And the Johan Sweepstakes winner is…the New York Mets!
UPDATE: (1/29) 8:19pm (EST) - As per Jon Heyman of SI.com, the 72-hour negotiating window is open. The Mets have until 5pm ET on Friday to come to terms with Santana. The Mets’ proposal included their #2 (Guerra), #3 (Gomez), #4 (Mulvey) and #7 (Humber) prospects in their system, according to Baseball America.
Jan 29, 4:29pm (EST) - Talk about making the 2007 collapse a distant memory…the New York Mets have agreed to send Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey over to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Johan Santana, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. There are conflicting internet reports, some say the names of the four prospects can not be released until the Mets have reached an extension with Johan. The four players mentioned above are the “suspected” prospects.
The Mets now have a 72-hour window to get a deal done with Santana, which is likely going to be for a boatload of cash and a lot of years - somewhere in the 5-7 year range and over $120 million for sure. At this point, you’d HAVE to expect Minaya and Wilpon to get something done on the contract side. The Mets are said to want to give a 5 year deal with a higher annual salary ($22-25 million per?) rather than the 7 years at $20 million per season. We’ll see if Johan would be willing to do this.
The negotiations came down to the Mets offer of “potential” versus the Sox and Yankees offers of one sure-fire prospect and lesser guys after that and the Twins decided they wanted the potential of 4 players, it seems. The Mets will not release the names in the deal until the trade is completed (meaning the contract has been agreed upon).
More to come on the prospects later…
Filed under: Minnesota Twins, New York Mets
I’m EXCITED!!!!
Yes. Very exciting for the NY area.
I was right yesterday! It is exactly the four players I said it would be…I am officially pumped, and will be buying a custon SANTANA 57 jersey….WHERE ARE THE PHILLY FANS NOW B*TCHES
I already ordered mine…Santana, Pedro vs. Hamels, Myers. Going to be a big battle in the NL EAST.
If those are the four players indeed, a great deal for the Mets, without any question.
HAHA really are they online at mets.com or something? where can i pick one up???
Ebay it up, Joe.
Lot of Homer Award possibilities right now… lol
Yeah where’s “Utley for Prez” now??
The Mets payroll is now what?
Congrats Mets fans. You’re the New Yankees.
Ha…that’s hilarious. Didn’t even know you posted that Mark.
PS: Santana now replaces LoDuca for team steroid supplier.
Nice try Utley…
Loduca…gone. 6 MIL
Gree….gone. 6 MIL
Glavine…gone. 11 MIL
Mota…gone. 3 MIL
There goes 26 million right there.
Oh my god. You really are the New Yankees!
You’re about to sign a pitcher to a $100M deal! hahaha. Your payroll’s like $140M!
Meet the Yankees, Meet the Yankees.
Come on out and
Great the New Yankees.
Utley, do you need your diaper changed? Is that why you’re CRYING?
Yeah the Mets have lost about 30 million to payroll this year, than add Santana Schneider, and Church, and you are about even as last year….the phillies fans are just looking for an excuse to whine, i cant wait to see Utley and Howard whiff on Johan all summer long
:-)
Sorry, Franklin, I can’t hear you. The collapse from the mets last year was so loud, it affected my hearing.
Man, what a collapse.
The 2008 New York Mets: Pride, Power, Pinstripes
Bring on the Flailin’ Phillies!
Utley 4 Prez, come on now. Fair is fair. This is a Mets day. What can you do? When your team’s major rival makes a monster move like this one, all you can do as a sports fan (any team) is bend over, take it like a man, and hope the actual baseball starts quickly.
Just ignore Utley for Prez. This is the same guy who was accusing David Wright of being a steroid user. All I have to say to him: Enjoy watching your lineup get dominated twice a series by Santana and Ollie.
The other thing that the Mets have now officially done (and somewhat quietly) is make their roster significantly younger, and in all the right places. They’ve replaced Tom Glavine (42) with Johan Santana (29). Shawn Green (35) with Ryan Church (29). Paul LoDuca (36) with Brian Schneider (31). Technically, even going from Jose Valentin (38) to Luis Castillo (32) represents an age upgrade.
Sure they still have a handful of older guys, and a handful of younger guys. But there are a lot more players closer to the middle of their careers here. On opening day last year, the only significant players the Mets had between 27-33 were Carlos Beltran (29), Ramon Castro (31), Aaron Heilman (28), Pedro Feliciano (30), and a couple other relievers. No starters, one everyday position player, and your talented but out of shape backup catcher with a balky back.
