All the principals involved have known for more than a year that there was almost no chance that Adrian Gonzalez would re-sign with the Padres after the 2011 season. So when San Diego GM Jed Hoyer said this week that it was a near certainty that Gonzalez would test the free agent waters, he really was just stating the obvious.
Major League Baseball is a weird place to be when every team is looking for a deal that will get them the best players at the cheapest rates. Everyone who is familiar with baseball in the American peninsula knows what’s going on these days. The days of exercising options are long gone and top teams are prowling for the cheapest deals in the market. The squad composition is bound to change and all clubs in the National League and the American League need to focus on plugging the holes that have left them exposed in the league.
Simmons, 61, spent the last three seasons as the bench coach of the Milwaukee Brewers, then the San Diego Padres, and has scouted and advised GMs since retiring as a player in 1988. A switch-hitting catcher, his lifetime numbers got him Hall of Fame consideration – a career .285 batting average with 248 home runs and 1,389 RBI in 2,456 games.
The Red Sox have the prospects to make such a door-splintering deal. In outfielder Ryan Kalish, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, righthander Casey Kelly, and shortstop Jose Iglesias, the Sox have four cost-controlled players who are close to major league readiness.
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