Tops Of The Ninth

It's official! Adrian Gonzalez has finalized a 7 year contract extension said to be worth around $154 million dollars to stay in Boston. Gonzalez's contract is the ninth richest in major league history and makes him (deservingly) one of the highest paid players/first basemen in Major League Baseball.

With the ink now dry on this contract, the Boston Red Sox have solidified their young core of stars for long term contracts, making the next 4-7 years in Boston very, very interesting. Carl Crawford, as we know is a $20 million dollar man, here for the next 7 years. Clay Buccholz just signed a four year extension, following in the footsteps of Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.

Before last season, Dustin Pedroia locked himself into a contract extension and Kevin Youkilis is signed through the next several seasons. This team is young, getting younger, and when the chemistry starts to click... they will be scary. Its time for a slight reality check. The Boston Red Sox are 2-9. Their best hitter is Jed Lowrie. Now, not to take anything away from Lowrie, something tells me he won't keep up the Ted Williams pace he's on and the average will go south of its current .438 rating. On the flip side of that coin, players that historically hit closer to .300 are all slumping at once: Crawford .152, Ellsbury .189, Youkilis .182. Adrian Gonzalez is starting to get over the early season slump, posting a batting average of .268 and climbing. Dustin Pedroia has been a maniac, batting .366 consistently.

This team is not very far away from turning on the jets and bypassing the rest of the American League East offensively.

Once the lineup starts putting up career average numbers, this team is going to be a tough one, and remain a tough team for many years to come, anchored by #28 on first.