Adrian Gonzalez Introduced by the Red Sox

It is official folks, Adrian Gonzalez is a member of the Boston Red Sox. He will be patrolling 1st base and likely hitting clean-up in 2010 for the Sox, but the press conference told us more about his personality and character. A-Gon is one of the most well-spoken and intelligent MLB players I have seen speak in a long time. He answered every question with easy and grace and instantly became an even bigger fan favorite by saying the few words a Sox fan wants to hear: “I’m very excited to be here in Boston and ready to beat the Yankees.” Nothing endears a player to Boston like mentioning the New York Yankees and a desire to beat them. A-Gon went on to mention he is good friends with Dave Roberts and Josh Bard and they both spoke highly of the organization while they were playing here and after their tenures were finished. I got the feeling that A-Gon genuinely wanted to be a member of the Red Sox for awhile and is thrilled to be playing at Fenway. (more after the jump)

The bigger question is why wouldn’t he be thrilled to come to Boston? I don’t mean it in a cocky, egotistical way, but a player of his caliber gets to join a perennial contender and he gets to play 81+ games in a park that fits his hitting style perfectly. No offense to the San Diego Padres organization, because I like and respect GM Jed Hoyer, but they don’t have the money to contend every year. In Hoyer’s presser after the Red Sox introduced A-Gon, he said that he would have liked to keep him long term, but it was made evident the money was not there. A 7+ year extension at $160+ million is only available from a select few teams and the Padres are not a part of that group. A-Gon can now be in a lineup that protects him and he will see better pitches to hit more often than in San Diego. Less intentional walks when David Ortiz or Kevin Youkilis is hitting in the 5 hole.

The other takeaway from the presser is A-Gon’s health. He knows his body and said his shoulder recovery is ahead of schedule and he will without a doubt be ready to go on opening day. The grit of A-Gon is tremendous, as he played through his shoulder injury to the tune of 160 games in 2010. He said he wants to play every day, 162 games a season and there were times when Padres manager Bud Black had to force Gonzalez to sit because of the damage to his shoulder (apparently that only worked twice…). A-Gon is the perfect fit for the Sox with his work ethic and desire to win. He busts his butt every day on both sides of the ball and never wants to rest unless he has no choice. Theo even joked that A-Gon was working on his speed on the base paths this off-season so he can leg-out more doubles on line-drives off the monster. It was a joke, but speaks to A-Gon’s crazy work ethic.

I am continually impressed with A-Gon and am relieved and thrilled to see him don the Red Sox uniform. We can relax for now and not start stressing again until after opening day when the contract extension conversation comes up again. This is the move the Sox needed and as the announcement was made, the excitement was being instantly infused back into the fan base. Now, Theo just needs to fill out the bullpen and maybe add an outfielder and we can all sleep easy…