Johan Santana will be pitching in New York in 2008, but not in the Bronx. The New York Mets reached a tentative agreement with the Twins for superstar lefty Johan Santana, immediately filling by far the biggest void on their roster: an ace starter. The deal, which is pending a physical and contract extension for Santana, has the Mets giving up four prospects– outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. This is a huge deal for the Mets, immediately making them a favorite in the National League again; acquiring the preeminent pitcher in the majors will do that. Amazingly enough, Twins GM Bill Smith didn’t even demand the Mets’ number one prospect, Fernando Martinez. The Twins have to be seen as losers in this deal by holding out for too much. Admittedly, I don’t know anything about the four prospects they are getting in this deal, and by all accounts this is the fourth best deal they were offered for Santana. The top three were the two Red Sox offers: one centered around John Lester and one centered around Jacoby Elsbury, and the Yankees offer centered around Phil Hughes. These offers were pulled from the table during the winter meetings and now the Twins have been forced to accept an inferior deal.
The Yankees and Red Sox also have to be seen as losers here. If the Sox put Lester back on the table they could have acquired the best pitcher in baseball and immediately had the most formidable 1-2 starters since the Curt Schilling/Randy Johnson duo in Arizona (and likely even more dominant than that pairing). This would have made the Sox the run away favorites to repeat as World Champs. The Yankees, along those same lines, could unquestionably use an ace like Santana, as their starting rotation is clearly their biggest question mark heading into the ’08 season. One can’t help but think the Yankees, as constructed, are a little short of competing with the Red Sox and Tigers for the AL pennant this season.
However, one thing is clear: the Mets came out of this as HUGE winners. They obtained the services of the most dominant pitcher in baseball without even parting with a top prospect, much less an every day player from their roster.
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