Will Minaya Save the Day?

Omar Minaya, architect of the Mets team who thrilled us with their tragic collapse at the end of 2007 then went about "fixing" his team by trading away Lastings Milledge for a journeyman 29 year-old outfielder and a backup catcher (within his division no less), letting Tom Glavine walk and trading for Angel Pagan, just to mention the highlights, may now turn into the king of New York. If Minaya can pull the trigger on a trade for Johan Santana, which is looking more and more likely. That report from Joe Christensen of the Star-Tribune says the Mets may offer Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, Phil Humber and possibly even Fernando Martinez. My reaction: Who cares? The Mets could offer Jose Reyes and David Wright and I wouldn't care. I just want him to go to the Mets, as soon as possible.

If Santana winds up in the National League, the Yanks will most likely hang on to Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera, which is all I wanted from the get-go. I could care less if the Mets instantly become the favorites in the National League, a lot can happen between now and then. The most important thing for me is the state of the Yankees, second is the state of their direct competition. What the Mets do has no impact whatsoever unless the two teams meet in the series.

Hank Steinbrenner's daily diatribes have also indicated that the Yanks are less-than thrilled about having to part with the talent rumored to be in any deal, and the dollars. Yesterday, he said the Yanks wouldn't extend Santana beyond five years (all accounts have said he'd want a 7-year extension).

The funny thing about this Mets deal is that it will do zero to help the Twins this season. Gomez is probably the only MLB-ready prospect in that deal, maybe Humber as well, and neither of those guys are impact arms. Bill Smith is going to regret not jumping at the first package the Yanks came up with which included Phil Hughes, mark my words.

Speaking of Hughes, Peter Abraham has the following blurb at the bottom of his latest post:

Exchanged some e-mails with Phil Hughes the last couple of days. He started working out in Tampa a few days ago. Phil Franchise used some of his bonus money to get a place in Florida and he’s one of the first to report to the complex.

The early-bird gets the worm. I'm expecting big things out of Phil this year.