Santana: the real deal
Patrick Stone
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports
When Johan Santana was finally traded to the Mets earlier this month, a friend of mine from Virginia called me up to offer his condolences that the Red Sox once again couldn't land "their guy" during the winter.
Honestly, I was about as heartbroken by Santana joining the Mets as Pacman Jones was when he didn't win Time's "Man of the Year," but I played along and lamented the Sox failure in that sad, kind-of phony way all Boston fans learned how to do when they were born.
In reality, a Santana deal had three possible outcomes: Shift the balance of power to the Yankees in the A.L., make the Red Sox rotation the baseball equivalent of Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men," or make the Mets the best team in the N.L., otherwise known as being the sexiest person at a Star Trek convention. Those were the three big players.
With a year left on his contract, and a nifty no-trade clause to boot, Santana and the stingy Twins knew the day would come. Either hold on for this season and hope the baseball gods finally smile upon the Metrodome, or do the smart thing and unload the two-time Cy Young winner for a handful of elite prospects because they weren't going to dish out a contract so pricy it would make both Kevin Brown and Barry Zito wet themselves. In typical Twins savvy, they held onto their cards for too long, assuming either the Sox or the Yankees would blink and trade away their farm systems to ink Santana. One-upping themselves in stupidity, they even traded one of their best pitching prospects (Matt Garza) to the Rays for local crazy person Delmon Young, because they were so confident they'd be landing either Phil Hughes or Jon Lester from the northeast.
TWINKIES DOWN SIZED, METS UPGRADE It took a few months, but someone lightly jabbed the Twins with a stick and explained that neither the Sox and Yanks had any real interest in Johan, they were just trying to make sure the other didn't get him. In step the Mets, with a boat-full of mediocre prospects and an open wallet, and you've got yourself the reverse Pedro Martinez Trade: an ace in his prime jumping from the low market A.L. team to the N.L.'s big spender. Put Santana into that ballpark in Queens, against N.L. lineups, in a division where only two teams are set to seriously compete, with a group of guys he shares similar heritage with, and that's a Hall of Fame making move if I've ever seen one. What's best for G.M. Omar Minaya? The Mets did it by giving only their second best pitching prospect and a group of other guy's you wouldn't recognize if they shook your hand and told you their names.
Honestly, I was about as heartbroken by Santana joining the Mets as Pacman Jones was when he didn't win Time's "Man of the Year," but I played along and lamented the Sox failure in that sad, kind-of phony way all Boston fans learned how to do when they were born.
In reality, a Santana deal had three possible outcomes: Shift the balance of power to the Yankees in the A.L., make the Red Sox rotation the baseball equivalent of Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men," or make the Mets the best team in the N.L., otherwise known as being the sexiest person at a Star Trek convention. Those were the three big players.
With a year left on his contract, and a nifty no-trade clause to boot, Santana and the stingy Twins knew the day would come. Either hold on for this season and hope the baseball gods finally smile upon the Metrodome, or do the smart thing and unload the two-time Cy Young winner for a handful of elite prospects because they weren't going to dish out a contract so pricy it would make both Kevin Brown and Barry Zito wet themselves. In typical Twins savvy, they held onto their cards for too long, assuming either the Sox or the Yankees would blink and trade away their farm systems to ink Santana. One-upping themselves in stupidity, they even traded one of their best pitching prospects (Matt Garza) to the Rays for local crazy person Delmon Young, because they were so confident they'd be landing either Phil Hughes or Jon Lester from the northeast.
TWINKIES DOWN SIZED, METS UPGRADE It took a few months, but someone lightly jabbed the Twins with a stick and explained that neither the Sox and Yanks had any real interest in Johan, they were just trying to make sure the other didn't get him. In step the Mets, with a boat-full of mediocre prospects and an open wallet, and you've got yourself the reverse Pedro Martinez Trade: an ace in his prime jumping from the low market A.L. team to the N.L.'s big spender. Put Santana into that ballpark in Queens, against N.L. lineups, in a division where only two teams are set to seriously compete, with a group of guys he shares similar heritage with, and that's a Hall of Fame making move if I've ever seen one. What's best for G.M. Omar Minaya? The Mets did it by giving only their second best pitching prospect and a group of other guy's you wouldn't recognize if they shook your hand and told you their names.
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