Santana to Mets
Thursday, January 31, 2008
This isn't nearly as bad a trade as everyone is making it out to be. Is the package the Twins received from the Mets as good as the rumored BoSox and Yankees packages of a month ago? Probably not. Would it have been nice to get Fernando Martinez? Of course. But some of the things I've heard since last night are just ridiculous. Gammons was on ESPN last night saying none of these guy would be top10 prospects in the Yankees or Red Sox systems. One of the guys on Bumper to Bumper said "I think you gotta start with Wright, then get Martinez and then maybe get to some of these pitchers" and I think Barreiro agreed with him! That is seriously crazy talk, by a bunch of people who make their living discussing and in Gammons case also reporting sports news.
I could probably write a whole thesis on this so I’m just going to keep it VERY simple. In a vacuum, this trade was good for the franchise. Fan reaction aside, they are better off after the trade then before it.
I’d rather have 6 cost controlled years of each of Gomez, Guerra, Humber and Mulvey then 1 discounted year of Santana + compensation picks. If the Twins really passed on a Hughes package, they are crazy. If they really passed on a package with Ellsbury, Lowrie and Masterson, they are crazy. They are not crazy for thinking this was a good enough return to make it a worthwhile trade.
Anyway, tomorrow I’ll post some more thoughts on the guys we got, how the roster is shaping up for next year and a few thoughts on the Super Bowl.
Posted bySL__72 at 5:50 PM
Labels: Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Johan Santana, Kevin Mulvey, New York Mets, Phil Humber, Trade Rumors
Gammons has not been the same since his aneurysm. I would guess that close to 100% of the people on TV that are so called experts have no clue about prospects. I am not sure if you saw that Baseball Prospectus released their Top 100 prospects report. The Twins got 2 of the Top 100 Prospects in all of baseball out of this deal. Gomez is listed at #65 and Guerra at #79. The Red Sox boast 7 in the Top 100, while the Yankees have 5. Gammons' statement has been refuted and I am branding him an idiot.
Woah woah woah. Peter Gammons is not an idiot. He's really old, and he probably has alzheimer's/dementia/parkinsons. Obviously he overstated the "lopsidedness" of the deal, but he was probably just bitter about the fact that the Red Sox didn't get him. Here's the thing though, If I were the read sox, the next best thing that could've happened to Santana besides going to Boston was to go to the Mets. The Sox already have the best team in the American League by a considerable amount, so they were probably trying to get santana to keep him away from the Yankees. They didn't need him per se, but they did need to keep him out of the hands of the yankees. Also, every other analyst is a yankees fan, and thats why they are all so pissed about it. They wanted santana, they didn't get them, and now they have their panties in a bunch about how bad the twins got screwed. pshhh
I actually like Gammons too, but that was a ridiculous thing to say...
I think the best thing that could have happened for the Red Sox was having the Yankees trade Hughes + Melky + another prospect for Santana. That trade is ridiculously lopsided in the Twins favor that it probably would have helped the Red Sox for a good 5 years or so.
ESPN did not even mention the fact that Santana wanted to go to the NL and could have vetoed any trade he wanted. Plus, trading to the Yankees/Redsox would have hurt the Twins in that we would have to face him in the regular season and playoffs. ESPN and KFAN are dumb old school analysts who don't know crap. Gammons only knows how to write.