The one thing I worry about is that the Mets may now try to speed up some of the lower level guys even faster. I can’t believe Fernando’s still around, but is he really your 7th OF on the depth chart? Are Marlon Anderson and Angel Pagan the only things in his way of big league action? I think that’s foolish. There’s no reason for that. Let him establish himself at a level and gain some confidence. The Mets need to do the smart thing here and avoid the temptation to call him up midseason if Alou goes down and Beltran needs a few days. Use Damian Easley in the outfield. Use Pagan. Call up Jose Valentin and stick him out there. Just don’t use Fernando unless he hits from the first day of the season and doesn’t stop.
There are some interesting players the Mets have been picking up in the middle rounds of the draft and international market. Its not impossible that this farm system closely resembles what it is now in the not to distant future, but Carlos Gomez was a unique entity. To all you Twins fans thinking you got fleeced, I think you should trust your scouting department. Omar really loved Gomez, almost as much as Fernando, and I’ve seen him play, he has superstar potential. If there are any signs that he’s starting to hit for some power, get ready to flip flop on your first reaction to this trade. I know it doesn’t look like enough right now, but the Mets have a pretty good track record of player development over the last 5-10 years. The whole system had a horrible year in 2007, but its still the same one that’s produced David Wright, Jose Reyes, Scott Kazmir, Brian Bannister, and Mike Jacobs. You’ll see, Carlos Gomez will eventually belong towards the top of that list.
And next year they will buyout Carlos Delgado, and then sign mark Teixeira, thus getting even younger!
Joking. At least about the Tex part.
For the Mets to pull this off without giving up F. Martinez, Pelfrey or Heilman… wow.
Adam Rubin was on ESPN radio, and he basically said the Sox and Yanks had back-tracked on their offers, and this is the same deal Omar offered up at the winter meetings. The Twins kind of fleeced themselves here.
That chick has bombs.
Ugggggghhh! Pain and Relief at the same time.
I keep trying to tell myself, “Think of the A.J. trade and how well it worked out.”
Now we know why Terry Ryan left the Twins front office. I’m glad he didn’t have endure this fiasco. It shows how smart he was… he knew this storm was blowing in.
You would think that since the Twins locked up Cuddyer and Fleeced Morneau at cut rate prices (by today’s market) They would have been able to “afford” Santana.
If I knew 4 prospects were going to be the end result, personally, I would have rather told Santana to piss off, go home for the season, take the two draft picks and let the Yankees, Sox, Mets, Angels and Dodgers get into a real bidding war on a pitcher they haven’t seen thow in a year. That would have been fun.
I think in the end Santana’s unwillingness to be flexible in negotiations wore thin on the Franchise quickly. That’s just not how things are done here. If you want to play for the Twins -both- sides need to be flexible. thats why Cuddy and Morneau will stay here and make less rather than hitting the market after their arbitration years are over. that’s why Hunter is no longer a Twin nor is Santana… or Silva… lol.
Mets fans you’re getting a great pitcher in this Fleece. Think of what you would like in return for David Wright or Jose Reyes in a trade. Four prospects?
Twn4life,
I think the Twins pretty muched fleeced themselves by taking so long to mull over this situation. If they had acted quickly, you might have gotten a premium deal, but the longer it went on, the more the Yanks and Sox got lukewarm about it and it left the Twins only the Mets to deal with.
This will be my final post as BBallDude. I’m officially changing my name to Omar Rocks!
That’s better.
Now, this deal gives us the best team in the NL East and in the National League. It gives us the second best rotation in baseball (behind Boston and just ahead of Cleveland). And it gives the Phillies fans yet another reason to take up gardening this summer.
IN OMAR WE TRUST!
Bill Smith will be lucky if he survives another year…
Gardening? Are you forgetting 2007 completely?
You had the best team on paper last year, and still managed to blow the division. Your team has no heart, and this doesn’t change that.
Congratulations, you signed a guy that wouldn’t take $100M from the Twins so he came crawling to NEw York. You’re the yankees….the yankees have officially spread to the National League….thanks.
I’d rather be like the Yankees than be the team with the most losses in professional sports history.
P.S. Anyone who says the Mets have no heart has probably never watched David Wright, Jose Reyes, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, Orlando Hernandez, Moises Alou, Billy Wagner (I know you’ve seen him play, and you can criticize him plenty, but you can’t say he doesn’t have heart), Marlon Anderson, or Endy Chavez play baseball. Now you can add Santana to that list. There’s as much “heart” in that group as there is on any mid-large market team in baseball.
15-5 15-13
3.39 ERA 3.33 ERA
177 K 235 K
1.12 WHIP 1.07 WHIP
Hamels vs. Santana
Just saying…
I’ve never seen a bunch of lethargic, perfunctory players as i did when watching the mets in september last year.
they had zero heart.
alou was the only one that was close. the rest packed it in as if they didn’t care. shockingly, that idiot manager kept his job for that lack of motivation.
ps: i’ll let that billy wagner comment slide. he’s the epitome of greed.
