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According to Joe Christensen in the Star-Tribune, Twins officials believe Johan Santana will be traded before spring training.
The Twins ‘realize none of the packages 
will appease their fans,’ writes Christensen, who adds…
“It’s possible the Twins will trade Santana without landing one player who is universally recognized as a big help in 2008. Lately, the Twins have seemed most intrigued with the Mets’ offer…
“If the Red Sox and Yankees don’t improve their offers - and the Twins have reason to believe they won’t - Santana could wind up with the Mets…
“The Twins would make that deal and step into a public relations nightmare.”
…so, if i am reading this correctly, all that really stands between santana and Queens is Twins GM Bill Smith becoming comfortable with public-reaction to a deal with the Mets…
…the thing is, if you read how his team’s fans comment to articles in the Star-Tribune, or read fan blogs from Minnesota, it often reads as though they are quite in favor of what the Mets are rumored to be offering…
…for more on this exact notion, read my post from 
Tuesday, by clicking here, in which i wondered if this exact scenario would hold things up for the Mets…
If the Mets do not acquire Santana, and he goes to the Yankees instead…
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This is getting like the movie Ground Hog day!
Omar is playing his hand, and I’m tired of people claiming he could do something about this, maybe by just adding F-Mart to the deal. Smith would still wait on Hughes. That’s who he wants.
Yankees and Sox are playing their hand too by saying what they “wont” do.
It’s smart then for Omar to hold back F-Mart as it is still the best deal and adding him doesn’t change anything. Then he might have to add something else to put them over the top. Now he has F-Mart as that guy, but again, I don’t think it is a difference maker.
Martinez does not make this happen. Omar drew a line because he still has the best deal on the table without him in it, and the Twins will have to decide to take it or not. Martinez is just another prospect that isn’t major league ready.
I don’t understand how the same people who are wondering why the Mets won’t just throw in Martinez to make this happen are the same ones who believe Martinez is also important enough to make it happen. Especially since we probably like him more than the Twins do. Think about it.
well reasoned.
I’m definatly one of those guys saying add FMart NOW. But I’ve been advocating that move to get the Yanks or Sox to then have to add to their offers or the Twins go to the Mets. Sure FMart is a GREAT prospect but a lot can go wrong as well as right with an 18 year old and if all went well he wouldn’t be ready to really make an impact at the major league level for another 3 years. So I’ve felt the last three days that the deal is slip sliding away. However, if Christensen is speaking for the Twins then I am encouraged again that , like you say, Omar is playing this just right. We’ll see. In Omar we trust…….I guess…with fingers crossed.
Sounds to me like just more propaganda to get the Yanks and Sox to up their offers.
except Groundhog Day (the movie) was actually entertaining.
Yeah, but the setup was so implausible.
I mean really, who could ever be THAT devoted to Andie MacDowell.
I could see it, as long as she never tried to act.
Fanbase expectations? Is that the issue?
Any of the offers on the table is a record for this type of transaction! Santana is great, yes, but he has one year to free agency, and then it will take Fort Knox to sign him.
Anything over the two draft picks they would otherwise recieve if they kept him should be gravy to the fans. Twins tried to resign him and now know they can not. Anything over those two draft picks is a win.
Sure the Twins could keep him one more year, but why? Its not like they are going to complete with him this year.
Any of the Yankee, Red Sox or Mets offer is a “win” for the Twins. Anyone tell you differently is nuts. I dont care that there have been a couple of nutso trades already this year. That does not change the facts.
Mets can NOT be short sighted and add Santana at the expense of purging the farm system. To be honest, I would rather stay put and keep our prospects. I have never been a fan on bringing in a star around the peak point… getting a few great years and them watching the decline. We did that with Piazza. Sure I loved Piazza even in his down years, but I would be lying to say it was not painful to watch. Remember, getting Piazza did not cost the whole farm.
Say we do trade for Santana, and end up trading away the entire farm. If we need another player, we would have to rely solely on free agency. We would not have any prospects to trade for talent. Is that really the position we want to be in?
