Daily Archives: January 29, 2008
In his blog for ESPN.com, Keith Law writes that the Mets immediately become the favorites to win their division and have a good argument to be the best team in the National League following their trade for LHP Johan Santana.
By getting one of the game’s best pitchers, Law describes two important things that Santana does for the Mets…
“One, he’ll give the Mets 50-75 more innings than they would have gotten from the starter he replaces in the rotation; he takes pressure off their bullpen and allows Willie Randolph to give his best relievers more rest, which he wasn’t able to do last August and September. Two, he pushes everyone in the rotation back into a more suitable spot. Pelfrey now has to “win” a starting role in spring training, which, given the work he still needs to do, is not a bad situation. Oliver Perez and John Maine won’t line up quite as often against opposing No. 1 and 2 starters.”
…agree 100%…however, i could probably list 999 more things santana does for the Mets, but i am too delirious to think of them…the only thing i know right now is that the best pitcher in baseball will be wearing blue and orange in 2008…pending the contract extension and physical, of course…
…i get the sense, from people who would know, that this may all be wrapped up and done with by tomorrow, pending a physical…including the contract extension…
…which would be great…seriously, consider how long the actual trade took, the sooner a contract is worked out, and the sooner this all becomes official, the better…
…man, what a crazy two months…
I will be on SNY’s SportsNite at 10 pm to talk about the Mets recent trade for Johan Santana from the Twins.
…they may ask me to provide a few reader comments from the blog, so if you have anything to say, hop it in the comments section with your first name, last initial and the city where you are from, and i’ll try to get a few on air…
Tagged SNY |
…from what i can gather, the Mets will meet with Johan Santana’s agents tomorrow to officially discuss a contract extension…
…well, i’d certainly hope so…
…the clock is ticking…
According to a recent report by Jon Heyman at SI.com, citing ‘people familiar with the Mets thinking,’ they’d like to keep the deal to a five-year contract, though Santana is believed to be seeking six or seven years.
However, Heyman adds, “There appears to be optimism that something can be done.”
Earlier this month, citing ‘a person with knowledge of the negotiations,’ the Star-Tribune wrote that Fred Wilpon is willing to meet Santana’s contract demands.
…as i wrote before, my sense is that it will not be very difficult to reach a contract extension within the 72 hours…although, one person connected to the team says it is far from a slam dunk…that said, a) as i had been saying for quite a while, santana prefers to pitch for the Mets, and b) i just can’t believe that the Mets would have pulled the trigger on this trade if they didn’t think they could do what is necessary to keep santana in queens…
The Mets have traded for LHP Johan Santana from the Twins in exchange for four prospects, though the deal will only be official once a contract extension is agreed upon.
…from what i can gather, names of players will not officially be made public until a contract extension can be worked out…the Mets have 72 hours to work out an extension with santana and his agents, which started earlier this afternoon…
…Update…4:50 pm…
…after having talked with a few people connected to the team and the player, from what i can gather, though the Mets have yet to confirm the deal, a) everything in the USA Today report (see below) is accurate, including the players who are mentioned, and b) it should not be very difficult to reach a contract extension within the 72 hours, though this becoming public will certainly add pressure to get a deal done…
…also, from what i can tell, this deal never came down to whether or not the Mets would add Fernando Martinez…it was more about major-league ready talent, than it was ever about additional minor leaguers…but i am sure more on that will become public in the days ahead…
…what’s more, it appears that santana essentially gave the Twins an ultimatum…which is great to hear, since he had the ability to force the issue all along…
…Update…4:17 pm…
According to USA Today, the deal will include Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.
…man, if the USA Today addition ends up being correct, and i have reason to believe that it is, and the Mets pull this off without giving up Fernando Martinez and Mike Pelfrey, well, wow…
…USA Today reports it as a 48– to 72–hour window, but i’ve been told it’s 72…and with the way this process took, i would not be shocked if it took the full time frame…
…Update…4:28 pm…
…jeez, what took you so long, omar…
…well, as i had been saying, for me, this deal had to be done, if for no other reason than it is becoming harder and harder to acquire an ace on the open market…so, if one became available by trade, who was attainable, the trigger had to be pulled…especially if he comes at the cost of three pitchers, who the Mets believe will not be as good as santana during the next few years…
…and so, they pulled the trigger to create a 2008 rotation of Pedro Martinez, followed by Johan Santana, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Orlando Hernandez…
…with a healthy pedro, and maine and perez having learned from last year’s long season, and johan switching to a pitcher’s park in the national league, i am more than happy with this starting rotation and believe it is more than capable of helping to lead this team to the playoffs…
…what’s more, considering what the Mets had to part with to get santana, they can still lean on pelfrey should an injury strike…
…by the way, the best part of this is that all of the reporters, fans, talk-show hosts and critics, who convinced themselves that the Mets had no chance to get santana, now must spend the next few weeks cleaning egg from their face…
…that said, i’d like to give special thanks to La Velle E. ‘The Real Deal’ Neal III from the Star-Tribune and Jon Heyman from SI.com, both of whom kept on this story like white to rice, and did an outstanding job every step of the way…i’d like to think i was fairly accurate as well, while always writing and believing that the Mets had a chance, despite what others kept telling me…well done, gentlemen…and thanks for all of your hard work…
…now, let’s work out that contract extension, guys…
…Update…3:50 pm…
According to Buster Olney at ESPN.com:
“Baseball officials involved in the Johan Santana talks say
the Mets have the best offer on the table, as the Twins looked to honor a request by the pitcher to resolve the situation.”
