There is no question about if Gio Gonzalez will get traded, only when and to whom. And it sounds like the Nationals are doing their best to answer that last part.
At various points in time, rumors have connected about half the teams in Major League Baseball to the Oakland lefty, most notably the Yankees, Tigers and Phillies. But FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Nationals are making a serious effort to acquire Gonzalez, perhaps sending right-handed pitching prospect Brad Peacock to the A's, or left-handed prospect Ross Detwiler. MLB.com's Bill Ladson says that acquiring Gonzalez is the Nats' top priority, and that the Red Sox and Blue Jays are also in the mix.
The Nationals are still in the midst of a long building process, but they may not be far from competing -- and an addition of Gonzalez to team with Stephen Strassburg at the top of the rotation could make the Nats a serious player in the NL East.
Gonzalez becomes arbitration-eligible after the 2012 season, and would likely command a salary in excess of $4 million, which could rise to as much as $8-$10 million by 2015. So the A's still have a full year to deal Gonzalez before he gets paid, but the longer Oakland waits, the less leverage they'll have, and the less value they'll get in return. Even still, the A's have been so unyielding and unreasonable in what they are demanding in a swap, it wouldn't be a surprise if they hold onto him deep into the 2012 season.
The Red Sox are also thought to still be very interested in Gonzalez -- and the lefty would be a valuable addition to a thin Sox rotation, especially when it comes to beating the left-handed-heavy Yankees.
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