Maybe we would be safe, after all we would have 3B (Wright), SS (Reyes), 2B (Castillo, assuming he remains healthy), CF (Beltran) all locked up, as well as a pitching staff anchored by Santana, Perez and Maine (assuming we sign the latter two long term). I believe the pen can traditionally be had via free agency, but that still leaves C, 1B, LF and RF and two rotation spots open. Without a true farm, how do we fill those spots if we empty the farm now. Do we really want journey men? Alou will be gone next year (and hopefully he is healthy this year).
A great pitcher would be nice. And Santana could be that. But his last year was the worst in the past 5 years. Look how fast Zito went south. Why couldn’t Santana do the same? There are only so many good pitches in an arm (that is not aided by HGH). Your arms such as Pelfrey, Humber, Mulvey and Guerra may be better for the Mets in the long run.
I am hoping we do not get Santana, but if we do I sure hope it does not cost FMART. Its bad enough all those other prospects are mentioned. Sure there is no guaranty those prospects will mature to our liking, but I would rather take that chance.
Just my opinion.
Go Mets!
other than your statement that castillo is a piece of the puzzle i agree. church is going to sign on and still going to be a met in 09 and so will schneider, so we still have those positions. pelfrey should be established by then, so there is a fourth piece of the rotation….at this point i am really fine either way, i cant make up my mind. i would say if he can be had for 4 prospects it needs to be done, but the fifth is too much. i think 4 is even too much
If only it was just the fans. Minnesota fans tend to be very accepting and forgiving when it comes to their stars getting traded away for prospects. The Twins fans are very aware of their economic woes and can be very understanding. Smith’s job isn’t in danger as far as the fans go.
I think the bigger problem is some the the Twins star players. The Twins have been trying to sign Cuddyer and Morneau to extensions, but both players haven’t been too open to the possibility. They want to wait and see what kind of moves Smith and Co. pull off before signing anything long term. Even though there has been no talk of a deal, you can add Nathan to that group as well.
I know a lot of the players were very upset with management last year. Many felt they could still win the division and wanted management to trade for some offensive help. Instead, they traded Castillo for a minor leaguer right at the deadline. Castillo had great speed, great defense and was one of the few productive bats in the line up. The players felt betrayed and I can’t really say I blame them. The whole team just laid down and died after that.
Anyway, the point is Smith’s reluctance goes much deeper then what the fans think. What he does will affect the way he and the rest of the Twins management is perceived by the players. And that will affect his ability to keep a lot of very popular players on the roster.
The fans may not be an issue right now, but if some of the popular players start asking for trades or dissappearing via free agency, that could change.
That’s why I think if a trade does happen, the Sox or Yankees would have the edge in spite of what anybody might say contrary. Both of these deals fill the Twins need at CF, include a solid pitcher to help ease the loss of Santana, plus a few decent prospects for down the road and depth.
Both of these deals tell the fans and more importantly the players that this management team is doing everything it can sensibly do to not only win now, but keep winning for years to come. A prospects only trade, no matter how good they may be or how many they may get will probably alienate the players even further. It just won’t be as appealing to the Twins management or players no matter how many players are in the package or how good they are.
Minnesota also has their own outfield and pitching prospects, several of whom are closer to making the major league roster then any of the players in the Mets package.
In a lot of ways, doing nothing and starting the season with Santana in the rotation is more appealing. At least Santana will be there helping the team win now.
At this point I don’t think it would take that much more from the Skanks or Sox to get it done. If the Mets really want to pull off a trade, that is what they are up against. They are going to have to throw a deal at Minnesota that they can’t refuse.
Well, I don’t know about your new GM, but if it was my decision, I would take the offer that gives me what I percieved to be the best talent in return.
If the players you mentioned want to leave because they don’t like that I took the best deal. I’d trade their asses and get more highly talented prospects in return. Plus I would get high draft picks for sucking for a couple of years. In 3 years, I’d have a young team filled with more talent than I would know what to do with (assuming a good scouting system).
