*Santana's agent, Peter Greenberg, contacted the Strib Monday to refute the disappointing reports that Johan was forcing the Twins hand in a trade. According to Greenberg, Johan has not demanded that a trade be worked out with only Boston or New York (like it matters, they're the only two in the running, anyway), and that Santana has said nothing one way or the other about potentially waiving his no-trade clause during the season, which, as described below, would've been a rather dickish thing to do. Apparently Johan read the reports and got pissed off about it. So I guess he's not such a bad guy and all. I take back the elbow thing. Though I still hate the WBC.I just want the Twins to get rid of Johan Santana at this point.
I'm not one to begrudge players getting as much money as they can, like some of the fogies out there who expect players to sign for 300% less than what they could get because it's more money than they make at their shitty job at Citibank.
Having said that, I'm kinda pissed at Johan. As the Twins try to make a deal, Cy-asshole delivered a blow to the Twins leverage by telling them Sunday he will not waive his no-trade clause during the season. Meaning, if the Twins don't trade him now, they won't be able to trade him later, and they'd lose him for nothing but the compensatory draft picks.
Asshole.
The Twins organization made Santana what he is today. Without the changeup that Triple-A pitching coach Bobby Cuellar taught him, and probably without the overly protective methods that Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson used to protect his arm, Santana is not in position to sign a $150 million contract right now.
Again, I have no problem with him telling the Twins, "Sorry, you can't afford me", but tying their hands just because you're anxious is fairly shitty.
Here's hoping that Santana blows out his elbow in the next World Baseball Classic.
*The deal is down to the Yanks and BoSox.
The Yankees are offering Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a second-tier prospect, and Hank Steinbrenner has set a deadline of Monday.
The Sox are offering CF uber-prospect Jacoby Ellsbury and a bunch of secondary prospects.
I strongly prefer the Yankees offer, and I hope the Twins accept it today.
Cabrera, who turned 23 in August, already has over 1,000 at-bats in the big leagues, and has hit a respectable .275/.340/.388 in that time. Much like Delmon Young, those numbers are much more impressive when you consider how young he is.
Ellsbury is probably better (he hit .353 in 116 at-bats with the Sox down the stretch, and has a .313 career average in the minors), but he's not way better, and when you consider that the Yanks are throwing in Hughes while the Sox refuse to include either Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz (reportedly) I don't see how it's even close.
In fact, a large segment of Yankee fans are vehemently protesting the idea of the Bombers including Hughes in a deal (see keephughes.blogspot.com). While Santana costs $150 million, and could possibly be already on the decline, Hughes will be cheap for the foreseeable future, and has an excellent chance of being an All-Star caliber pitcher.
Hughes was 20 years old when the Yankees called him up last year, and in 13 starts he posted a decent 4.46 E
RA, with an excellent WHIP of 1.28.In 53 career minor league starts, the 6-5 righty has gone 25-8 with a 2.03 ERA and an 0.86 WHIP, with 311 K's and only 170 hits allowed in 275 innings. Those are truly amazing numbers.
In all honesty, if I were Bill Smith I'd trade Santana for Hughes and Cabrera alone, I wouldn't even need a 3rd piece to the deal.
The Yankees have made the playoffs every year since '95 or '96 or whatever, but as Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite have aged, their lack of a true No.1 has been glaring, so I can see why they'd make this deal. Santana is 29, and the Twins have done a good job of protecting his arm over the years. You'd think he's a safe bet for another five years at least.
But I still suspect his best days are behind him, and would love to land a talent like Hughes, as well as a promising CF like Cabrera, in exchange.
13 comments:
I think I'd rather have Ellsbury over Melky, but with Hughes being included in the Yankees deal, I think they have to trade him to NY.
Agreed.
With Melky playing center, is Delmon in LF, or RF? Is Cuddy at 3B?
Delmon's going to be in LF no matter what, and Cuddy will stay in RF. Kubel/Craig Monroe (if they sign him) at DH, with Jason Pridie, Jason Tyner and Garrett Jones competing for one, maybe two backup spots.
My guess is Brendan Harris will play 2B, and they'll try to get a 3B through trade or free-agency.
They'll probably look for a SS, but if they don't find one they like they'll let Punto and Casilla compete for the spot.
If Santana was never coached by Bobby Cuellar, the Twins triple A coach, I bet he wouldn't even be a pitcher right now...... You giving Cuellar (whoever the f*** he is)credit for Santana's successes is brutal.
You obviously don't know anything.
Santana's best pitch is his changeup, which Cuellar, the Triple-A pitching coach, taught him.
Before Santana perfected his change, he was just another athletic lefty with a 93-mph fastball. With the change, he became the best.
Google Johan Santana and Bobby Cuellar sometime, you might learn something.
Daaaaaaamn, In your face, Mexican!
splattered like a pinata!
Few people know that before Santana met Bobby Cuellar, he was projected to be a career batting practice pitcher. Of course, much of this was due to baseball stereotypes. Venezuelans are highly regarded for their superior batting practice pitching abilities.
Nathan to the Astros? Who do the Twins get?
No need to pick on poor RexTwin, but it's true, Cuellar not only helped Santana become what he is, but also get a lot of credit for turning Liriano into a super-prospect.
This was fairly well publicized in recent years, I don't know how a serious Twins fan could've missed that.
Not trying to pick on anybody, but yes Melky-lover, I thought Cuellar's significant influence on Santana and Liriano was common knowledge. Apparently not.
I haven't heard anything on Nathan to Houston, but it would make some sense. The Twins would have some interest in Mike Lamb, a good-hitting, average-fielding 3B, but I would expect the Twins to ask for more than that for one of the game's top 3 closers.
My guess is they take care of Johan before moving anyone else.
To explain for rextwin; I happen to know he was deported a few years back. He's since been able to crawl his way back to the states.
Also, there is the language barrier. He tries, but Twins blogs such as this one rarely give him the option of pressing 2 for Spanish.
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