Please accept my apologies if this has been discussed previously and I was drunk in a gutter somewhere or distracted by the Brooks Conrad thread.

I've thought a lot since last year how amazing it would be to have Adrian Gonzalez. I figured he would be completely untradeable, but some (MLBTR) think the Pads should consider dealing him. The idea got me feeling tingley inside. Let's look at this further.

He's 27 years old. So far this year, he's at 24 HRs, 49 R, 52 RBI with an OPS of .910. The two years before that, he's averaged 33 HR, 102 R, 110 RBI, and an OPS of .860. Meanwhile, he's going to make an absurdly low $3M this year, $4.75M next year, and $5.6M the year after that. 

Casey Kotchman, on the other hand, currently has 4 HR, 21 R, 31 RBI, and a .742 OPS. Granted he's missed some time this year and is a gold-glove caliber defender, but offensive prowess he does not have. In his best year, 2007, he had 11 HR, 64 R, 68 RBI, and an .840 OPS. Gonzo could put these numbers up blindfolded and with one hand (why he's using only one hand, I'll leave to you).

Now, this would not be cheap, but we have the depth to do it. And this would also NOT be Tex version 2 because we'd have him at super cheap for the next 2 years. I think we could give Kotchman, Freddie Freeman, Jo-Jo Reyes, Cole Rohrbough, and Cody Johnson and not miss a beat in the minor leagues.

People always talk about upgrading our offense through the LF position. But if we can get a powerful, young, and cheap 1B that would instantly give us the hitter we need, why not do it?