I doubt the Yanks or Bosox will raise their offers because they have to concern themselves with the luxury tax that they are paying, and which will increase substantially with a Santana signing. It seems neither team is willing to give up a whole lot of talent AND increase their payroll.
So basically, you have the Mets as the only team willing and able to increase payroll AND give up blue chip talent. Signing Santana would NOT put the Mets over the luxury tax threshold.
But that is just it. What magagement perceives as a good trade and what the players perceive as a good trade may be two different things. Also keep in mind that this would be coming on the heels of trading Castillo for a prospect and ending what slim chances they had of winning the division last year. As far as the players are concerned, management is walking on thin ice right now.
Smith….trade him …..keep him……or
shoot him and me in the head and put us all out of our misery.
I’m not a gambling man but I’d bet the farm, or at least the tractor, that Santana is a met next month….
Maybe just the wheels of the tractor…
This could be just another ploy by the Twins FO to get the Yankees/Red Sox to up their offers.
Dunkin Donuts coffee and Johan Santana “buzz” has been the way I’ve started my morning for the past 2 months.
Is the coffee then, really necessary?
If I’m Bill Smith, I take the Red Sox offer and throw Lester in to the rotation.
Lester can take Santana’s spot in the rotation and not suck. He’s already had success at the major league level. If another prospect pans out, so much the better.
The mets are offering guys who may not be as good as lester for a couple of years. The window for having all their young talnet playing together will be closing. Smith will be run out of town if he rebuilds when he has guys like Mauer & Mourneau.
He could wait until summer and fleece a very desperate team.
Doing nothing is the worst thing he can do. He’ll get two extra draft picks, but that is a crap shoot
Oh my God…there is a rumor that Santana is coming to the Mets, or the Yankees, or Red Sox. I just crawled from under a rock.
s00o0o sick of the rollercoaster of articles on johan… DO SOMETHING!
I hope you are talking to Smith. There is nothing Omar can do.
Joe Christensen does a great job in this article — I highly recommend reading the entire thing — giving some empirical evidence on why the Twins might take the Mets offer and how the fans will react both now and in the future. He compares the deal, without explicitly saying so, to the Twins trade of Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees. In that deal, Twins’ fans were clamoring for Ramiro Mendoza, Ricky Ledee (oh man what a swing, if only he could make contact with that darn baseball), and Luis de los Santos, but the Twins “settled” for Eric Milton and Christian Guzman (along with two other lesser players), who both became All-Stars.
To give an even better comparison of a deal where people thought the Twins got “fleeced” (nice word-choice Christensen), the Twins sent A.J. Pierzynski to the Giants for Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano.
Obviously I don’t want to see the Mets get abused like the Giants did, but it seems that Christensen, at least, is on the Mets’ side, and may help shape the opinion of the Twins brethren, all the while making it easier for Smith to pull the trigger.
The article Joe Christensen posted last week was widely speculated to be engineered by the Twins, themselves. If that’s the case this time, Bill Smith may have already decided on the Mets package and is preparing the public (with Christensen’s help) on softening the stark reality our prospects might be better for their organization in the future.
Yep I completely agree — for all of the people who think the Twins are just trying to get the Yankees and Twins to raise their price, please just read the article. It’s basically a plea for fans to be patient if (when) the Twins and Mets agree on how many and what combination of Martinez, Gomez, Guerra, Mulvey, and Pelfrey will go to the Twins. I think Christensen himself understands that between losing Torii Hunter and being in a division with the Indians and Tigers, they won’t be competitive until 2010 at the earliest, and the Mets offer gives them the best chance to win in 2010 by not just giving them a Johan-lite substitute for less money, but by giving them multiple pieces to fill CF and 2 or 3 spots in the rotation, especially if the Twins rate Guerra as highly as most people seem to. Plus, if the Twins were really just trying to use the newspaper to raise the price on Johan, why wouldn’t they be trying to get the Mets to pony up more players so they could get a bigger return and not have to face Johan in their own league every year? If their goal is to be competitive, it doesn’t make too much sense to send the best pitcher in baseball to one of the best teams in the AL.
