Twins Trade Santana to Mets Options

[Yazdog8]

I seem to remember that the Twins wanted near major league talent, oh well...

The Twins new ballpark is scheduled to open in 2010, that's when they are looking to be really competitive. The theory is that when they're out of their horrible Metrodome lease, they'll be able to spend a bit more $$$.

[satyadaimoku]

Sweet. This is the best case scenario as far as I'm concerned. Adding Santana would have been such a Yankee move, especially if the deal involved Ellsbury. I like this team so much more with Jacoby than Johan. Equally importantly, now the Yankees don't get him. Thank you, New York Mets.

[Pumpsie]

Sweet. This is the best case scenario as far as I'm concerned. Adding Santana would have been such a Yankee move, especially if the deal involved Ellsbury. I like this team so much more with Jacoby than Johan. Equally importantly, now the Yankees don't get him. Thank you, New York Mets.

I totally agree, satya. This is good for the Sox, good for baseball, good for everybody. Best case scenario, indeed. The NL needs to get more competitive for top players and the Mets, being the NL's richest franchise, have to lead the way. Now, this raises the bar for other NL teams to spend some money.

I'm happy that we get to keep our kids. I like Ellsbury and Masterson especially. And I think Lester is going to improve a lot this year. Now, we also have lots of pieces we can trade for anything we need.

I couldn't be happier about this turn of events.

[PrimusSucks626]

I'm happy with this. The Red Sox didn't need Santana, and I've always thought there were more useful things we could be getting with Crisp.

Like, say, a catching prospect.

[Sea Dog]

I totally agree, satya. This is good for the Sox, good for baseball, good for everybody. Best case scenario, indeed.

I would hold off on the "good for baseball" part. There weren't many teams that could afford Santana's salary demands, and all thre in the bidding here just so happened to be New York and Boston teams. While Pohlad is a cheapskate who doesn't pony up for players when he needs to -- or for that matter, a new stadium when he foots taxpayers with the bill -- the whole Santana did highlight one of baseball's problems.

[PooNani]

thank fucking god. twins had the chance to really set themselves up for the future and blew it.

[opes]

I would hold off on the "good for baseball" part. There weren't many teams that could afford Santana's salary demands, and all thre in the bidding here just so happened to be New York and Boston teams. While Pohlad is a cheapskate who doesn't pony up for players when he needs to -- or for that matter, a new stadium when he foots taxpayers with the bill -- the whole Santana did highlight one of baseball's problems.

Could you elaborate more on why you dont think this is good for baseball? Theres plenty of teams that could afford it. Look at the major contracts in the past few years, and tally em up. I count 9 teams could afford if if they so desired, aka trades, salary dump, 3 wishes, etc - MFY, Sox, Mets, Angels, Cubs, Mariners, Dodgers, Phillies, and Giants.
The problem was the trading cost the twins wanted.
I dont like to make such an outrageous claim, but I would think had he not been traded, those 9 teams would have been in a crazy bidding war.
I agree Pohlad is a cheapskate. But the twins, A's, and others play a different game.
Its still good for baseball, because the twins get something out of it, rather than 1 pick after the Mets or someone else gets him in FA.
Bottom line- Twins get picks, and stay a cheap team. The Mets get a great lefty to compete in the NL. And the Yanks and Sox stay even keel. Better competition = Good for baseball.

[Papis Walkoff]

The Twins must have wanted him out of the AL or Boston wasn't as interested as we were lead to believe.

Gomez, Humber, Mulvey and Guerra? I admit I don't know much about Mulvey or Guerra but I find it hard to believe that offer trumps the supposed Red Sox proposals.

Keeps him away from the Yankees and out of the AL which is a victory but having wasted an embarrassing amount of hours refreshing various websites for news, this result leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

It's a terrible trade for the Twins. Humber and Mulvey were dissapointments in the Mets farm system. Somez is a nice player....don't know much about Guerra....but the Twins turned down Hughes/Cabrerra/+++ and Ellsbury/Lowry/Masterson?? For this?? I'm glad this is over and I'm GLAD the Sox weren't successful. Although I like Santana, the thought of him making 25M and Beckett making 10M was never a comfortable feeling for me. Just thinking about Ellsbury in centerfield makes me !

[bankshot1]

. The Yankees will very likely make the playoffs for the foreseeable future.

(from a just locked thread)

That's Cashman's bet, but with the Tigers getting stronger and Seattle (if they get Bedard) getting stronger, unless the kids mature and pitch well in '08, the runner-up in the AL East is not guaranteed post-season spot, and he may not collect.

IMO the Mets and Sox won today,

MFY-too soon to tell.

Twins-lost.

