for the first time and everybody talks about it. Nobody really knows until they experience it. You have to play there as the home team to understand,” said Gonzalez. “This is where I’m at, and I’ve got to be okay with it. I can’t dwell on the fact that I hit there. I would be interested in the future to see what that would be like (to play in another park).”
Of course, Gonzalez – a San Diego native and icon in both Southern California and Mexico – would likely be willing to stomach the reduced power numbers if he were on a winner. Team officials have met with him to discuss a three- to five-year blueprint for a return to contention.
Because his contract is so favorable, San Diego could decide to retain him for the centerpiece of its rebuilding efforts. But if it appears that contention will not be realistic until 2012 or later, then that same deal could make Gonzalez (currently 27 years old) a trade chip to bring in a huge prospect haul.
While Gonzalez has been careful to make clear how dearly he holds his place in San Diego, he also sounds like someone who would not be bitter about relocating to a team in the playoff hunt.
“As far as the future, all I can say is I have two years left on my contract, and I don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” said Gonzalez. “I signed it with the idea for security – for financial security.
“I’ve always said that I’m a guy who can be on a team that contends for a World Series. For me, the most important thing about playing the game is to win,” he added. “We all play to win the World Series. That’s our main goal every year. That’s my greatest desire.”
Gonzalez’ contract gives the Padres the freedom to wait into next season or even the following year before deciding whether to move him. But if he does become available, his game has a Teixeira-like roundedness that would fit just about any criterion of the Sox.
PRINCE FIELDER
Signed through: 2010 (two-year, $18 million deal); under team control through 2011
In some ways, it would be hard to craft a better successor to David Ortiz than Prince Fielder.
Milwaukee’s 25-year-old slugging first baseman can simply mash. He features a no-holds-barred left-handed stroke in which he nearly jumps out of his shoes with every swing, including one on Tuesday in which he blasted a ball 503 feet en route to winning the All-Star Home Run Derby. It would be difficult to say whether Ortiz or Fielder attacks the ball with greater violence.
“I’ve always swung like that. Coming up in high school, coaches would tell me to swing easier. I don’t know how to do that. So I just swing hard,” said Fielder. “I like the way (Ortiz) hits. I do. He hits for average, drives in runs. That’s the kind of hitter I want to be.”
Thanks to a two-year deal he signed prior to this year (forgoing two years of arbitration), Fielder would seem likely to stay in Milwaukee through 2010. But he could command a huge payday through arbitration for the 2011 season. Depending on the Brewers’ revenues and competitiveness at that point, Milwaukee could be forced to look at dealing him.
One caveat regarding any potential Red Sox interest in Fielder: unlike Teixeira, Fielder’s defense detracts from his considerable offensive prowess. According to John Dewan’s Fielding Bible, he has converted five fewer plays into outs than the average first baseman, a total that has cost his team four runs and ranks 27th among big-league first baseman.
By contrast, Kevin Youkilis has made 10 more plays than the average first baseman, the second-best mark in the majors. Meanwhile, Youkilis – according to Dewan’s measurements – has been a slightly below average third baseman.
So, while Fielder represents an offensive force, the Sox would either have to use him as a D.H. (perhaps as a successor to Ortiz) or risk making themselves worse at two positions.
HANLEY RAMIREZ
Signed through: 2014 (six-year, $70 million deal)
Looking back to his days as a pup on the diamond for the Red Sox – back in the Gulf Coast League, in Sarasota, in Portland – Hanley Ramirez is not surprised by anything that has happened to him in his major-league career, save for one thing.
“Getting traded. I never thought I was going to get traded when I was coming up with the Red Sox,” said Ramirez, now representing the Florida Marlins at an All-Star Game for the second straight year. “That happened, but I’m happy to be here with Florida.”
That is not to say that Ramirez doesn’t enjoy Boston, or wouldn’t have liked to be a member of the Red Sox. He remains “really close” with David Ortiz, and described great encounters with the Fenway fans during his visit with the Marlins to Boston for an interleague series last month.
He also caught wind of the offseason rumors that suggested the Red Sox were interested in reacquiring his services. Because talks between the Sox and Marlins never advanced much beyond the exploratory phase, Ramirez never had to think too hard about returning to the franchise with whom he signed out of the Dominican in 2000, though he did consider it flattering to hear that Boston made a run at him.
“They see the way you play and they want you back, but I can’t control that. I’ve got to just keep playing hard and showing everyone I deserve to be in the big leagues,” said Ramirez. “That’s nothing I can control, so I go like, ‘Yeah, good.’ It’s good when teams are after you and you know you’ve got to get better and better and better everyday. I was kind of like, ‘Hmmm…’” he said, moving his neck from side to side as if in deep contemplation.
“But it never happened. I love Florida. I’m happy to be here. I wish I can end my career here. They’ve got a great front office, coaching staff, and my teammates are the best teammates I’ve had in my life.”
While Ramirez was stunned by the trade that sent him to the Marlins in 2005, he joins the consensus of opinion that the deal benefited both sides. Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell helped propel the Sox to a title in 2007 — making Boston the only team this decade with two championships — while Ramirez is the centerpiece of the Marlins’ future.
“It really did (help both teams). Boston has two World Series, and I think we’ll have a couple. We’ve just got to keep working,” said Ramirez, who has an N.L.-leading .349 batting average to go with 14 homers, 13 steals and a .979 OPS. “I’ve got to keep working and keep getting better.”
Ramirez is in just the first season of a six-year, $70 million deal that seems destined to be a bargain so long as the 25-year-old remains healthy. For now, he is affordable even for a small-revenue club like the Marlins. As such, Florida would have little incentive to move him barring an offer that would ravage a farm system.
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