by Brian on January 29, 2008 at 4:42PM
  • Phil Hughes, still a Yankee - Check
  • Joba Chamberlain, still a Yankee - Check
  • Ian Kennedy, still a Yankee - Check
  • Melky Cabrera, still a Yankee - Check
  • Johan Santana, not traded to the Red Sox - Check
The New York Mets have come to the rescue. According to Bob Nightengale, the Mets have "won" the Johan Santana sweepstakes with a package of Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra.

It's not too often that I get to say, "Thank God for the Mets."

Head over the Loge 13 for our Mets coverage of the deal. Hat tip to MLBTR for the news.



Also on the Network:
√ Four Straight? [Depressed Fan]
√ A Little Help? [Depressed Fan]
√ The first taco [Cobra Brigade]




[January 29, 2008 5:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Mike said

EEEEEE-yea!!!!

[January 29, 2008 6:06 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian replied to Mike

My sentiments, exactly. (I think)

[January 29, 2008 7:27 PM]  |  link  |  reply
stopmikelupica said

Booooo. Mark my words: we will wish we had dealt for Johan Santana. Most trades involve unknowns, and gambles. This trade involves the least amount of gambling you can do in a trade. The Mets, with their offense, and now with their defense, will probably be in the World Series more over the next five years than the Yankees.

[January 29, 2008 7:48 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian replied to stopmikelupica

Mets fans were probably saying the exact same thing about the Pedro signing three years ago.

Honestly, I don't worry about the National League until the Yanks are in the series. Giving up Hughes, Melky and prospects for the right to sign Santana to a 6 or 7 year deal for north of $130M was lunacy. Cashman made the right non-move and I'm glad he did it.

Good move for the Mets, as long as Santana's precipitous fall-off late last season wasn't a sign of an elbow injury.

It'll be fun to look back five years from now and compare Hughes' numbers to Santana's.

[January 29, 2008 8:51 PM]  |  link  |  reply
JJ said

The Mets just go and prove the saying that there's a sucker born every minute.

[January 29, 2008 11:02 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Aaron said

What's the story with these guys the Twins got? Are any of them major league ready?


[January 29, 2008 11:15 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian replied to Aaron

Not really, here's an excerpt from Baseball America:

Guerra (No. 2), Gomez (No. 3), Mulvey (No. 4) and Humber (No. 7) all ranked prominently on our Mets Top 10 Prospects list. But there’s simply too much risk involved in this deal for Minnesota.

The two best prospects in the trade, Guerra and Gomez, come with high ceilings but also lack a lot of polish and have a long ways to go to reach their potential. The odds that they both will do so are slim.

Guerra has an 89-94 mph fastball and a promising changeup and he’s only 18. But he also has a below-average breaking ball, has yet to pitch more than 90 innings in a season and while he has held his own, he hasn’t dominated. Gomez had the best package of tools in the Mets system, but his bat is still extemely raw as evidenced by his career .273/.331/.384 averages in the minors.

Mulvey has an arsenal of four average pitches and throws strikes. He’s not overpowering and he’s most likely a No. 4 starter. Since having Tommy John surgery in 2005, Humber hasn’t fully regained the stuff that made him the No. 3 overall pick in the 2004 draft. His curveball is his best pitch but his fastball now sits at 87-91 mph. He too projects as a No. 4 starter.

Gomez is a burner, but he can't hit. Guera is young, but doesn't throw that hard and doesn't have a breaking pitch. The other guys might be end-of-the-rotation starters down the line. It looks to me like the Twins got hosed in this deal. All those stupid games they played at the Winter Meetings really backfired.

The Mets, on the other hand, now have to pony up the money for a guy who saw a significant drop in his velocity at the end of last season. They better hope he holds up.

[January 30, 2008 7:07 PM]  |  link  |  reply
JJ said

While the Mets on the surface aren't giving up guaranteed major league players for a great pitcher, they now have the pressure of signing him. He's going to demand 6 years, 25 mil. a year minimum. That's a lot of money to pony up and if he doesn't get his asking price, he may just opt for free agency anyway.

Who is Santana's agent?

[January 30, 2008 11:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian replied to JJ

Not sure who his agent is. But I'm pretty sure this deal is contingent on him signing an extension. If the Mets can't get that done in the next 40 hours or so, the deal is off.

[January 31, 2008 7:39 AM]  |  link  |  reply
JJ said

Funny thing is, the price for Santana dropped steeply. The Yankee offer was far and above better than any other offer. Thank goodness Minnesota didn't jump on it.

Which brings me to another question... why didn't they?

When they were offered proven talented major league young players?

My guess is it's money. They realize that the young Yankee players offered were going to cost them some money to keep. To me, Minnesota looks like a cheap team on the ML dole that just wants to throw any cheap bodies out there and isn't concerned about the product they offer the fans. Am I wrong in this assumption?

If Santana is the pitcher he was between 2003 and before the All-Star break last year, then I'd say the Mets got the bargain of the century. On the other hand, why did his trade value drop so steeply? And what was up with Santana in August/September? If the Mets give him his asking price, that's going to tie up considerable money for 6 years minimum. Is he going to hold up for them, or will he be like Pedro?

[January 31, 2008 12:38 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Brian replied to JJ

The Twins dropped the ball here. The rumor is that they called the Yanks and asked for a package based around Melky and Kennedy, and the Yanks said no thanks. They should've done a deal at the Winter Meetings, they would've gotten much more than they wound up with.

As for the Mets, the way Santana finished the season worries me, but I don't really think he's got a serious injury. They'll sign him to a monster deal and he'll probably live up to it for the first 3 or 4 years, then they'll be paying a broken down pitcher, like they are with Pedro now. If he gets them to the series in the first 3 or 4 years, it was absolutely worth the money.