What Gives With A-Gonz? Actually, Not Much.

For the staggering amount of money  ($154 mil for 7 years through 2018) paid to Adrian Gonzalez, one would have expected A-Gonz to be the second coming in Boston. Red Sox management said he would be a masher that would spray the ball all over Fenway Park, peppering the Green Monster with a majestic inside out swing.

Even considering his precipitous power outage after the 2011 All-Star break Gonzalez cruised into the most statistically productive year of his career even as he and the Sox were imploding down the stretch. A-Gonz posted career high numbers in hits (213), runs (108), batting average (.338), OBP (.328) and slugging percentage (.548) and knocked in 117 runs while hitting 27 home runs.

So what’s the problem this year? Actually with the exception of his glaring home run black hole – two so far this year which puts him on pace for eight home runs in 2012 – not much.

Gonzalez is batting .275 this year (as of late in the game in KC), the exact same average as his pre-Red Sox career average of .272. His OBP of .322 is only eight points below his career OBP. True, his slugging percentage is also way down but again that’s a function of his flaccid home run output.

"Without extrapolating all the numbers over 162 games, it appears Boston is getting pretty much what both Texas and San Diego got for the first seven years of Gonzalez’ career. So when you break it all down, it looks to me like Boston overpaid, again, for talent."

Stretches like his last seven days, in which Gonzalez is just 6 for 29 (.207) and 0-8 in the 17 inning loss on Sunday, will not have fans who spend a ton of hard earned cash to pay his salary and see him perform in a very forgiving mood.

Gonzalez is solid; a durable gold glover that will play for many years in Boston. Just don’t expect the fireworks show that was sold to the fans.

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