Mike Gonzalez

According to multiple reports, lefty reliever Mike Gonzalez has agreed to a minor league deal with the Nationals.

According to a major league source, the Red Sox did have some discussions with Gonzalez’ agent, Scott Boras, about the possibility of the pitcher agreeing to terms with the Sox, but the lack of a guaranteed spot on the major league roster (thanks to the presence of Rich Hill, Andrew Miller and Frankin Morales) made Gonzalez view the situation in Washington as a better fit.

The 33-year-old is coming off offseason knee injury, having pitched in a combined 56 games between the Orioles and Rangers in 2011, finishing with an ERA of 4.01. He limited left-handed hitters to a .214 batting average last season. Gonzalez has a career 56 saves, having served as the closer for the Braves for parts of the 2006, ’08 and ’09 seasons.

In case you forgot, the Red Sox once acquired Gonzalez in 2003 in a deal that sent him and Scott Sauerbeck to Boston for Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez. But after the Pirates raised concerns over Lyon’s elbow, the deal was tweaked, with Gonzalez going back to Pittsburgh with Freddy Sanchez for Lyon, Martinez and Jeff Suppan.

He pitched in two games for Triple-A Pawtucket in ’03, earning a save.

Ironically, Red Sox manager Terry Francona believes the worst pitch of the day wasn’t even a pitch that hit anyone. After Sunday’s 8-6 Red Sox win over the Orioles, Francona said he had no problem with Kevin Youkilis getting hit on a changeup. But the manager was very concerned about the pitch that didn’t hit David Ortiz in the sixth, a pitch from Mike Gonzalez that was a foot behind the Red Sox slugger.

“I wasn’t mad,” Francona said of the Jeremy Guthrie changeup that hit Youkilis, drawing a warning from home plate umpire Marty Foster to both benches. “Nobody was mad. Youk got hit with a changeup. I was very surprised.”

Francona said it appeared clear that Guthrie wasn’t trying to hit Youkilis with runners on first and second and one out in the fourth. That set the stage for Francona and Kyle Weiland – making his big league debut – getting ejected when Weiland hit Vladimir Guerrero on the right hand in the fifth.

Sunday was the first time since Aug. 13, 2008 that a big league player was ejected in his big league debut. That day it was Francisley Bueno of the Braves.

“I was ejected, too. I told him he was going to pay my fine,” Francona joked.

But when Gonzalez threw behind Ortiz in the sixth and was ejected, that was different matter, altogether.

“It looked a little [suspicious],” Francona said. “It makes you think. The ball was three feet behind him. That’s where somebody gets hurt. That’s the point where somebody can really get hurt when you do something like that.”

Reached by a pool reporter after the game, crew chief Jeff Nelson said the league will look into it based on their crew report. “We are in the process of issuing a report to the league office,” he said.

Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets that a deal for Milton Bradley between a “surprise AL team” and the Cubs “could happen tonight.” Joel Sherman says the Rangers aren’t the team.

Washington’s interest in Vicente Padilla is “all tire-kicking now,” according to Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post.

Joel Sherman has tweeted that the Yankees and Mets are among the teams meeting with representatives for Ben Sheets.

Kevin Gregg, Mike Gonzalez, and Mark Mulder are among those being considered by the Brewers, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. McCalvy writes that the team was discussing Gregg and Gonzalez internally and had a meeting set up with Mulder’s representatives. Ken Rosenthal adds that the Royals have already met with Mulder.

Tony LaRusa said he and the Cardinals have “talked about” Miguel Tejada at third base, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Ivan Rodriguez has agreed to a two-year deal with the Nationals worth $6 million, according to Yahoo’s Tim Brown.

Fernando Rodney has also turned down arbitration according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck. The 32-year-old had 37 saves and a 1.47 WHIP in 2009.

Jon Heyman is tweeting that the Braves will now attempt to trade Soriano after losing out on the draft pick payoff of a departure via free agency.

Yahoo’s Tim Brown is tweeting that Adrian Beltre and Mike Gonzalez have declined arbitration from the Mariners and Braves, respectively. As was expected, Gonzalez’ teammate Rafael Soriano accepted arbitration from the Braves, according to Ken Rosenthal.

Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution thinks the Braves are trying hard to unload Derek Lowe‘s $45 million over the next three years. O’Brien says the team would rather keep Javier Vazquez.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Sox have a couple of openings in their bullpen with the departures of Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito. The defections of the two veterans leave the Sox with a need to fill out a couple of bullpen spots, rounding out a group that (barring a trade) currently includes Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen.

The Sox will explore the elite relievers on the market. This year, Mike Gonzalez (80 games, 2.42 ERA, 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings) and Rafael Soriano (77 games, 2.97 ERA, 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings) both fit that bill.

However, both will require multi-year contracts as well as the sacrifice of a draft pick, since both Type A free agents were offered salary arbitration. And history suggests that it would be unlikely for the Sox to pay such a price.

Only once during the seven-year administration of GM Theo Epstein have the Sox sacrificed a draft pick or given a contract of more than two guaranteed years to a reliever. Both cases occurred with the signing of Keith Foulke to a three-year deal after the 2003 season.

Unless the Sox trade closer Jonathan Papelbon, thus creating a need for a closer (and there have been no indications that the team will do this), it is difficult to envision Boston making such a sacrifice for a reliever – especially since the Sox are mindful of the year-to-year inconsistencies of performers out of the bullpen.

It is also worth noting that the Sox — who have already coughed up one draft pick in order to sign Marco Scutaro, but gained two back when Billy Wagner signed with the Braves — have only sacrificed multiple draft picks in one offseason. That came after the 2004 season, when the team lost two picks for signing Edgar Renteria and David Wells, but enjoyed a net gain of four draft picks by receiving two selections each for Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Orlando Cabrera.