One day after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox completed a nine-player blockbuster trade that saw more than $250 million in salary exchanged, Adrian Gonzalez delivered one of the franchise’s top moments — ranked No. 10 by DodgerBlue.com — from the past decade.
The Guggenheim Baseball Management Group was not long into their tenure as owner of the Dodgers, and adding that much salary in one fell swoop was a welcomed change from the tumultuous ending to the Frank McCourt era.
Of course, despite the Dodgers receiving the best player(s) in the trade, it was the Red Sox who first won a World Series (2013) — and another in 2018 when they defeated the Dodgers. However, the impact Gonzalez had on the field and throughout the L.A. community cannot be understated.
Gonzalez introduced himself to Dodger Stadium in dramatic fashion by hitting a three-run home run in his first at-bat with the Dodgers. The towering drive down the right-field line was his lone hit, but helped propel the Dodgers to an 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins, who were in their first year of the change from Florida Marlins.
By 2017, Gonzalez was the only player from the trade still with the Dodgers or Red Sox. He remained in L.A. until being sent to the Atlanta Braves in a five-player trade in December 2017. Atlanta immediately released Gonzalez, who went on to sign with the New York Mets.
He appeared in just 54 games before being released by the Mets. Gonzalez hit .280/.339/.454 with 164 doubles, 101 home runs and 448 RBI over parts of six seasons with the Dodgers.
Gonzalez was a productive and everyday player until 2017, when he struggled to continue coping with back and neck trouble. That led to Gonzalez being placed on the injured list for the first time in his career and coincided with Cody Bellinger’s rise to stardom.
Nonetheless, Gonzalez reached 100 career home runs with the Dodgers in August 2017.
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