Grade the Trade: Adrian Gonzalez trade history retrospective
By Tim Boyle
Rangers trade Gonzalez to the San Diego Padres
The trade that helped put Gonzalez’s name into more households took place in the winter of 2006. The Rangers packaged him together with Termel Sledge and pitcher Chris Young. In exchange, the Padres sent them pitcher Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and career minor leaguer Billy Killian. It’s clear from the start who won this deal; and it’s not the one in Texas.
Gonzalez saw limited action with the Rangers in 2004 and 2005. He didn’t hit very well thus leading to this questionable trade. In his first year with the Padres, Gonzalez made the Rangers regret their actions. He slashed a robust .304/.362/.500 with 24 home runs. None of the players the Rangers received put up numbers anywhere near what Gonzalez did in San Diego.
Over his five seasons with the Padres, Gonzalez hit 161 home runs while batting .288. He was an All-Star three times and earned MVP consideration in several of those seasons. One year, he even managed to hit 40 home runs at PetCo Park.
The Rangers got very little in this return. Eaton pitched horribly in his one season with them. Otsuka did well, but only stayed in the big leagues for another two seasons. It would appear that the Rangers gave up on Gonzalez prematurely before he was ready to start blasting home runs with regularity.
At the risk of spoiling the other trades involving Gonzalez, this was the most lopsided of all. Since Gonzalez wasted no time in producing, it was impatience which cost the Rangers most in this transaction. Had they kept him for even one more year, they might not be as championship starved as they are more than a decade later.