Alright MVB readers, I am still alive and I apologize for the long delay. My 10 day long roadtrip with no internet coupled with the fact that I thought if I didn’t post about the Johan Santana news maybe it wouldn’t come true, leaves me with a very overdue post.
So as everyone knows by now, last Friday, the Twins officially traded ace Johan Santana to the New York Mets when he signed a 6-year extension for $137.5 million. After a Friday, February 1st, 5 pm deadline had passed for the Mets to sign Santana to a deal it took a two hour extenstion for the two sides to agree on a deal.
I don’t need to link you to all the articles reviewing the trade and experts giving their analysis, but many baseball people have deemed the players on the Twins side as undervalue for Santana. Yet, I sympathize with the situation that GM Bill Smith was in. He was caught in between a rock and a hard place, and when it came down to it the New York Mets were really the only team he had left to deal with.
Smith may have overplayed his hand causing the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox to drop out of the race, but in the end it was time for Santana to go. Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire expressed concern over the distraction of bringing Santana back to Spring Training in Fort Myers.
So Santana is gone and the Twins now usher in a new era. I have to admit it would have been nice to see the Yanks’ stud pitcher Phil Hughes, the Sox’s slick outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, or even top Met prospect Fernando Martinez come over in a deal, but a trade like this will always seem unfair until years down the road. Maybe Santana will dominate in the NL, win multiple Cy Young awards, take a very good team to World Series, and the four prospects will never pan out for the Twins. But also, maybe Santana will have a couple solid seasons and begin to deteriorate as Gomez replaces Torii Hunter, Mulvey and Humber become solid starters in the rotation, and the young Guerra develops into an ace. Who knows???
The Santana deal came shortly after the Twins locked up their young stars Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. This duo along with star Joe Mauer are now the leaders of this very young club. As Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune writes, the Twins are set to contend in their new ballpark in 2010.
A bulk of my blog posts in the past 3 months have been devoted to Santana and the impending trade. If you want a great review of how this deal came to be and all the rumors and teams in between here is the offseason Santana review.
All and all the deal is a tough one to swallow. It is hard to patient and see if these prospects will contribute someday, and it is even harder to see a great player and class act like Santana leave. I’m happy for Santana as he really came out on top. He’s making record money, going to a league with a significantly less quality of hitters, moving to a pitcher’s ballpark, and to a team with much more run support. At the same time, the Twins organization has a history of succeeding in large prospect heavy deals like this, ex. Chuck Knoblauch to Yankees for Eric Milton, Christian Guzman and the biggest steal ever A.J. Pierzynksi to the Giants for Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, and that one kid named Francisco Liriano.
Someday we will know how this deals turns out, but until then I think the 2008 Twins will be young, inexperienced, raw, but very fun to watch.
MVB readers… I’d love to hear your take on the deal in the comments section?
Also, stay tuned for a position by position preview of the 2008 Twins as we prepare for Spring Training.
Finally, some new developments in the Santana sweepstakes, but don’t get too excited because of course “no deal is imminent.” I’m starting to think that if the Twins cannot find what they want in a trade for Santana, maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t be the craziest thing to open up the wallet and show him the money!
The framework of the deal is believed to be Santana to the Mets for top pitching prospect Deolis Guerra, CF Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Kevin Mulvey and Phi Humber. Christensen gives a good background of each young player in his article. Guerra is a 6-5 righthander with nasty stuff and is only 18 years old. He has a very high ceiling but is still very far from pitching in the majors which means many potential question marks. Gomez could take over the CF vacancy for the Twins in 2008. He has blazing speed (even faster than SS Jose Reyes) but needs work with his bat. The other two pithers, Mulvey and Humber, were once prized prospects in the Mets organizations and now project as solid No. 4 or No. 5 starters.
Reports claim that the Twins would accept the deal if the Mets are willing to trade top prospect, OF Fernando Martinez. Martinez is only 19 and is regarded as one of the best prospects in baseball with an extremely high ceiling. I’ve even heard quite large comparisons to a young Ken Griffey Jr. Not convinced on that one as Griffey was destined for greatness from the day he picked up a baseball bat with no questions asked.