I’m glad somebody thought this as well. I tried posting that last night that it looks like the twinkies are laying the groundwork for a trade to the Mets via the local press…..getting the fanbace ready, etc. Unfortunately, my post, along with a link to the article, got blocked.
Maybe I’m just pessimistic, but I can’t help but think that they’re trying to get the Sox or Yanks to up the anty a bit by adding another player, even a mid level guy.
Nah…if they want a deal from either the Sox or Skanks, they’d leak they are close to a deal with one or the other. as the Twinkies know that the Sox and Skanks care most about each other potentially landing Johan, not about the Mets getting him.
I agree with both of you on this. Every pro sports exec knows who the friendly beat writers & columnists are; they are used to ready the market for future actions.
I’ve opposed the 5:1 trade (2 OFs and 3 SPs) as being too high a price for a guy who commands Santana’s contract. It’s really paying all that talent to have a lock on getting Johan this year, rather than taking our chance with him as an FA next year. For that, it’s too high a price to give up both the best position prospect AND the best pitching prospect.
If either Guerra or F-Mart stays a Met, I’d do it.
I can’t help thinking that the Twins want to deal with the Yankees, but want just a little more from the deal. Anything contrary – especially anything coming from the Twins camp – strikes me as a ploy to get the Skanks to up their offer.
I’m a life-long Mets fan (31) and I must say, I’m not all that concerned with the idea of trading four or five prospects for Santana — no matter how highly touted they might be. Santana’s the best pitcher in baseball, he’s young, and he will help set us atop the NL East for the next four to five years on his arm alone. Period. This organization has consistently failed at turning “top prospects” into MLB’s top players (with the recent exception of Wright and Reyes). Sure Issy, Bay and Kazmir have turned out to be those types of players, but they’re exceptions to the rule. Santana’s available and wants to pitch for the Mets. Omar…MAKE. IT. HAPPEN. As far as I’m concerned it’s all just $$. We can get started on replenishing the farm immediately with our top three picks in the ‘08 draft.
The Twins have seen what our minor leagues can produce:
Bannister in 3 starts against them went 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA.
He averaged 71/3 innings.
Kazmir beat them in his 1 start, threw 8 innings, ERA 2.25.
Bring Santana in, then have duque/pelfrey fight for #5 spot.
Johan,Pedro,Maine,Perez,Duque
Wise,Shoeneweis,Smith/Pelf,Feliciano,Heilman,Sanchez,
Wagner
do it up, omar
I cant see the Yankees actually giving up Hughes, the kid Is major league ready right now and could be a Top Calibur pitcher either this season or next season, why trade him away plus a few other players plus Millions of Dollars. The red Sox with or without Santana are going to be at least in the Postseason Next Year so they dont NEED Santana it would eb nice to have him but they dont NEED him, so why trade the farm away? The Mets on the other Hand NEED Santana, this all seems to play well in the favor of the Mets.
I don’t see the Yanks giving up 4 players for Santana as being as lopsided as it sounds. It would be great for the Twins, but not necessarily a loss for the Yanks.
First of all, the real value of the players involved depends a lot on the needs and plans of both of the teams. If most of the players in the trade don’t fit into the Yankees plans, then where is the loss? Where is the downside? 1 player, 2 players … 3 … 5… 10 … 20 … it all amounts to the same thing if they don’t fit into their plans. Zero plus zero plus zero plus zero etc.
I think we can all agree that Hughes is the big prize in that trade, but the other three… ?
Two of the four are mid level prospects. I just don’t see the Yanks patiently waiting for them to blossom. It will be a few years before those kids will be major league ready. There will just be way too many free agents for them to over spend on before they’re ready. I just don’t see them putting any value on these guys at all.
