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PEORIA, Ariz. -- It seems as if the entire baseball world is waiting for the other shoe to drop -- for the Padres to finally relent and trade Adrian Gonzalez to the highest bidder.
The conventional wisdom is that the Padres cannot afford to sign their star first baseman to a long-term contract. If that's true, why haven't they already traded him, considering that most baseball insiders believe they'd receive a bounty in return?
At this point, everything is pure speculation, according to John Boggs, Gonzalez's agent. Gonzalez has two affordable years remaining on his current deal, and there have been no negotiations nor contract demands issued. Boggs and Padres general manager Jed Hoyer -- who declined to comment on Gonzalez's contract status Thursday -- have only sat down for what amounts to an informal meeting.
Though most reports about the Padres and Gonzalez suggest doom and gloom, Boggs said nothing has been determined. Another source close to the situation backed up that assertion, saying the San Diego native would considering taking deferred money if the club offered a "fair market offer."
"I don't know where the marketplace will be. I don't know if Adrian will hit 60 home run next season; who knows what will happen?" Boggs said Thursday. "Anything is possible. All I can tell you is we're a controlled player and Adrian is focused on being a Padre."
Not everything may be possible. In an offseason radio interview, Padres owner Jeff Moorad said the team could "probably not" afford to pay Gonzalez a salary in the $17-20 million range. That figure arose from the meeting between Boggs and Hoyer this winter, when the agent mentioned New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira as a comparison point in establishing Gonzalez's value.
But Boggs said Thursday that Teixeira, who received an eight-year, $180 million deal from the Yankees in January 2009, is just one player he'll use in any future Gonzalez negotiations. Of course, Teixeira's price was driven sky-high by a bidding war between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. And unfortunately for Gonzalez, with Teixeira locked up through 2016, the Yankees won't be around to drive up the price when he becomes a free agent in 2011.
"You have to look at a lot of guys (as comparables)," Boggs said. "And there still has to be a club that wants to pay him."
A report this month from SI.com's Jon Heyman indicated that the Padres value Gonzalez in the range of the five-year, $90 million deal that the Angels awarded center fielder Torii Hunter in November 2007. That would represent the most lucrative contract in Padres history.
The Padres are expected to have an opening-day payroll of about $38 million. Gonzalez will make $4.75 million this season, but if he were at Hunter's annual rate of $18 million, that would account for 47 percent of the budget. Moorad has said he expects the payroll to return to the $70 million range, but he hasn't set a timeline for when that threshold might be reached.
Last season, the Padres essentially begged pitcher Jake Peavy, whose $11 million salary made up nearly 25 percent the payroll, to accept a trade to the Chicago White Sox. But whereas Peavy pitches once every five days, Gonzalez is an everyday player who has won two consecutive Gold Glove awards and has averaged 33 home runs and 100 RBIs in 160 games since coming to the Padres in a January 2006 trade with the Texas Rangers.
The fact that Gonzalez is popular with Padres fans and is involved in multiple charities makes the club's decision to keep him or trade him all the more difficult.
"If there was an easy answer, we wouldn't scratch our heads as long as we did," Moorad said in January. "The commitment that I want to make to this community, and what our ownership group has put forward, is to put the best team on the field year after year. And that team, regardless of what the name is on the back of the jersey, is going to say Padres on the front of the jersey. Where that line gets drawn and when is a player more important than the good of the team, I don't know. Thankfully, it's Jed's role to determine."
Gonzalez said last month that he wants to remain a Padre but is seeking fair market value with his next contract. If the Padres offer him a deal that can't compete with what he could earn in free agency, he'll have to determine whether it's competitive enough to keep him in town.
He also must consider that he's surrounded by his entire family in San Diego, that he has enjoyed all of his major league success with the Padres, and that he added more ties to the community with the recent opening of the Gonzalez Sports Academy in Chula Vista.
In any case, Gonzalez said he is determined to stay focused on baseball and believes that the business side will take care of itself.
"I think our focus shouldn't be on ourselves; it should be on the team and the city," Gonzalez said last month. "Hopefully we'll bring a championship to San Diego soon. I'm 100 percent committed to the organization. ...
"I'm preparing as a Padre. Up until the day, which hopefully won't happen, but until the day I get traded, I'll prepare as a Padre. Until that point, it's not on my mind. I'm not going to put any pressure on them. It's their decision 100 percent, and I'll deal with it either way."
