I'm skeptical that Johan Santana will be traded before the start of this season, but the Minneapolis Star-Tribune indicated today that the Twins are still trying to extract the best package from the only teams willing to pay the tab -- the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets. The article suggests that the Twins would make the trade right now if the Mets added Fernando Martinez to a package of Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey.
That's a boatload of prospects that would seriously drain the Mets' farm system, but it does not include a front-line starter, like the Yankees' Phil Hughes or the Red Sox's Jon Lester. Also, Gomez is not ready to be a starting centerfielder in the majors yet. Defensively, sure. But he needs work at the plate. Serious work.
Do you think this is a good deal? Vote here.
Comments (29)
No way the Mets should kick in those 5 players- the Twins HAVE to move Santana this season or all they'll get if he plays out the season is a draft pick. Santana holds the keys to this deal- if he wants to negotiaite an extension with the team trading for him and has a preference for where he'd like to play, or really wants to test the waters of Free Agency and see just how much $ the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets (and possibly some other surprise team(s) joining the fray) would be throwing at him (probably more than he'd get with an extension). I don't see the Mets outbidding the other teams, so for now, they have to sit pat and hope the Twins will take a bit less in a trade.
I would include Martinez and get the trade done. The Mets may never get the chance to as readily obtain one of baseball's best pitchers.
NO Deal Omar, Beltran cant stike out in big spots forever.
It's trading potential for a proven, battle tested commodity. It's a no brainer to me and also, this tells me that the Mets and Twinks are close and Santana could actually end up here. Prospects are a dime a dozen. There will be more. Besides, the Mets have the money to use free agency to tide things over until the restock the farm system. If this is what the Twinks are asking, you can't pass up this deal.
Steve Philips is famous for saying you lose your job over prospects. hold them too long (milledge) and they spoil. trade them too soon (kazmir) and you hear about it. it kills me to say it, but trade them all for something you know works well.
The Mets would be foolish to trade ALL of those prospects for Santana. If they were to put up reyes they'd probably only have to give up ONE additional prospect and help to avoid the raiding of the farm system.
If the mets were to trade Reyes THEY would get a prospect back from the Twins. But Reyes aint goin nowhere, which is a good thing.
It would be so foolish to include Reyes in a Satana trade, that it would be Kasmir like incompetence. Then on top of that, Santana would have to be paid 25 mil per. The Twinks would need to give up WAAAY more than Santana. Remember, this guy is a pitcher, not even an everyday player. No way is he worth an All-Star shortstop.
I'd do it no problem if i'm the mets. Yes, it is a lot to give up but we are a team that can replace those prospects with free agents.
The METS must make this trade if possible. To get Santana and not include Reyes in the deal is a bonus. Prospects are just that, prospects. Just like someone once said about potential, it means you haven't done it yet.
The METS need to add an impact pitcher to move forward. Especially with a new .230 hitting catcher, .270 centerfielder, who knows about Delgado, Castillo and the corner outfielders and really only 2 possible .300 hitters, Wright and Reyes.
Twins leaked this just to get the Yankees to bite, no way the Yankees want the Mets to get the best pitcher in baseball, with the 2 new stadiums, the competition between the 2 will be heating up even more.
Why on earth would the Twins trade arguably the best pitcher in baseball to an American League rival?????????? It would only make good baseball sense to trade Santana to the NL. Unless of course they're blown away by an offer.
'mj', "2008 14:21 "It would be so foolish to include Reyes in a Santana trade, that it would be Kasmir like incompetence."
??????????
ALL of the current prospects proposed in the deal are equivalent or close to the talent level Kasmir was at the time of the deal. Trading all of those prospects would be incompetent!!!!!!!
"Then on top of that, Santana would have to be paid 25 mil per."
And what's your point???? Are you personally paying his salary?
"Remember, this guy is a pitcher, not even an everyday player. No way is he worth an All-Star shortstop."
Not sure if you watch the game. No, Santana is not just a pitcher. He's the BEST pitcher in the game today. There's Baseball' oldest adage, 'Championships are won by Pitching'. NOT overly immature / over hyped SS, jose' "giggle, giggle" reyes. All-star SS???? There are 5 teams that comprise the NL East division and your idol wouldn't start for 3 of the teams alone!
Tony, way off base. The Yanks are ready to keep their prospects and move on. LETS GO METS!!!! SELL THE FARM!!!!!
As a Yankee fan, this is a dream come true!!! The Yankees and their fans could care less if Johan goes to the Mets. This is a MILLION times better than him going to the Sox or Angels. The only better scenario is that he stays on the Twins and becomes a FA at the end of the year, but this is the next best thing!!!