Melky is popular with their fans, but I’m getting the impression that the Yankee brass think they could do better. They sure threw him in the package fast enough when they thought they could snap up Santana during the winter meetings. If the trade went through (or goes though) I believe the plan was (is) to move Damon back to center.
Can Damon still handle CF or do they have someone who can? If the answer to either question is yes, then Melky isn’t really a loss for them either.
And if the answer is yes to either question (or at least perceived as a yes by the Yanks), then the trade from a Yankee standpoint really becomes just Hughes for Santana and that sounds like a total no brainer to me.
Without Santana, we can hope for maybe fifteen wins each from Pedro, Maine, and Perez. But that leaves approximately 45 more to come from somewhere else if the team is to win the Division. Given the rest of the projected rotation and the bullpen, that number is going to be hard to reach. The asking price for Santana has always seemed steep, but it may be necessary.
agreed
Pedro,Ollie,Maine=48 wins
Duque,#5 starter=22 wins
Bullpen=20 wins
Pedro,Ollie,Maine=48 wins
Duque,Johan=30 wins
Bullpen=20 wins
Team without Johan is 90 win at best
With Johan 95-98.
i wouldnt even say 20 wins for duque+5 spot. last year the five spot had low single digits, and honestly we cant expect more than 10 from the duke.
Here we go again. Does everyone notice this story once again comes only from the Minnesota side. With the NY press always looking for a story, doesn’t anyone think that some NY writer would have the story to report in the NY papers if the Mets were getting close to Santana.
Matt seemed to get excited every time the Twins plant a story, but this is nothing more than the Twins once again planting a Mets are close trade to try and put pressure on the Yankees and Red Sox to up their offer.
For the last time, Santana is not coming to the Mets. They are not going to accept the Mets prospect offer over major league ready players, and the Mets say they will not sign Santana to more than a 5 year extension, anyway. Get off it and move on. Santana is not coming to the Mets.
Wilpon has already said that he’ll meet Johan’s financial demands, Ron. Those of us that are believers/hopefuls aren’t just picking crap out of the air…Wilpon has said this as recently as early last week. That changed everything in this possible deal. And why wouldn’t Wilpon give up the $$? It’s only $$! (Not to sound ridiculous…) This is a NY team with its own TV network, a new stadium on the way, and $6 hotdogs! The money is pouring into the team. When a Johan Santana becomes available to you, you make it happen. End of story.
not too mention they may sell 4 million tickets this season. Citi Field will be sold out with higher ticket prices for the next few seasons. The organization is getting an additional $20 mill for the naming rights. Money isn’t an issue for the Mets. The issue may be the length, but it’s not the money.
Ron,
you obviously don’t follow news…as another poster said..Wilpon already was reported as saying he’ll give the money and heres the thing..if they are getting more and better prospectrs that MAY be MLB ready over 1 or 2 just mlb ready but possibly not as high ceiling..he will take the prospects..
go learn baseball, are you related to firemetsmanagement? why didn’t you call him Freddy Coupons too?
ugh
If the Twins are trying to plant stories and they are targeting the Yankees why aren’t they planting stories about the Red Sox. It is widely known that the Yankees and Red Sox simply do not want Santana going to the other. Both would be happy if the Mets got him because they A) wouldn’t have to pay him and B) They wouldn’t have to face him except maybe in interleague which at the most could be 2 games.
Seriously, that is exactly right. They’d plant a story about the Sox to try and get the Yanks to move, not the mets.
This story expressky states they thing NEITHER the sox or Skanks offer is going to improve.
Given the writer’s long exposition on previous trades that were initially panned yet worked out for the Twinkies, it looks much more like the Twins are using the local press to prepare the fanbase for a trade with the Mets for non-household names.
*expressly
The Twins tried to work on the Sox, but they have held firm from day one. Originally it was a choice of a package with either Ellsbury or Lester, but not both. Since then, they have pulled their offer of Ellbury off the table. The Lester deal is still there for the taking though.
