Update: Dylan Hernandez is tweeting that A-Gon’s limited no-trade clause doesn’t allow him to block a trade to the Dodgers.
Sean McAdam is reporting via Twitter that the Boston Red Sox have placed Adrian Gonzalez on waivers. You may remember that several days after the July trade deadline passed word broke that the Dodgers had attempted to connect with the Red Sox on a possible A-Gon trade. Of course talks didn’t last very long, with time not on their side the Dodgers moved on. Now that Gonzalez is on waivers the Dodgers are given another opportunity to land the best first baseman in all of baseball. Those not familiar with how things work in August, you should take a look at the rules of August waiver trades.
So just because Gonzalez is on waivers doesn’t mean he will be traded or claimed, but the door has definitely opened for that possibility. Dodgers GM Ned Colletti had offered several pieces that would build towards Boston’s future. No mention of any specific players, but you  better believe it would take Zach Lee and at least three others in the top 15 to get a deal done.
Gonzalez is owed a massive $131.82MM through 2018, which includes the remainder of his 2012 salary. That’s a huge committment. In return, the Dodgers would solidify their lineup with one of the league’s elite hitters and upgrade to a legit Gold Glove caliber player. A-Gon is batting .304/.349/.478 with 15 home runs and 85 RBI in 516 plate appearances this season. Gonzalez also owns a very respectable 2.9 WAR tying with Mark Teixeira, and behind only Edwin Encarnacion (3.7), Prince Fielder (3.4) , Paul Goldschimdt (3.2), and Albert Pujols (3.1).
Defensively, well, A-Gon is king. Adrian currently has a UZR of 14.0 and a RZR of .871 in 916 innings of play this season. Gonzalez has registered 155 plays at first base this season. Compare that to James Loney who has a UZR of 4.9 and a RZR of .793. Loney however, has only 69 plays logged at first base, and has 746 innings at first base. So Loney’s numbers could actually take a hit, whereas Adrian has already proved that he is by far the best defending first baseman in all of baseball.
I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see Gonzalez clear waivers as most teams would be scared to take the hit on payroll should the Red Sox not be bluffing. The Dodgers should not take that chance and they must absolutely place a claim on Gonzalez if Colletti hasn’t done so already.
World Series Champs if the Dodgers make the claim and come Through with the deal
[...] mentioned a couple days ago that the Dodgers must make a waiver claim on Adrian Gonzalez. Well not only did they put in a claim, the Dodgers have been awarded the waiver claim on Adrian [...]