The conventional wisdom is that the Padres cannot afford to sign their star first baseman to a long-term contract. If that's true, why haven't they already traded him, considering that most baseball insiders believe they'd receive a bounty in return?
At this point, everything is pure speculation, according to John Boggs, Gonzalez's agent. Gonzalez has two affordable years remaining on his current deal, and there have been no negotiations nor contract demands issued. Boggs and Padres general manager Jed Hoyer -- who declined to comment on Gonzalez's contract status Thursday -- have only sat down for what amounts to an informal meeting.
Though most reports about the Padres and Gonzalez suggest doom and gloom, Boggs said nothing has been determined. Another source close to the situation backed up that assertion, saying the San Diego native would considering taking deferred money if the club offered a "fair market offer."
"I don't know where the marketplace will be. I don't know if Adrian will hit 60 home run next season; who knows what will happen?" Boggs said Thursday. "Anything is possible. All I can tell you is we're a controlled player and Adrian is focused on being a Padre."
Not everything may be possible. In an offseason radio interview, Padres owner Jeff Moorad said the team could "probably not" afford to pay Gonzalez a salary in the $17-20 million range. That figure arose from the meeting between Boggs and Hoyer this winter, when the agent mentioned New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira as a comparison point in establishing Gonzalez's value.
But Boggs said Thursday that Teixeira, who received an eight-year, $180 million deal from the Yankees in January 2009, is just one player he'll use in any future Gonzalez negotiations. Of course, Teixeira's price was driven sky-high by a bidding war between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. And unfortunately for Gonzalez, with Teixeira locked up through 2016, the Yankees won't be around to drive up the price when he becomes a free agent in 2011.
"You have to look at a lot of guys (as comparables)," Boggs said. "And there still has to be a club that wants to pay him."
A report this month from SI.com's Jon Heyman indicated that the Padres value Gonzalez in the range of the five-year, $90 million deal that the Angels awarded center fielder Torii Hunter in November 2007. That would represent the most lucrative contract in Padres history.
The Padres are expected to have an opening-day payroll of about $38 million. Gonzalez will make $4.75 million this season, but if he were at Hunter's annual rate of $18 million, that would account for 47 percent of the budget. Moorad has said he expects the payroll to return to the $70 million range, but he hasn't set a timeline for when that threshold might be reached.
Last season, the Padres essentially begged pitcher Jake Peavy, whose $11 million salary made up nearly 25 percent the payroll, to accept a trade to the Chicago White Sox. But whereas Peavy pitches once every five days, Gonzalez is an everyday player who has won two consecutive Gold Glove awards and has averaged 33 home runs and 100 RBIs in 160 games since coming to the Padres in a January 2006 trade with the Texas Rangers.
The fact that Gonzalez is popular with Padres fans and is involved in multiple charities makes the club's decision to keep him or trade him all the more difficult.
"If there was an easy answer, we wouldn't scratch our heads as long as we did," Moorad said in January. "The commitment that I want to make to this community, and what our ownership group has put forward, is to put the best team on the field year after year. And that team, regardless of what the name is on the back of the jersey, is going to say Padres on the front of the jersey. Where that line gets drawn and when is a player more important than the good of the team, I don't know. Thankfully, it's Jed's role to determine."
Gonzalez said last month that he wants to remain a Padre but is seeking fair market value with his next contract. If the Padres offer him a deal that can't compete with what he could earn in free agency, he'll have to determine whether it's competitive enough to keep him in town.
He also must consider that he's surrounded by his entire family in San Diego, that he has enjoyed all of his major league success with the Padres, and that he added more ties to the community with the recent opening of the Gonzalez Sports Academy in Chula Vista.
In any case, Gonzalez said he is determined to stay focused on baseball and believes that the business side will take care of itself.
"I think our focus shouldn't be on ourselves; it should be on the team and the city," Gonzalez said last month. "Hopefully we'll bring a championship to San Diego soon. I'm 100 percent committed to the organization. ...
"I'm preparing as a Padre. Up until the day, which hopefully won't happen, but until the day I get traded, I'll prepare as a Padre. Until that point, it's not on my mind. I'm not going to put any pressure on them. It's their decision 100 percent, and I'll deal with it either way."