I also believe that the Twins are very hot to get Hughes and probably perceive the Yanks as more desperate then the Yanks and the most likely to cave in.
I also believe the Sox deal is legit and not merely intended to get the Yanks to overspend – though I doubt the Sox would complain if it happened.
If getting the Yanks to overspend was their only goal, they could have started all kinds of rumors, but they haven’t.
note to bill smith:
trading santana is a PR nightmare no matter how you slice it unless you get arod or albert pujols back in return. since your fans will likely not be happy with what they get back shouldnt you at least send him to the NL so maybe your fans can just forget about him instead of having to be reminded how much they hated the trade everytime he comes to minn or the twins go to boston/the bronx and he shuts your team down.
-a guy with common sense
blah, blah, blah….I propose a moritorium on Santana news until there really is some news…like a press conference or something.
Matt, no disrespect intended at all. You do a great job….it’s that this whole subject is sooooooo played out.
completely agree. Every day I come on here praying that a trade for Santana was completed (even if it’s to the Yanks or Sox) just so I don’t have to keep reading the same 4 stories about him over and over again. I’m not blaming Matt, I’m blaming Joe Smith…if I were a Twins fan, I’d be furious at the guy. I have a strong feeling he’s gonna be too gun shy to trade him, he’ll keep him through the season, the Twins will be lucky to finish in 3rd place, and they’ll lose Santana after the season for draft picks. Being gun-shy is the worst possible quality a GM can have, and so far this guy Smith is setting new standards.
Okay, I am starting to get sick of this too. I do have to agree with Matt though that I don’t understand how this would be a public relations nightmare for Smith or the Twins. Go to any twins blog and read what the fans are saying and in fact, a majority of them seem to favor the Mets offer, even without Martinez. While the fans have no say on what trades are made (despite what was posted on here about a month or two ago), they obviously dictate “public relations.”
People have to lay off Matt a little bit here… I’ve come out against Cerrone on multiple occasions for his inability to take a side, but in this instance, the criticism that he’s getting for his constant Johan updates is ludicrous. This is a blog, which all of you CHOOSE to read, and the main reason why you choose to read it these days is to see the latest update on Johan. Why would you waste your time at 10 am on a Thursday looking at Metsblog and posting comments under a post if you don’t want to read what Matt’s compiled for us between his sources and newspaper articles on Johan? Are you guys just waiting for the next great “Opinion: The Mets will be the best team ever in 2008″ article? Of course not, you want to see the latest rumors, so either enjoy what Matt gives us, which is the best distraction we could ask for in terms of baseball in January, or don’t read the blog and complain.
I am DEFINITELY 100% with you on this. I can’t wait to see the latest information on all things about the Mets and a possible trade for Santana is on the top of the list. I think it is wrong to blame Matt for the frustration readers feel with the slowness of the deal developing for Santana but Matt is not the problem probably Smith is.
I love the Hot Stove League even if it is frustrating, disappointing and sometimes absolutely great, when we land a great FISH. Pardon the pun.
Exactly, enjoy the ride and hopefully we get him.
The exact thing will happen next offseason with Teixiera.
How many Tex posts will we have before Christmas? 200?
I dread it…I’m so exhausted by the this year’s hot stove, I don’t know if I’ll have any emotion left for the season!
…well, of course I will, but you know what I’m saying…
The crappy part is at first I didn’t really thing we could get him, but now we’re at the point where I’ll be devastated if we don’t.
I agree. I was in Vegas last week and had some down time so I checked MetsBlog on my Treo to see what was going on. I read the rumors about Johan and then couldn’t put my treo down. If I was not gambling or drinking I was checking MetsBlog to see any updates. Yes the flip flop is annoying but I want to know the latest and Matt is doing a great job with this situation.
I also am very frustrated by all this making news out of no news.
