After a morning of speculation that Gio Gonzalez would be traded to either the Nationals or the Red Sox today, Keith Law has tweeted that Gio is going to the Nats:
↵↵↵keithlaw keithlaw
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Gio to Nats for Cole, Norris, Peacock, and Milone. Love this for Oakland.
I find it a bit interesting that the Gonzalez and John Danks dominoes seem to have fallen almost immediately after the Rangers won the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish, if only because this could be taken to suggest that the sellers of quality starting pitcher presume that Texas will be able to sign him.
As far as the trade, I have to agree with Law. I don't know that any of these players will knock your socks off, like a trade involving Martin Perez - who the A's were reportedly asking for in a deal for either Gonzalez or Andrew Bailey - would, but all of these guys are interesting. AJ Cole and Brad Peacock are the Nats' top two pitching prospects, ranked third and fourth overall in their organization by Baseball America. Derek Norris has seen his stock slip a bit, but he is still an interesting prospect as a catcher with power and the ability to draw walks. He could be really good in Oakland and now won't have to find a way past Wilson Ramos.
Gio now joins Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmerman in an enticing trio atop that rotation, adding a left-handed component. This feels like a win-win to me, and as a Rangers fan I'll consider it a win-win-win, because I was uncomfortable with the rumored price to obtain the guy from a division rival.
↵The last aspect of this that's interesting is that the Red Sox were reportedly trying to obtain Gonzalez and Bailey today in the same trade, while the Rangers are reportedly still after Bailey. Will that domino fall later today?