red sox fans are getting a nice early christmas gift in the form of first baseman adrian gonzalez. to me this deal traces all the way back to january 2009 when the red sox failed in their attempt to land free agent mark teixeira. that event gave the yankees a distinct advantage that we could not overcome without acquiring a comparable slugger. of course teixeira was a cash transaction while the deal for gonzalez will cost us a handful of high end prospects, but the end result should be an improved sox team going forward. but make no mistake, this team is far from complete. let's hope the front office continues to be aggressive and we can add another bat and upgrade the bullpen.
i'm excited to see gonzalez hit in fenway. he isn't a traditional slugger in that a lot of his power is to the opposite field. this should be advantageous to him as a left handed hitter with the green monster barely 300 feet from home plate. but this guy isn't cut from the traditional cloth that defines red sox sluggers from years past. obviously manny ramirez, jimmie foxx and jim rice were right handers. ted williams was a dead pull left hitter (remember the "williams shift"). mo vaughn is comparable because he excelled at using the wall by taking the ball the other way. but vaughn, while as strong if not stronger, was not quite as polished as gonzalez as a hitter. add in gonzalez's gold glove defense at first base and the red sox are looking at one of the most complete players in the game.
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