[glennhoffmania]

I tried posting this on the main board but the thread was locked:

Any team that is excited about not landing the best pitcher in baseball with a package comparable to the Mets were offering is either poor or stupid.

I totally agree. I don't see the upside of not getting another stud SP to go along with Beckett, Dice-K and a couple of the kids for the next few years. This whole idea of wanting to see the kids mature in Boston seems so pointless to me. The goal is to win games, and Boston would seem to be a better team with Santana than with Ellsbury/Lowrie/Masterson/whatever. If I was an Oakland or Cleveland fan, and signing Santana would drastically limit future moves due to payroll constraints, I'd agree that it would be a bad move. But for a team that is already spending approximately $150m in payroll, I don't see how losing out on him should be viewed as some sort of victory.

[David Laurila]

....but the Twins turned down Hughes/Cabrerra/+++ and Ellsbury/Lowry/Masterson??...

Reportedly. It is possible that these offers were never officially on the table. They may have been, but we don't know that.

[NomarRS05]

Great deal for the Mets, and good deal for the Red Sox because Santana doesn't put the Mets into the upper-eschelon. This very well may put them over the edge in the N.L., but their 2-4 starters in the playoffs aren't good enough to hang with the beasts in the A.L. like Detroit, New York, Boston or even Anaheim or Cleveland. John Maine isn't elite, Pedro and El Duque are on their last legs and Oliver Perez makes for a great candidate to get trounced in a World Series start ALA Jeff Francis.

I'm surprised a team like Philadelphia that is on the cusp already didn't go out and grab him. Oh well, he's just another National Leaguer now.

[Myt1]

Reportedly. It is possible that these offers were never officially on the table. They may have been, but we don't know that.

It's also possible that you're all figments of my imagination, too, but shouldn't we go with the best information currently available? I think there's a greater level of likelihood than "may have been," no?

I can't agree with the people claiming the Sox won here. They had a chance to give up decent talent for a superstar, and it didn't come to fruition.

[Foulkey Reese]

So what's the best Twins forum to gauge fan reaction to all of this?

This post has been edited by Foulkey Reese: Jan 29 2008, 06:11 PM

[Todd Benzinger]

There are news reports linked in the locked Santana/mets thread and the Santana/news thread that report that the well-known Lester/Crisp and Ellsbury packages were still in play (although with different players, possibly, in the back-end of the deals). It seems that for whatever reason, the Twins preferred the Mets package.

Really doesn't make much sense, if that's the case... But that is the best info we have.

I do think that it's possible that Masterson AND Lowrie weren't both included in both deals, though...

This post has been edited by Todd Benzinger: Jan 29 2008, 06:09 PM

[mad]

How do you not get the teams #1 prospect when your trading the best pitcher in baseball?

[flymrfreakjar]

Reportedly. It is possible that these offers were never officially on the table. They may have been, but we don't know that.

Olney was just on ESPN saying that the Sox's offers had indeed dwindled and that while they were still packaged around Lester/Coco/Ellsbury, the other players in the deal had changed. Apparently this was enough to make the Twins turn to the Mets.

[twoBshorty]

I'm in Minnesota right now and the reaction to this trade among the fanbase is not terribly positive. "Hey, guess what, we just traded Santana to the Mets for shit!" was the yell I just heard out on the sidewalk, and I think it sums the general feeling up pretty well. These fans were sure he was going to Boston or the Yankees.

[Wingack]

It's interesting to see that on the whole Yankee fans, Red Sox fans, and Mets fans are all happy tonight.

[jschip1]

I tried posting this on the main board but the thread was locked:
I totally agree. I don't see the upside of not getting another stud SP to go along with Beckett, Dice-K and a couple of the kids for the next few years. This whole idea of wanting to see the kids mature in Boston seems so pointless to me. The goal is to win games, and Boston would seem to be a better team with Santana than with Ellsbury/Lowrie/Masterson/whatever. If I was an Oakland or Cleveland fan, and signing Santana would drastically limit future moves due to payroll constraints, I'd agree that it would be a bad move. But for a team that is already spending approximately $150m in payroll, I don't see how losing out on him should be viewed as some sort of victory.

I had convinced myself for a while that I would rather the Sox keep the prospects (Ellsbury, Lester, whoever else) than trade for Santana, but now that he is going to the Mets I realize that I was deluding myself. I would much rather have Santana than any of those prospects to make the Red Sox starting rotation easily the best in the game.

And the fact that there are so many teams that would have been willing and able to offer Santana a big contract, not just the Yankees and Red Sox, as was noted above, makes me think this has no bearing on "what's best for baseball." I wish the Sox would have snagged him.

This post has been edited by jschip1: Jan 29 2008, 06:44 PM