As for his hitting, go back and look at his June numbers, the only month in which he started regularly. It’s not unreasonable to expect him to develop into a player that can do that over a whole season (.299/.350/.420). Those numbers, with speed and plus D, = Jimmy Rollins (who did not hit more than 14 HRs in his 1st five seasons).

So it’s not really that much of a stretch.

Don’t sell short the value of a young, cheap MI with some pop! Just don’t let him hit RH.

And, I thought Mench was listed as an OF/1B? Or did I dream that up?

And then trade F-Mart, Humber, and Mulvey for Blanton and Street?

That would set us up w/

Santana
Pedro
Blanton
Maine
Perez

W/ a bullpen with EL Duque, Wise, Street, Feliciano, and Wagner… not bad i don’t think.

If we could resign Perez, which should be very possible, we would have a good, young rotation that could lead this team for years.

By the way, the reason that people keep mentioning El Duque for the pen is the fact that he knows how to get big outs. I will never forget that guy coming in against 3/4/5 of the Red Sox order with the bases loaded in the playoffs and getting three outs w/o allowing a run. Plus, it would limit the number of innings he throws, which would keep him fresh for October.

It’s okay to limit your farm system when 4 out of 5 of your starters are under 30.

Say they could only get GOmez and Mulvey at the deadline (or Melky and Kennedy, or whatever). That is still probably ebtter than the 2 picks will be.

Now, would the Mets give up that much at the deadline, with no window? Probably, if they really need him (especially after last year!), plus you have 3 months to work on signing him.

Calculated risk by the Twins. At least the GM builds up good will points for trying to win with him, especially if they make another contract offer to him.

Several reporters have also re-iterated this fact as well.

Im starting to sour on this whole Santana thing ….

Here’s a few of observations (feel free to ‘blast’ me as needed :)

1.) the more the Twins wait, the more I hink it gives teams to actually contemplate and digest what it will cost (in addition to the traded players) to sign Santana.

This, in turn, gives momentum to people within the Yankees, Red Sox and Met’s organizations to “build their case” with the other foks that it doesnt make sense to do this deal.

The cost of both players to be traded and the fact that the deal Santana is seeking practically will be uninsurable are big factors in causing teams to hesitate, think twice or look elsewhere for something more reasonable.

I’m not saying the Twins are greedy — I personally think they are playing it “right” to drag their feet a bit and try and drive up the price — but the more they wait and the more we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting then the more I think the Mets, Yanks and Sox will all say “to hell with it, even though this guy is arguably the #1pitcher in baseball he isnt worth a 6-7 year deal PLUS a boatload of prospects.”

You need to go 5 years here and offer like 24 million/ per year (so you can at least get the insurance for him) — no way do I do this deal without some sort of insurable deal.

2.) Since the Mets will need to overpay (based on the fact that their offer seemingly does not have as much frontline talent as compared to the Yankees and Red Sox) this makes point #1 even more of a stumbling block then it is for the Yankees and Red Sox.

3.) My guess is that the Twins NEED at least 1 “real” frontline position player in order to make the deal work for them. We would need to step up the offer in order to better compete with Melky Cabrera and Co Co Crisp’s offense.

Over the weekend (when the Mets obtained Angel Pagan again) I was seriously wondering if Ryan Church would soon be offered along with Gomez, Pelfry and perhaps few other AA pitchers. (5 for 1) or Church, Gomez, Mulvey, and a few other AA pitchers, or Church, Heilmann and 1 other prospect.

I do think offering Church matches up with the Twins needs a bit better (and matches up with Melky’s and Co Co’s production/ perceived value better).

Of couse this then would create a need for a more reliable bat for the Mets in rightfield – perhaps Luis Gonzalez or Kevin Mench? I’m not too crazy about Gonzalez given his age. But I cant see how the Mets have the top tier talent to get this deal done without a hitter like Church in the deal,

Gotay is a nice bat, but no where near as productive as what the Red Sox and Yankees are offering. And Gomez (although a “higher ceiling” player then Melky and Coco) just isnt going to give them the production out of the shoot that I think the Twins really want in this deal.

The Twins dont want just pitching in exchange — they want a halfway decent, proven outfielder or productive bat (it seems) – and Church is the only guy I can think of that you can package
in order to compete with the production that Melky and Coco Crisp can be expected to produce.

At least if we packaged Church in the deal then all the Omar bashers would see that essentially he swapped Milledge for Church which in turn allowed him to get Santana, which I would think might change people’s opinion about the Milledge deal.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?