If first baseman Albert Pujols signs a new deal, Adrian Gonzalez won’t use it as a benchmark for his own contract, according to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. Gonzalez assured the Red Sox that the contract terms he desires will not change between now and the start of the season.

The Red Sox are concerned about the possibility that Pujols would sign contract with an average salary of $30 million-plus per year between now and the beginning of the season, thereby possibly raising the market value for a player like Gonzalez. The first baseman then told the Red Sox that even if Pujols signed such a deal, he would negotiate based on the current market.

“I made a comment to [Red Sox general manager] Theo [Epstein], ‘Make the trade happen by itself, and I promise you during the season I’ll negotiate,” Gonzalez said. “I’m not going to come here and be like, ‘OK, we’ll see you at free agency and see if you outbid the other teams.’ We’ll negotiate during the season. We’re going to be fair. We won’t be looking for record-breaking deals. We just want market value.”

The Mexico native slugger was traded to Boston in early December, and both sides have said they have full confidence that an extension will be reached before Gonzalez hits free agency after the 2011 season, the same time Pujols is set to hit the market. But Gonzalez won’t be basing his contract requests on Pujols and his market.