The Adrian Gonzalez trade (Dec. 6, 2010)

The trade: The San Diego Padres traded Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox for OF Rey Fuentes, RHP Casey Kelly, 1B Anthony Rizzo and IF Eric Patterson.

How it happened: Being traded is nothing new for Gonzalez, who has been dealt five times in his career — spanning from 2003 (when he was a minor leaguer) to this past Saturday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers foisted him on the Atlanta Braves to clear his salary. This particular trade, between the Padres and Red Sox, was the third involving Gonzalez and came in the prime of his career.

Gonzalez was 28 and was coming off three consecutive All-Star seasons for the Padres. He was a two-time Gold Glove first baseman who’d had four straight years of 30 or more homers and 99 or more RBIs, no easy feats to accomplish at San Diego’s cavernous Petco Park. The Padres saw no chance to re-sign him once his contract was up, so they sent him to the big-budget Red Sox, who agreed to parameters of an extension with Gonzalez during a negotiating window. Ultimately, they inked him to a seven-year, $154 million extension.

The Padres received a slew of young players, headlined by Kelly and Rizzo, both among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects.

The results: Neither team, as it turned out, really got what they wanted out of the trade. None of the Padres’ prospects flourished in San Diego. Fuentes and Patterson (the brother of former Oriole, Corey) combined for 70 games and went 21-for-122 (.172) between them. Kelly pitched just nine games, posting a 6.69 ERA. As for Rizzo, the Padres gave up on him way too soon, trading him to the Chicago Cubs for righty Andrew Cashner after one disappointing season. Rizzo has since become an All-Star first baseman and won a World Series with the Cubs.

Gonzalez’s Red Sox career was unexpectedly short; he lasted less than two seasons into his seven-year deal. After an All-Star campaign in 2011, Gonzalez was dealt to the Dodgers in 2012 in a shocking salary-dump trade that also sent Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford to Los Angeles. For Orioles fans, the most lasting image of Gonzalez in a Red Sox uniform may be when emergency pitcher Chris Davis struck him out swinging in a classic 17-inning marathon at Fenway Park in 2012. Gonzalez is now a free agent after being released by the Braves on Monday.

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