The Best Player No One Ever Talks About

by Jeff on Jun 25, 2008 1:59 PM PDT in The More You Know Comment 32 comments

There have been a lot of players like this over the years. Chase Utley. Bobby Abreu. Roy Halladay. The Marlins. And so on and so forth. Guys who put up good to great numbers despite receiving near the bare minimum amount of attention while clowns like Derek Jeter continue to hog the spotlight. Over the course of baseball history there's been a long line of underappreciated star talents, and today I'll present to you a guy who I think deserves to be the newest member of the club.

Through 78 games so far this year, Adrian Gonzalez has hit .296/.367/.557 with the National League lead in RBI and a .930 PrOPS to show it's not just dumb luck (although the RBI might be considering his lineup support). He's also been doing this in the Petco death canyon, and when you adjust for park, his .322 EqA ranks 10th in the NL and 13th overall. Some of the names he's been outperforming: Josh Hamilton, Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, and Hanley Ramirez. Through the first half of the season, Adrian Gonzalez has been one of the top 15 hitters in baseball.

Think it's a fluke? Over the past two years he's put up OPS+ figures of 127 and 125, respectively, at the ages of 24 and 25, and now he's beginning to enter his power prime. Between 24-26 he's hit .307/.368/.565 on the road, and he's still getting better. Adrian Gonzalez's offense is no fluke.

Think he's just a positionless slugger? The advanced metrics paint the picture of an above-average defensive first baseman, somewhere between 0 < x < +10 runs per year. The man can hit it and the man can pick it.

Think he has no other appeal? The Padres have on two recent occasions hit Adrian and his brother Edgar back-to-back, so pitchers who faced this

then had to deal with this

which I think is just the funniest thing.

On a better team in a better environment, Adrian Gonzalez would be an early candidate for the 2008 NL MVP. However, because his team sucks and his park is a nightmare, he barely gets noticed, even though he's putting up one of the most impressive offensive seasons in franchise history.

Adrian Gonzalez: hell of a player. No matter how long Jon Daniels goes on kicking himself, it won't be long enough.

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I would kill to have AG in Seattle...

by BrianL on Jun 25, 2008 2:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was thinking the same thing.

And didn’t we have the opportunity to trade for Ryan Howard back in 2003-04?

Well, at least we know there are potential gems lurking out there. We just need someone competent to find them.

by Wilder. on Jun 25, 2008 2:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Never Mind...

that the Pads also reeled in Chris Young in the same deal.

For Otsuka and Eaton.

Yeah…

by TroutMask on Jun 25, 2008 2:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

We need to trade Putz and Dickey while we still have the opportunity.

Yeah, we will miss them, but if we can get an Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young back, then it is totally worth it.

by Wilder. on Jun 25, 2008 2:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's so true, he's so massively underrated.

I probably wouldn’t know if he wasn’t my fantasy 1B 3 years running. I know it’s bad to say the f word, but I’d be oblivious to him without it., which proves the point.

by SethGrandpa on Jun 25, 2008 2:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

So, Jon Daniels traded:

Adrian Gonzalez – one of the best young NL hitters, great overall 1B
Chris Young – good young SP
Termel Sledge

for

Adam Eaton – sucked, got hurt, left for nothing
Akinori Otsuka – was great for two meaningless years, got hurt, left for nothing
Billy Killian – sucked, sold off

by Matthew on Jun 25, 2008 2:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Time to package Putz and Dickey.

by Wilder. on Jun 25, 2008 2:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why Dickey?

I’d rather keep him and hope he turns into the M’s version of Tim Wakefield.

by Jed MC on Jun 25, 2008 3:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd like to see if they'd take Washburn off our hands.

by BrianL on Jun 25, 2008 3:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd like to see Washburn play for Texas.

by Jed MC on Jun 25, 2008 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sell high.

Who doesn’t want to keep Dickey? The thing is, Dickey is not in our long term plans. Our best bet is to flip him while teams are willing to give up something in return.

With Aumont, Morrow, and Fields making a presence in the next few years, we can trade Dickey and be alright. A Putz/Dickey combo could get us a Gonzalez/Young combo if we find the right suitor. Highly unlikely, but it is worth a shot considering Putz and Dickey are on the wrong side of 30 and they have desirable contracts and tools for a contending team. With Bavasi gone, the interim GM might be in better position to deal with other teams. In other words, others GMs don’t know if they can rape our system.

And with a team full of guys with no trade value, Putz and Dickey are expendable and carry good value.

by Wilder. on Jun 25, 2008 5:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs