January 2008 Archive

Johan Santana departs the AL Central

by Ricky O'Donnell on January 30 at 2:54PM

The Twins could have competed this season, or at least had the chance to. If Liriano was somehow able to return to his pre-injury form, if Delmon Young could have found his power stroke, and if either Kevin Slowey or Scott Baker could have established themselves, then the Twins could have been as good as anyone in the American League. Of course, that was all contingent on Johan Santana pitching at a Cy Young level a top the rotation. Even so, I guess those are a lot of question marks, and the Twins obviously didn’t want to take the chance of losing Santana for nothing. Even if everything did go right for Minnesota, with the AL Central being so loaded, they still could have missed the playoffs.

Still, as people a lot of people have been pointing out today, this seems like the fourth best deal the Twins could have got. Here’s how The Big Lead describes the package sent to Minnesota:

Effectively, the Mets got a) a speedy CF with no bat who isn’t MLB ready, b) a green teenager with a live arm who is at least two years away from the majors, c) a college phenom whose career took a serious nosedive when he had Tommy John surgery, and d) an MLB-ready pitcher who isn’t good enough to crack the Twins rotation and likely will languish in the minors at the start of the season

Doesn’t sound too impressive, especially when considering they could have possibly had a deal with the Yankees featuring Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Ian Kennedy. I know you can never tell with prospects, and the Twins front office should certainly get the benefit of the doubt that the players they received will be good, but the Mets package sure seems like a significant downgrade from that Yankees offer.

With the Mets package seemingly being so mediocre, it raises the question of why didn’t other teams jump in the mix, most notably the Cubs and Angels. Maybe the biggest thing any team would be giving up in this trade is that 7-year, $ 25 million per season contract Santana is expected to hold out for, but he’s good enough and young enough to make it reasonable. A Cubs package of Rich Hill, Felix Pie, Sean Gallagher, Geovani Soto and other assorted goodies could have been enough to do it, as could an Angels offer centered around Brandon Wood and Nick Adenhart. I really think the Cubbies should have thought about getting involved in this. I know it’s tough with ownership in flux and with big money committed long-term to Soriano and others, but when you haven’t won a World Series in 100 years, isn’t it worth it? I would think so.

Here’s a quick list of the winners from this deal, one that certainly doesn’t include the Twins (though, as I said before, Minnesota has earned the benefit of the doubt over the years that the package they picked should be productive):

Winners

4. Tigers, Indians, White Sox

Santana has manhandled the AL Central for so long, it’s just a huge relief to have him out of the division. It looks certain that two of these three teams will win 90-games now.

3. Yankees, Red Sox

Both are winners because I feel neither team really wanted Santana as much as they wanted the other team not to get him. Keeping Hughes and Kennedy means the Yankees rotation will be stable for the next ten years, and Red Sox being able to hold on to Buchholz, Lester, and Ellsbury makes their future look as bright as any team in baseball.

2. Mets

Adding the game’s best pitcher is enough to make them forget about their collapse last season and makes them the preseason front-runner in the National League.

1. Santana

Imagine how dominant he’ll be in the National League. He goes from facing three super-powerful AL Central lineups to facing only one real challenge (Phillies) in his division now.

January 2008 Archive

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