give me Scutaro. Scutaro is a very good defensive SS and he gets on base.