…like i said yesterday, santana and his agents made a request over the weekend to get this process moving, but i didn’t feel it was anything formal or threatening…well, apparently it was…nice work, johan…way to be the boss…
…by the way, my head is pounding…
…Update…3:06 pm…
In a report to ESPN.com, in which he states a decision could come as early as today, Buster Olney writes…
“Some officials engaged in the talks strongly believed that Santana will land with Mets. Early Tuesday, Mets executives are quietly hopeful that they could land the left-hander with a package of players, so long as the Twins backed off their insistence that shortstop Jose Reyes be included in the deal.”
According to Jon Heyman in a report for SI.com, if the Mets end up agreeing to a trade with the Twins for Santana, they’re likely to offer him no more than a five-year deal, but at a high annual salary in the range of $22-to-25 million.
Interestingly, according to WFAN, Santana recently turned down a five-year, $100 million contract offer from the Twins, because he is still holding out for a seven-year, $140 million deal.
…so, if heyman is correct, the Mets offer would be only a few million dollars more per year than what he rejected from the Twins…from what i can gather, this is because he has zero interest in re-signing with the Twins, who can now go to their fans and say, “Hey, we tried.”…at least that’s how i see it…
Like Joel Sherman wrote this morning in the New York Post, Heyman notes that the race for Santana is down to teams: the Mets and Red Sox.
…thanks to Jason B for the link…
…in my limited experience, whenever a big-market deal gets to the perceived eleventh-hour – such as this situation involving Johan 
Santana – a whole lot of innuendo and suggestion becomes public…some seems logical, some doesn’t, some seems true, and some doesn’t…
…as best i can tell, people who are connected to the teams and players get giddy, they get creative, they get strategic, some get nervous, agents get active, some get quiet and some get chatty, all while reporters, and ‘pretend reporters,’ bloggers, friends of front-office types, friends of friends of front-office types, etc, all rush to beat one another to the headline and so they can take credit for being right and being first to be right…and the whole thing starts to get really, really messy and tedious for the rest of us…
…in fact, i have been getting bombarded with e-mails from fellow fans, all of whom seemingly ‘know a guy who knows a guy,’ sending me information about potential deals being done, and who’s in and who’s out, and it all gets quite confusing…i see these same e-mails being posted on message boards and other blogs, as well…for what it’s worth, i tend to keep it all to myself…but, the funny thing is that some of these fans are far more informative and correct than many reporters in the mainstream press, which is always fun to see…nevertheless, it’s tough to wade through it and determine what is fact or fiction…
…the point is, as we get closer and closer to a potential deal for santana, keep all of the above in mind…i mean, every body thinks they have the most trusted source, every one thinks they know what’s what…however, the fact is, there are only a few key people who actually know what they’re talking about and, if they’re worth their salt, they’re probably not saying a whole lot anyway – be it on or off the record…
…so, be patient, be skeptical and be on the lookout…
According to WFAN’s Mike Francesa, citing ‘the word,’ Johan Santana recently turned down a five-year, $100 million contract offer from the Twins, because he is still holding out for a seven-year, $140 million deal.
Francesa also added the following gem…
“This means the Mets are front and center…
“I still think the Mets are gonna get him, I’ve said that a couple times during the last couple of weeks. Now it looks like it’s moving in that direction.”
…this from the man who has essentially mocked the Mets at every step of the way, suggesting they have no chance 
to get santana unless they trade Jose Reyes, knowing full well that reyes is going no place…now, all of sudden, he claims to have favored the Mets…does he even listen to what he says…god knows i do, and i hate myself because of it…
…at any rate, as i said earlier today, i believe santana and his agents may have made a request to get this process moving, but i don’t feel it was anything formal or threatening…well, rejecting a five-year, $100 million offer is a pretty clear message i would say…
Marty Noble at MLB.com cites ‘a person with firsthand knowledge of the club’s dealings with the Twins’ as saying they have requested a ‘best offer’ from the Mets.
Noble goes on to write…
“The Mets can’t know if the same request has been made of other clubs with interest in Santana or, for that matter, whether other clubs have maintained an interest in the two-time Cy Young Award winner.”
…with how much is at stake, i’d be surprised if the Mets had been 
giving anything less than their best offer by now...
Twins beat writer Kelly Theiser adds the following in another piece for MLB.com
“The Twins have stepped up their efforts in the last 48 hours to get the teams involved in trade talks to make their last and best offers.
If the Twins feel that none of the offers is acceptable, they could prepare to head to Spring Training with Santana and wait to see if a better market develops for the left-hander.”
…it’s looking more and more like the Twins have finally committed to bringing the saga to an end very soon, one way or another – stay tuned…
Last night on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove Report, I gave a recap of how MetsBlog.com’s readers say they feel about the team’s bullpen…
To watch the clip, click the play button below…
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