He may not be ready to swing a bat just yet, but new Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is in Fort Myers for spring training and seems ready to go.
Gonzalez arrived to camp more than a week before the Feb. 18 deadline for position players, and while he's still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, the newly christened "Gonzilla" is getting as much work in as he can.
"I'm looking forward to getting healthy here in spring, and getting some at-bats in," he told redsox.com. "I'm taking ground balls, pretty much the full workout other than hitting. Like I've said all along, I'm very excited about playing for this team, for this organization, but I just have to focus on being ready personally."
According to The Boston Globe, Gonzalez isn't getting too caught up in any pending contract negotiations. The Globe also reports that Gonzalez' agent won't be arriving in Fort Myers until early March, when it's assumed they'll pick up talks. It still remains unlikely though that a deal will be announced before Opening Day, however, as doing so would push the Red Sox up against the 2011 luxury tax threshold.
