Opinion: Be Patient, Be Skeptical
…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…