Discuss which NL East team has the best bullpen at http://ultimatebaseball-cgouds.blogspot.com
Pull the trigger and then start signing some plan C free agents.
i think all the twins should get is 3 maybe 4 prospects but for equal value, gomez, guerra, and f-mart...at the most add mulvey hes just a projected #4 starter, we keep hielman, humber and pelfrey and we get 3 picks in the first round and a half this year so we can get more prospects there.
The Mets must make this trade. It's not guaranteed all these prospects are ever going to become supertars. YOU'RE GETTING JOHAN SANTANA, BEST PITCHER IN THE GAME!!!!! plus the Mets have two first round picks this year and a supplemetal pick fromt the Braves for Mr Glavine. MAKE THE DEAL MINAYA!!!
The only way to know if it is a good deal is whether or not Santana helps the Mets win a World Series.
I would certainly do this deal, however, I think the Minnesota writer's report is a little suspect. Everything coming out of the Mets to the press has indicated that all offer to the Mets have involved Reyes and that they haven't come off of that position yet. Until someone in the Mets organization confirms that an offer was made without Reyes, I dont believe any of this.
Pull The Trigger Omar!!!!
replace Gomez and Martinez with Beltran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is just too much to give away. Look at the mess they made giving KAZ away. All Kazmir did last year was Lead the American League in Strikeouts!!!!! To give away All those prospects for a pitcher who went 15-13 last year is a Joke! Maybe one of the two outfield prspects, Humber and Mulvey and maybe even a lesser prospect, but don't clean out the Farm! God, if they Only Kept KAZ !!!
That anyone thinks they shouldn't make this deal is crazy. Guys...NONE of these are big-time prospects. The top is Martinez, who has a LONG way to go? Career minor league average? 272. Homers? 14 in 140 games. OBP? .322. Steals? 11 in 140 games while thrown out 9 times?
Bringing up Kazmir is stupid. NONE of these guys are anything CLOSE to what Kazmir was when the Mets gave him up. He had an era under 3.50 each year in the minors and was striking out more than a batter an inning. None of these guys are close to Kazmir.
If we let this deal go and Martinez ends up a 4th outfielder (remember Alex Ochoa), will you be glad you kept him?
GH
Mr. Wilpon, Omar: Please finalize this trade. How many "can't miss" Mets prospects have there been in the last 15 years....exactly.
How about a rotation of: Santana, Pedro, Maine, Perez, Duque/Pelfrey!.....that's right!!!
Make it happen boys!!!! Please....
The Mets HAVE to keep Gomez. The kid's gonna be a superstar.
mets arent breaking 88 wins anyway
of course you do it. it's the twins. even if one or more of these prospects becomes a star, you know the cheap twins won't ante up to keep 'em, you can just go and sign them again later.
DO IT!
The more I think about this possible trade, the more I think "go for it." Santana is the best pitcher in baseball, and he is in his prime (he turns 29 in March). The Mets still have Pelfrey, and they get 3 picks in the first 1-1/2 rounds of the draft. Add to that the fact that they will no longer comply with MLB's slotting guidelines, so they can offer more cash to later round picks, meaning they can stock the minors quickly like the Sox, Yanks and Tigers.
One more thing to consider. The Mets gave up Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Goeff Goetz (all good prospects) for Mike Piazza. The Reds gave up Steve Henderson (ROY runner up), Doug Flynn (Gold Glove second baseman), Pat Zachry (ROY winner) and Dan Norman for Tom Seaver. The Mets also gave up AJ Burnett, Jesus Sanchez and Robert Stratton for Al Leiter. And the D-Backs just gave up Carlos Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunnigham, Chris Carter, Greg Smith and Dana Eveland for Danny Haren (and minor league reliever Conor Robertson). In each trade, a team parted with a significant number of prospects to get a proven major leaguer. And in each one (except for the Haren trade, which was just made), the team getting the proven major leaguer was glad they did the deal. If the D-Backs gave up 6 prospects for Haren, then 5 prospects for Santana sounds like a good deal to me.
Josh has it right, no trade has been discussed between Twins-Mets that has not included Reyes, this was leaked I tell you, they want to do the deal with the Yankees, but the yanks are not including the 2 pitchers, I don't want the Mets to do this, looking at his stats he's on his way down, He gave up the most home runs last year 33, lost 13 games, if you can get him for prospects thats one thing but to give up a proven major leaguer, then have to sign Santana for 120 million for 6 years - no.