But the thing I hate the most is, until something actually happens one way or the other, I know I’ll be back here tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and so on and so on…
The thing that drives me craziest (next to the waiting !) is having to wait to see if these kids we’re talking about dealing turn out to be the next Wright, Reyes, Gooden, Strawberry (the last 2 preferably without the drug and legal issues !) or the next Ochoa, Pulsipher, Wilson.
Is Guerra THAT good or is he a product of the Mets farm system hype machine ?? Can F-Mart live up to the billing and apply the 5 tools to the major league level ? Obviously Bill Smith is asking these same type of questions. Unfortunately only time will tell.
C’mon Billy……….take the 4 for 1…… you’ll never know if you can fly if you don’t take that leap of faith !!
i would be here if johan were already om the sox or any other team. i come to check out the latest and greatest on my beloved mets, right now the story is johan it will be something soon(hopefully) and i will still be here at 10am or other times during my day.
great job matt and thanks
Don’t get me wrong, I would too, and I read all of the non-Johan posts as well, but in this stage of the off-season, I don’t think anyone should be getting on Matt’s case for posting stories about Johan, and I would argue that these people who are complaining would not be checking the site more if Johan had already been traded.
my vote in the confidence poll has nothing to do w/ weather or not the yankees get johan if we don’t. it has to do w/ my confidence or lack there of in the organization. i don’t see why it matters if he goes to spanks or sox or anybody else…i found it funny that you framed the poll question that way.
Dude…it is a poll of how you’d feel “if”….not the usual confidence poll.
The Brian Sabean quote in the article is classic.
. . . In 2003, some thought the Twins were fleeced when they sent A.J. Pierzynski to the Giants for Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano.
That day, Giants GM Brian Sabean said, “It’s not often that you can send a reliever and two unproven prospects for a front-line, lefthanded-hitting All-Star catcher.”. . .
Haha I loved that too — it’s really unbelievable how much speculation can prove to be so wrong. Lets watch Phil Humber become the next Mike Mussina and Fernando Martinez become the next Ricky Ledee.
Totally wrong on Wilpon paying the money. It said in all the NY/NJ papers a few days ago the Mets say they will not give more than a 5 year extension. Santana wants 6 plus a bonus to make the year he has left up to a top level salary. The papers all said the Mets say they will not go more than 5 years, contrary to a report about two weeks ago saying Wilpon agreed that he will pay Santana.
You all are in a lather over nothing. The Mets are not getting Santana. Still nothing from a NY source. All the smoke comes out of Minnesota to get the Yankees interested.
And if the Yanks get interested, then what? They ship Santana off to the Yanks for a smaller package than they would’ve originally gotten before the Winter Meetings and have to face Santana twice a year? No way, they go back to the Mets, demand F-Mart, and I hope Omar gives in.
As Mets fans, we have to look at this realistically. Minor league players have utility when they can start in the major leagues… none of cares how the New Orleans Zephyrs or B-Mets do next year. So assuming we trade F-Mart, Gomez, Humber, Mulvey, Guerra, we’re losing a total of 0 guys who start on the major league club in 2008, and we keep our best pitching prospect who can start this year. Gomez would probably start in 2009 in place of Alou, but the Mets sign a stop-gap LF until one of their other prospects develop. The point is, this trade sets the Mets up to be a contender for 3 years, and in those 3 years, the Mets can develop new players to take the place of Martinez, Gomez, and Guerra as top prospects. It’s the same logic Dave Dombrowski used in Detroit in trading Cameron Maybin — by the time he needs to fill the shoes of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle WIllis, he’ll have new prospects developed and ready. Make the deal.
I don’t really trust NY writers anyway…most of them are Yankee shills.
I prefer to wait and see what happens before totally giving up. Eventually Smith will see the offers aren’t going to get better, and he will be forced to choose one.
Why are they Shills? They aren’t the only ones who think the Yankees or Red Sox have an advantage with their set of prospects. Almost everyone in the media thinks that they have an advantage, even though I hate hearing that, but oh well. Met fans need to stop thinking that everyone is out to get them and get that complex outta your systems
Just get the guy already!!!
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