Adrian Gonzalez has moved on from Boston, and it sounds like he couldn’t be any happier.
The former Red Sox slugger is in the middle of his first spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being sent to L.A. in a blockbuster trade last season, and he says he feels right at home.
In fact, he’s pretty thankful to have gotten the chance to move on to L.A.
“This is the best situation for me,” Gonzalez told the Orange County Register. “I couldn’t be happier. They almost did me in a way a … [They] put me in a situation I wouldn’t be in coming from San Diego. I don’t know if that trade could have happened — coming from San Diego to here. It’s almost like it was meant to be.”
While Gonzalez has obviously moved onto greener pastures, there are still some in Boston who feel he didn’t exactly live up to the lofty standards that come with an enormous contract like Gonzalez’s.
“It’s a situation – I guess most places are like that – when you’re traded like we were, they spin it to make you sound like a bad guy,” he said of his divorce from the Red Sox. “I think at the end of the day, I had a great time. I had a great experience. I’m really happy for the opportunity to play there. But now, I’m really really happy and excited to be here and really excited about where the team is heading and what we have an opportunity to do here.”
Gonzalez also spoke about how the team’s inability to succeed in 2011 and 2012 helped pave the way for him to leave Boston. According to the first baseman, however, all would have been solved simply by a trip to the playoffs.
“At the end of the day, it’s about winning and we didn’t make the playoffs in and that’s what people focus on. If we had made the playoffs, it would have been an amazing year for me [in 2011]. … Then last year, it wasn’t a good enough year because I didn’t help the team be in contention. That’s what led to the trade. When a team’s not playing well, there’s changes that are going to be made.”