Overall, the deal has lots of talent and is loaded with some potential stars and solid MLB contributors; however, it has many question marks and much more risk than that of the Red Sox and Yankees deal. Although all the deals involve young players and every deal involves risk. Here is MLB.com’s take.
The kicker in the emergence of the Mets as the new frontrunner comes with the news today that the Yankees are considering pulling out of any Santana deal. With the loss of a potential suitor in the Yanks and the Red Sox standing very firm in their current proposals, the Mets may become the Twins best option. The NL team from Queens needs Santana the most, is willing to pay Santana the most, and may be willing to give up the most for Santana.
The winter meetings are officially over and GM Bill Smith and his entourage have headed home to the Twin Cities. Most notably, Johan Santana is still wearing a Twins uniform.
Smith had many conversations, lot of players were discussed, and the media made a frenzy of the Santana sweepstakes, but in the end Smith and the Twins were not satisfied with their offers. Does this mean Santana will be a Twin when the 2008 season starts? Not so fast…talks have stalled for now, but expect many more rumors in the next couple weeks.
ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Santana discussions are far from over. Of all the potential suitors, Olney still feels the Red Sox are the favorite to acquire the All-Star pitcher.
The New York Mets have joined the Santana fray along with the Red Sox and many people still believe the New York Yankees are in on the talk although they claim they are done discussing Santana. Reports also claim the Seattle Mariners have explored deals for the Twins’ pitcher while both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels seems to be on the outside looking in. Fox Sport’s Dayn Perry breaks down all the possible Santana deals.
Torii Hunter was a tough loss to swallow. The trade of Johan Santana can no longer be discussed as if, but when. But as I said, be prepared.
It appears that Hunter’s signing for mega dollars with the Angels coupled with Santana declining the Twins 4-year $80 million dollar extension was the opening of the floodgates for what will most definitely be a crazy offseason for GM Bill Smith and the Twins.
SANTANA UPDATE
The list of suitors as of today appears to be the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Angels, and Dodgers. The Yankees have made the most headlines admitting they have had “preliminary discussions” with the Twins regarding Santana. Mets GM Omar Minaya has also stated they have talked to the Twins and is reported as saying he will “get creative” to try and acquire the All-Star lefty.
Names thrown around in talks with the Yankees include the big three of Yankee pitching prospects Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy as well as Yankee CF Melky Cabrera and 2B Robinson Cano. Any deal would certainly have to include one of the three pitching studs, one of the two Yankee starters, and one or two more minor league prospects. It has been reported that Chamberlain and Cano are nearly untouchable in any deal.
Minaya of the Mets loves to make a splash during the offseason and this season may actually need to after the Mets catastrophic collapse at the end of the season. One intriguing name quietly mentioned in talks about Santana is the Mets’ electric shortstop Jose Reyes. To me, that may be the one player the Twins could acquire that would at least make up for Santana’s presence and appease the fans. Reyes teamed with Mauer and Morneau could form an exciting young trio for years to come.
The Red Sox are reported as “actively pursuing” but seem to be very unwilling to part with young stars Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Bucholtz. A deal for Santana would seemingly have to include one of the two, but Boston must be mentioned because where the Yankees are the Sox are always close behind.
The Dodgers definitely have the young players to make a deal but may be unwilling to sign Santana to a large extension and the Angels just joined the fray with the intriguing possibility of Santana teaming up with new Angel and former Twin Hunter.
TRADE RUMORS
To keep a long blog short, the rumor mill is swirling and almost every bit of news seems to include the Twins. Names include the obvious Santana, young Twins pitcher Matt Garza, and All-Star stud closer Joe Nathan with names returning to the Twins such as the Red Sox Coco Crisp, the Rays rookie of year runner-up Delmon Young, the Diamondbacks young outfielder Carlos Quentin, and more. It appears that if Santana is (sorry when) he is traded, Nathan will follow him right out the door. Check out the Fox Sports trade rumors to read the MLB hot stove rumors concerning the Twins.
For more news on Santana along with the new Nathan rumors, Star Tribune writer, La Velle E. Neal III writes in his Twins blog.
Also, what’s your opinion? Star Tribune poll asks which team will give the return in a trade for Santana?
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