González?

First off, I just wanted to say how happy I am that we've agreed to terms with my favorite reliever- Mike González. We've made a great addition to our struggling bullpen. Once I heard he declined Atlanta's arbitrition offer, I had my fingers crossed that the O's would pursue him.

The second thing I wanted to mention has to do with another González... Adrian González. It's just coincidence that they have the same last name and both are mexicanos también, but Adrian González is one of my top 3 favorite players in baseball.

Ever since he signed with San Diego, he has been arguably the quietest super star in baseball. I mean, when do you hear about him? Only at the end of the season and you see he's won a Gold Glove, or check the league leaders and see González had hit 40+ HR's that year. Everybody's eyes are focused on the Albert Pujols', the Ryan Howard's, and the Joe Mauer's. And rightly so. But González is right up there with them. Maybe not on the same level as Pujols, but certainly one of the elite hitters in baseball. Plus, he's (so far) a 2x Gold Glove winner at 1B.

Here are his credentials since 2006 (with his seasonal average in parenthesis):

130 HR (32), 400 RBI (100), 680 H (170), .285 BA, .369 OBP, .515 SLG, .884 OPS, a 2x All-Star, and 2x Gold Glove winner (.994 FP%).

The only weakness in him is his tendency to strike out. In that same time frame, he's averaged 126 K's a year. However, no one can deny his bat and glove. He would be a great addition to this team and have an amazing clean up hitter.

The trick though, is persuading him to come to Baltimore and not Boston (you know those douche's are always making big moves; they're the Yankees, Part 2.)

Here's a link from mlb.com giving more details. But I would be ecstatic if the Birds could land Adrian González's services.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091216&content_id=7817792&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb