Cubs Wanted Santana, Who Knew? Not Johan!
According to Gordon Wittenmyer at the Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs’ officials are saying privately that they called Twins general manager Bill Smith when Johan Santana was put on the block last winter. Apparently, the Cubbies were told that Santana would not waive his no-trade clause for them, or any other team that didn’t train in Florida or play on the East Coast, for that matter.
In reality, Santana was never even told that the Cubs were interested in trading for him. Johan also said that had he known, he would have certainly considered waiving his no-trade to head to Chicago. He even recalled his impression of Wrigley Field, from when he played with the Twins in 2001 in an inter-league series with the Cubs, “That atmosphere was great. I was in the bullpen most of the time, but it was crazy.”
Johan did also express that he is pleased to be with the Mets franchise, saying, ”I’m very happy where I am right now.” And who knows if the Cubs could have even offered a package that the Twinkies liked more than that of the Mets (I think they could have), but the fact remains… the Cubs got FLEECED!!
Filed under: Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets
The Cubs got Fleeced? I think the Twins fleeced themselves here. Lets face it, the Twins didn’t get a great package for Johan, and more bidders might have made it more competitive and may have brought them a better package.
I wanted Johan on my rec. league softball team, but I fear he was never told of my interest either.
Cubs were still fleeced though, no? Whether or not they could have offered a better package, they still lost out on a shot at Santana. That sucks.
No it doesn’t, Pete. Thank god Bill Smith is a complete incompetent, or else the Mets wouldn’t have Johan, and THAT would indeed suck.