January 9, 200818 yr Sources: Marlins interested in Gonzalez By Ken Rosenthal Updated: January 9, 2008, 12:34 PM EST The Marlins are showing interest in free-agent outfielder Luis Gonzalez, envisioning the five-time All-Star as a veteran mentor who would play both left field and first base, according to major-league sources. Gonzalez, 40, is also drawing consideration from the Brewers, and could be a fit for the Mariners if Seattle includes outfielder Adam Jones in a trade for Orioles left-hander Erik Bedard or another starting pitcher. The Marlins are not expected to contend after trading third baseman Miguel Cabrera and left-hander Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers for six younger players. Gonzalez might prefer to join a team with a better chance of reaching the postseason. However, playing time is important to Gonzalez, who stands an outside chance of reaching 3,000 hits, an unofficial standard for the Hall of Fame. Gonzalez, who turns 41 in September, finished last season with 2,502 hits. A native of Tampa, Gonzalez would appeal to the large Cuban-American community in Miami. He also is familiar with Marlins bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley from their days together with the Diamondbacks. Gonzalez spent last season with the Dodgers, batting .278 with 15 homers and 68 RBIs in 139 games, his lowest total since 1995. A rift grew between the Dodgers' veterans and youngsters, but Gonzalez's main complaint was that manager Grady Little failed to communicate lineup decisions with him. Little was replaced by Joe Torre after the season ended, and the Dodgers have shown little interest in bringing back Gonzalez. They signed free-agent center fielder Andruw Jones to a two-year, $36.2 million contract, and Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are likely to be their corner outfielders.
January 9, 200818 yr Occassionally Rotoworld hits the nail on the head: "Florida hardly needs to be taking at-bats away from Josh Willingham and Mike Jacobs and giving them to a 41-year-old who would do absolutely nothing to address their problems on defense. If they're going to bring in veterans, they at least need to be solid defenders, something Gonzalez hasn't been in years." Jan. 9 - 12:58 pm et http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpag...7990&spln=1
January 9, 200818 yr well put Roto. Hammer and Jacobs aren't 21 anyway, all of the "veteran" talk makes me ill sometimes.
January 9, 200818 yr Before we all collectively get our panties in a wad let's remember this is Ken Rosenthal after all who is off-base so often it would be impossible to keep count. Honestly, when was the last time Rosenthal was right about anything of sustance when it came to the Fish?
January 9, 200818 yr We don't need Luis Gonzalez. He isn't the same player he was with the D'backs, and even if he was, we can't use him cause we are rebuilding and it'll only take away playing time from our young guys. I like Luis Gonzalez, but I think a real veteran mentor for our club can be maybe a Julio Franco, or someone of that nature. I don't see no point in even taking at bats away from Josh "Hammer" Willingham, or even adding depth to a position we already are deep in like first base, which would also rule out Franco. So I say no thanks.
January 9, 200818 yr Tell me this is a joke. This guy hasn't been good since he stopped juicing Am I missing something here? When did this guy even come up on the Mitchell Report?
January 9, 200818 yr Tell me this is a joke. This guy hasn't been good since he stopped juicing Am I missing something here? When did this guy even come up on the Mitchell Report? He wasn't in the Mitchell report, there were rumors 2 years ago about him juicing. And if you think the only guys juicing were the ones mentioned in the Micthell report, you're nuts
January 9, 200818 yr but I think a real veteran mentor for our club can be maybe a Julio Franco, More like a grandfather figure.
January 9, 200818 yr gonzo was terrible with the "baby backs" out here he hated giving up any time to the young guys and was frusterated that there wasn't more of a veteran presence as for the juicing rumors i just saw this in a d'backs forum today
January 9, 200818 yr gonzo was terrible with the "baby backs" out here he hated giving up any time to the young guys and was frusterated that there wasn't more of a veteran presence as for the juicing rumors i just saw this in a d'backs forum today I was bony my last year in high school, and I got ripped during college, does that mean I juiced too?
January 10, 200818 yr the earliest that photo could of been done is 1990 - that would put him around 23 at his youngest (born in 1967) don't know about you - but I was definitely out of college in at 23 and very well removed from HS
January 10, 200818 yr I don't see the problem with this. He wasn't horrible overall last year even if his post stats dipped dramatically. I'd love to flip Jacobs for more young pitching (NYY/Balt/SF/etc) and move Hammer to 1B. I don't view Jacobs as a longterm piece at 1B so he's really irrelevant in my eyes. Hammer has a better shot at being a longterm contributor and he's going to have to move out of LF eventually so you could do it now in a low pressure year versus 09/10 when the team should be on the cusp of contending. Having a Cody/Gonzalez LF (and maybe Carroll) would be a sufficient stop gap for a year and would give Cody additional PA to see if last year was a fluke or not. Not the end of the world.
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