Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

by dajafi on Jan 29, 2008 4:44 PM EST in News Comment 21 comments

The New York Mets have agreed to a trade for two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, giving up four prospects to acquire the left-handed ace of the Minnesota Twins, according to two high-ranking Twins officials with knowledge of the talks and a person close to Santana.

The deal is pending the Mets and Santana reaching agreement on a six- or seven-year contract extension and that Santana passes a physical; they have been granted a 48 to-72-hour window to do so. Santana has a no-trade clause that he will waive if agreement is reached on a contract extension.

The Mets paid a high price in prospects to land Santana, agreeing to send the Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

What I mostly feel right now is anger: not at the Mets, for leveraging their financial advantage to do right by their fans and players, but at the Twins for being such goddamn cheapskates and pushovers, and at the Phillies for not summoning up the aggressiveness or creativity needed to block or counter a move like this.

First, the Twins. After weighing offers led by superior prospects like Phil Hughes and Jon Lester, they've evidently acceded to a package that's almost certainly less than what the Orioles reportedly are weighing for Erik Bedard, and maybe less than what Oakland got for Danny Haren. If they'd held onto Santana, they would have had a legit shot in the very tough AL East; they're also owned by a billionaire coming up on his 90th birthday, and have a new stadium on the way.

Then the Phils. This is a tougher case, but I'm not sure they couldn't have put together an offer as good as the Mets', and at the least they might have gotten in on a three-way deal to sweeten a competitor's bid for Santana. But between our mostly-retired GM and his cheap, lazy bosses who are MLB ownership's equivalent of The Pony Set, it was never to be.

So while New York wipes away a miserable end of 2007--and, mark my words, will quickly reload their system with above-slot signing bonuses in the draft and top dollar for foreign amateur talent--we'll be reduced to hoping that Jamie Moyer keeps it together, and Adam Eaton bounces back from cover-your-eyes to sub-mediocre, and a Durbin to be first-named later comes through with league-average relief innings, and freakin' Pedro Feliz can nose his on-base percentage above .300.

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Sheesh

They couldn't have let us revel in our Feliz-euphoria just a bit longer? :P

by another Mike on Jan 29, 2008 5:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

I hope his declining stats continue, and then his arm falls off.

by SirAlden on Jan 29, 2008 5:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Santana's stats haven't been declining by any means, in fact, they've been remarkably consistent. Take a look at his stats over the last 3 years. His K/9, BB/9, GB% are about the same and so is his xFIP. His ERA took a bit of a jump last year, due to an increased number of home runs surrendered. However, that was accompanied by a fluky 15.6% of fly balls being home runs, compared to ~11% the last 3 years and a typical league average of around 11-12%.

by christonabike on Jan 29, 2008 6:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Agh! They kept Martinez? If they'd had to give him up, I might have felt OK about this.

by taco pal on Jan 29, 2008 6:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

There's absolutely no way the Phillies could have even had serious negotiations about Santana without including one of their big Major League talents: Rollins, Howard, Hamels, Myers, etc.

Yeah, the Twins let themselves get ripped off. It's frustrating that our hated rivals ended up being the beneficiaries.

However, I think Cole Hamels will run close to Santana in the Cy Young race. There's some optimism for you. :)

by Baerwcb on Jan 29, 2008 6:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Well. This kind of sucks.

At least we have a better lineup than them. We have a better lineup than them, right? Please tell me we have a better lineup than them.

by FuquaManuel on Jan 29, 2008 6:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Yeah, we do. The only positions at which the Mets are clearly better are 3b and cf, and Reyes could re-overtake Rollins.

But the gap between their rotation and ours is way bigger than the gap between our lineup and theirs. Think of it this way: their #3 and #4, Maine and Perez, are fairly close to our #1 and #2--maybe better if Myers doesn't transition back to starting well, or--Base-ba'al forbid--Hamels gets hurt.

by dajafi on Jan 29, 2008 6:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

I hate the fact that by making these small, seemingly inconsequential (especially now) moves we have effectively pigeon-holed ourselves to a 13 team race for one wild card spot. What kind of message does it send to the fans and the players that we are content with competing for the wild card for the rest of Howard, Utley, and Rollins' productive careers with this team?

Now there is no way in hell we can start 4-11 and expect to be able to crawl our way back. What little margin for error there already was has vanished completely.

by FuquaManuel on Jan 29, 2008 6:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

What should we expect out of Pedro this year?

by taco pal on Jan 29, 2008 7:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Pedro predictions:

Feliz: A full season in the #7 hole (we hope); 25 HR, .250 avg, .300 OBP, 70 RBI
Martinez: Less than a full season in the rotation (we hope); 20 GS, 120 IP, 120 K, 9-7, 3.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP. The effect of his rising (but still enviable) WHIP and greater FB% over recent years should be magnified in the new park.
But I would still trade Pedros straight up with the Mets.

by Chris R on Jan 30, 2008 12:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

The New York Mets have agreed to a trade for two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana

I just threw up in my mouth.

Remember the Phitans

by RememberthePhitans on Jan 29, 2008 8:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

I'm amazed that this is the package that the Twins ended up getting for Santana. What the Orioles are reportedly getting for Bedard just blows it away. It isn't even close.

And that it's the Mets, ugh. They should've had no shot at Santana after giving away Milledge for virtually nothing. This just stinks.

by Seth on Jan 30, 2008 2:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Yeah. Smith got Carlos Gomez, who strikes me as a Melky Cabrera type--a fourth OF on a good team--one pitcher who looks good but is three years off IF he stays healthy and doesn't hit a developmental wall, and two guys who might or might not grow up to be Kyle Lohse.

I'm by far the angriest at the Twins in this whole scenario.

by dajafi on Jan 30, 2008 10:40 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Santana to Mets; Phils to wild card?

Oh, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Adam Jones alone is better than those 4 guys put together. And the Mariners are throwing in a guy who struck out over a batter per inning at High-A as a 19 year old, and is widely considered to have the ceiling of a No. 2 starter. Though, to be fair, that trade hasn't actually happened yet.

The Twins making this deal actually makes me doubt everything we heard before about the Yankees and Red Sox. Could they possibly have turned down packages led by Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera (or Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie) and then taken this?? It just doesn't make any sense.

by Seth on Jan 30, 2008 1:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs