Odds and Sods

The New York Mets and Minnesota Twins have agreed to a tentative deal to trade pitcher Johan Santana, according to multiple sources.

The proposed deal would send Santana to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitching prospects Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra.  It is contingent upon Santana passing a physical and upon the Mets negotiating a contract extension with the pitcher.

Santana has reportedly been seeking a 6 to 7 year deal at more than $20 million per season.  The Mets, however, may wish to keep it to 5 years, potentially by offering a higher annual salary.  Santana is due $13.25 million in 2008.

Should it go through, the deal is an obvious coup for the Mets.  They get arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball, making the easier transition from the American League to the National League.  By acquiring an ace, they fulfilled the massive whole at the top of their rotation, instantly making them World Series favorites in the National League.  And, oh yeah, they gave up neither their best prospect Fernando Martinez nor their best young pitcher Mike Pelfry to acquire him.  Omar Minaya should be pleased.

The greater question is why the Twins would agree to this deal.  Theoretically, they should have been able to extort a King’s ransom from either the Mets, the Yankees, or the Red Sox.  At least one would expect them to pick up one A-level prospect in the deal.  Fans somewhat satiated with visions of John Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Phil Hughes dancing through their heads now sit incredulous with mouth agape.

The Twins could very well end up with nothing from this deal.  Carlos Gomez has great speed and is a great defender, but his bat is hardly major league ready and he hits for no power.  He’s no sure thing and he is the centerpiece of the deal!

Deolis Guerra is 18 years old with a lot of potential, but he remains at least three years away from contributing.  Phil Humber and Kevin Mulvey are major league ready, though neither really gets those salivary glands flowing.

This is better than a package centered around John Lester and Coco Crisp how?   Would they not have been better off keeping Santana, trying to compete next season by pairing him with a healthy Liriano, and then taking the compensatory draft picks?  Could they not have held onto him until the trading deadline and gotten a deal at least this good?

One has to ask what the rationale was for making this trade.  The only perceivable one is that the Twins wanted to ship Santana out of the American League, and rejected better offers from the Yankees and Red Sox.  Which would be unquestionable idiocy, since the Yankees and Red Sox would be good anyway and are not in the Twins division.   They would also at most have to face him in two of their 162 regular season games.   Worry about making the best deal for your own team first.

The Twins traded the best pitcher in baseball for essentially nothing.  They performed the equivalent of trading in a Ferrari for a standard-model Mustang, two Honda Civics, and a gutted Impala primed for potential pimping.  It was their turn in Naughty Santa and they opted to open a box rather than steal the iPod.  Is abject failure a fireable offense?