Should the Padres wait to deal Adrian Gonzalez?

He’s been one of the most
bandied-about names this offseason, but Jon Paul Morosi of
FOXSports.com thinks it would behoove the Padres to wait until the 2010 non-waiver trade deadline to trade Adrian Gonzalez:



By the middle of this season, it should be different.




In July, other GMs can’t talk about free-agent options.




In July, other GMs are under pressure to
go for
it by getting one more left-handed slugger.




In July, other GMs will look at the money remaining on
Gonzalez’s contract — at that stage, barely more than $7
million through 2011 — and say to ownership: “For this guy,
for that amount of money, we should make it happen.”




Owed a modest $4.75 million next
season with the bargain of a $5.5 million club option for 2011, the
Padres are wise to wait for the right deal in return for their
franchise first baseman. According to Morosi, one rival executive
doubts new general manager Jed Hoyer would accept an offer of
right-handers Clay
Buchholz and Daniel Bard if the package didn’t also include
right-hander Casey Kelly or outfielder Ryan Westmoreland.



It’s a hefty price tag, of course,
but Morosi likens the situation to that of Mark Teixeira, when he was
dealt from the Rangers to the Braves at the trade deadline in 2007 —
also, a year and a half before hitting free agency. The Rangers managed
to turn that deal into shortstop Elvis Andrus and promising
right-hander Neftali Feliz. With teams jockeying for position around
the trade deadline, the Red Sox may come knocking with a more
substantial offer should their lineup lack the proper thump without
Jason Bay.