Padres Trade Gonzalez, Jeter Back With NY

Well, it was a big day on the baseball hot-stove front Saturday, as Adrian Gonzalez was finally dealt to Boston, Jeter returned to New York, De La Rosa to Colorado and Lance Berkman found a new home with the Cardinals. And we haven't even gotten to the winter meetings yet.

I wonder if there is going to be anything left for anyone at the meetings with the flurry of action that's gone on over the last few days. The big news being the Adrian Gonzalez trade to the Red Sox, which finally went through. This was talked about all offseason, so I'm not surprised the Padres dealt Gonzalez, just a little surprised they didn't demand at least one young major league proven player in return. They just gave away their franchise player for 3 guys who "could be" something a few years down the line, and I don't think that's good enough. With Gonzalez, you'd think they could have at least pried Jacoby Ellsbury or Dustin Pedroia away from Boston, as well as two of those top-5 prospects. I don't know, maybe San Diego just got a few cornerstones for the next decade, and being a Giants fan, I don't have any problem with seeing Gonzalez leave the division, just saying from a pure baseball standpoint, I think Boston won this deal, flat-out... And in the aftermath of trading Gonzalez, the Padres now appear set on doing a full dismantle, and plan on moving closer Heath Bell before opening day as well.

As far as the other moves from the day, not really surprised by any of them, though the one that did stick out a bit was Berkman getting $8 million for 2011 from the Cardinals. Berkman and Pat Burrell are very similar players at this point, and Burrell is actually coming off the better season. If the Cards gave Berkman $8 Mill, I wonder what they would have gave Burrell to come there and play a corner outfield spot? Oh yeah, and the Giants get Burrell for 1 million plus incentives in 2011. So you be the judge, what's the better value? Other than that, the money seemed right on point with what I expected for Jorge De La Rosa, who got 2 years and 22 Million from the Rockies to return to Colorado, and it was a good move for both parties. The Rockies know De La Rosa can pitch in Denver, and as long as De La Rosa pitches the way he has the last 2 seasons, he'll make this a 3 year-$35 M deal, which should keep him plenty motivated... Jeter's deal with the Yankees is supposedly a 3 year/$51M deal, which is about 10 million lower than he was looking to get, but in the end, he got his 3rd year, and at $17 M/year over the next 3, money shouldn't be an issue for Derek Jeter. I don't think anyone ever really genuinely believed Jeter's exploration of the free agent market, like Bonds with the Giants, he was destined to return to New York, and probably will be until the end of his career.