Still, you can’t deny he plays with fire and heart. And David Wright was arguably the hottest hitter in baseball during the final two months of the season. But oh yeah, he’s a steriod user right? Enough with the slander, on with the facts and on with the baseball. Teams aren’t built on one month of unmotivated baseball. This team is as close to the 96 win 2006 team as it is to the 88 win 2007 team. Really, its probably better than either in terms of what you have going into the season.
As for Hamels vs. Santana, that line is something you already had. Its not something your adding to your 89 win roster. That Santana line is what the Mets are adding to an 88 win roster.
And don’t for a second even think of saying that the growth Hamels will experience this season will be equal to the difference between Glavine and Santana.
I like Hamels as much as the next guy… but he’s not even close to Santana.
Utley…settle down.
Santana pitched for a non-factor team in the AL, while Hamels pitched for a Division Champion in the NL. I think that explains the numbers, my friend.
You, sir, are a homer.
Mark: Adding Myers to our rotation doesn’t count for anything? I mean come on. Hamels and Kendrick are going to improve, Myers adds 180 innings and 15 wins.
Meanwhile, yes, you add Santana. But all you Mets homers are banking on Perez and Maine to be as good as they were last year. I don’t think that’s a certainty at all. Maine looked real shakey end of last year, and Perez is Perez.
PHilly will win the division by 6 games.
Franklin, relax. Spending $130M won’t cover up the hole that was your collapse last year. Just ask Yankee fans. Y’know…your AL sister team.
Funny how Kendrick will only get better, yet Maine and Perez will get worse. Makes a lot of sense. Look at Kendrick’s swing and miss numbers…atrocious.
Kendrick was a flash in the pan. And you are a homer.
Taking the Mets side, eh?
This is how I rank the likely 10 starters for the 2 teams:
1. Santana
2. Hamels
3. Myers
4. Pedro
5. Maine
6. Perez
7. El-Duque
8. Kendrick
9. Moyer
….
….
10. Eaton
I’d pretty much have the same rankings. Nice ball.
If Pedro is completely healthy, he could take the #3 spot but since he is not, I agree for now.
And if Pedro were 5 years younger, he could be #1.
True, but you can heal. You can’t get younger…
Bonds and Clemens did…
And when Lidge blows 3 of his first 5 saves, Myers will be right back in the pen. Or you can try the six fingered wonder again maybe.
Six games? Are you JOKING???? So your basically saying that Lidge+Feliz+Jenkins-Rowand is at least a 7 or 8 win upgrade while Santana+Church-Green-Glavine is a 0 win upgrade? And I thought I was a homer.
Oh and BTW, Maine was less that two innings from throwing the first no hitter in Mets history before it was broken up by an infield single in his final start of the season, of which it was his first full. I’m plenty happy having him slotted firmly in the #3 or #4 slot in the rotation, thank you very much.
I think we still need to include the Braves here. I’d go:
1. Santana
2. Hamels
3. Hudson
4. Smoltz
5. Myers (We’ll see what effect getting bounced back and forth will have on him)
6. Martinez
7. Maine
8. Perez
9. Glavine
10. El Duque
I’d go…
1. Santana
2. Smoltz
3. Hamels
4. Hudson
5. Myers
6. Pedro
7. Perez
8. Maine
9. Duque
10. Kendrick?
Glavine stinks.
In that case, I’d go:
1. Santana
2. Smoltz
3. Hamels
4. Myers
5. Hudson
6. Pedro
7. Maine
8. Perez
9. Glavine
10. Duque
Really, you’d both take Smoltz over Hudson at this point in their careers? I think Hudson’s going to take a step back from last year, but still, he was quite good.
I’m still waiting for Utley for Prez’s
1. Hamels
2. Myers
3. Kendrick
4. Moyer
5. Eaton
HAHA, he might put Eaton #1 though.
LOL I think Santana can probably hit better than Eaton can pitch.
Okay Utley, time for one more jab. So your basically suggesting that, even with a new TV network generating revenue, a new lucrative stadium deal, and all the extra money coming in due to the health of the game, the Mets payroll should still come in at less than half the luxury tax cutoff or else they’re “the new Yankees”? All I can say to that is PUH-lease.
And get off your high horse about how great the Phillies are. They won the division by ONE GAME. There was another big market team that, despite leading the division through virtually the entire summer, suffered a catastrophic collapse at the hands of their most bitter rivals. They wound up finishing third in their division.
That team then went on the acquire the most highly regarded pitcher available during the following offseason, and eventually would win the 2007 World Series.
I’m sure if you saw the 2006 Red Sox playing in late August and September, you would say they looked just as listless and unmotivated as the 2007 Mets down the stretch.
“There was another big market team that, despite leading the division through virtually the entire summer, suffered a catastrophic collapse at the hands of their most bitter rivals. They wound up finishing third in their division.”
That is, there was a team like that in 2006.