The Johan Santana Trade Revisited

On February 2nd, 2008, the Minnesota Twins traded LHP Johan Santana to the New York Mets for four prospects. All seemed right with the world after it: the Mets, a year after they blew a historic lead to the Phillies, acquired one of the best pitchers in all of baseball in Santana and everyone thought they were primed for the post-season.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry (both teams considered front-runners for Santana at different times) didn't dramatically shift in one direction since neither team nabbed Johan.

Plus the Twins felt that they got some very good prospects in return for their ace pitcher.

Oh how we were wrong. Let's play this thing out with the winners and losers as they stand today in 2009:

Winners:

New York Mets:

The Mets acquire Johan Santana and then immediately signed him to a 6-year, $137.5mm contract, the largest contract for any pitcher at the time. This would prove to be a great move as Santana went 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA and 206 K's in 234.1 IP. He would finnish 2nd in the NL Cy Young voting to Tim Lincecum of the Giants. This year he's been good as well pitching to the tune of 3.13 ERA, .01 higher than that of his career. However, due to injuries to other players and bad offense surrounding Santana, the Mets failed to reach the postseason in 2008 and it looks as though the same ending will result here in 2009.

New York Yankees:

By not trading for Santana, Yankees' GM Brian Cashman was bashed by the New York media. However, the move not to trade for the ace lefty has to proved to have been possibly the best move of Cashman's career; Due to the prospects he didn't give up at the time.

The Yankees top offer was Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Jeffery Marquez, Ian Kennedy and Jhonny Nunez.

By not making the deal, the Yankees spun those prospects around for great things. Now the Yankees have C.C. Sabathia/Mark Teixiera in place of Johan Santana (they wouldn't of been able to sign all three), Melky Cabrera has been playing a good centerfield and is having a solid bounce-back season, Phil Hughes is finally realizing his potential as a dominate set-up man, and Marquez and Nunez were both traded to the White Sox for Nick Swisher, the Yankees powerful right fielder. All has worked out extremely well for the Yankees.

Boston Red Sox:

While Brian Cashman's move not to deal for Santana was good, Red Sox GM Theo Epstien's may have been even better. The Red Sox top offer looked like this: Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Michael Bowden.

By not trading for Santana, they now have an dominate pitcher in Lester, one of the best base-stealers in the game in Ellsbury, Lowrie's a below-average shortstop, and Bowden has huge potential (despite a terrible performance against the Yankees on Friday.

Losers:

Minnesota Twins:

Yes it's true, the Twins, the team that dealt Santana are our one-and-only losers in this deal. They held out on Santana for too long and wound up taking the worst package on the table. Carlos Gomez, despite playing terrific defense and having amazing speed, never gets a chance to show off that speed because he never gets on base. His OBP his barely over .300 while his BA is constantly in the low to mid .200s.

The Twins recently released Phillip Humber so he's a dud. Mulvey has pitched a little in the majors and hasn't been that bad and Deolis Guerra is ranked as the Twins #12 prospect.

However, what's even worse is what the Twins didn't trade for: both the Red Sox and the Yankees had great offers on the table but the Twins kept asking for more.

With the Yankees, the Twins kept asking for Phil Hughes AND Joba Chamberlain, even though the Yankees stated clearly that Joba was off-limits.

With the Red Sox it was even worse, the Twins were asking for Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, AND Jacoby Ellsbury. The Red Sox were never going to do it. Plus the Twins just should've asked for Lester and Ellsbury, both of whom were much better better than Buchholz.

Bottom line, the Twins messed up and the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox all capitalized...big time!

Yanks Should Sign El Duque

I know I already have proposed this idea before, but I still believe that the Yankees should sign Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Despite getting released by the Texas Rangers earlier this year because he "didn't show enough velocity or command," I believe he could still pitch in the big leagues. It seems to me that he could benefit from a Bronx return like many players have in the past.

However, the bottom line is this: the Yankees could use another starter, El Duque's a free agent, and he's a proven winner. He pitches extremely well in the postseason which the Yankees could use if he proves effective over the regular season. In his career, El Duque is 9-3 with a 2.55 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 106.0 innings. The Yankees could use him as their 4th starter and put Joba in the 'pen with Phil Hughes (an idea I've already pitched before). If you do that, you don't have to limit Joba's innings as much in the regular season.

Yankees Outfield Off-Season Plan

After the news came that there was mutual agreement from Johnny Damon and the Yankees for resigning after the season, it made me think what they could do with their outfield after the season. Here's how it ideally works out in my mind:

1. Yankees outfield has openings

After the Yankees let Hideki Matsui walk to Japan after the season and Johnny Damon going to free agency, it will leave their outfield weak offensively (no Yankee fan wants to see a Melky/Gardner, Austin Jackson, Nick Swisher offense). They will probably look to sign a free agent.

2. Rays let Crawford go

With Carl Crawford set to become a free agent and Desmond Jennings waiting in the wings as the heir to the stolen base throne, it appears as though Tampa Bay will not pick up Crawford's $10MM option for 2010. So with Crawford set to become a free agent and the opening in the Yankees outfield, it makes for a perfect storm (just like Joe Mauer in 2011).

3. Yankees sign Damon, Crawford

The Yankees make a big splash in free agency signing Johnny Damon and Carl Crawford. They get Damon for two more years and $18mm and then nab Crawford for a 5-year, $64mm contract. The Yankees also resign Xavier Nady for the bench.

4. Giardi: "Were not ready for Ajax yet"

Joe Girardi tells the media at Crawford's press conference that the Yankees will not call up Austin Jackson. This causes multiple Yankee writers to start complaining about Girardi at which point Cashman reassures them "were sticking with Joe." Hank Stienbrenner (who breaks free from the stranglehold that the Yankees PR has on him) complains that "Ajax will start."

5. Spring Training Starts

Spring Training in Tampa starts with Ajax and Melky duking it out for the starting centerfield job which Ajax wins.

6. Regular Season

The regular season begins and the Yankees roster looks like this (the Yankees have accepted the fact that Damon is now a power hitter and turn him into the 5th place hitter and DH):

Lineup:

1. Carl Crawford LF

2. Derek Jeter SS

3. Mark Teixeira 1B

4. Alex Rodriguez 3B

5. Johnny Damon DH

6. Robinson Cano 2B

7. Jorge Posada C

8. Nick Swisher RF

9. Austin Jackson CF

Bench:

Francisco Cervelli

Xavier Nady

Melky Cabrera

Ramiro Pena

Rotation:

1. CC Sabathia

2. A.J. Burnett

3. Justin Duchscherer (the Yankees will sign him or another pitcher if Pettitte retires)

4. Joba Chamberlain

5. Phil Hughes (or Zach McAllister or Aceves if Hughes stays in the 'pen)

Bullpen:

1. Phil Coke-Lefty Specialist

2. Huston Street-Set-up Man

3. Brian Bruney-Reliever

4. Aceves/Hughes/McAllister/Melancon

5. David "K-Rob" Robertson-Reliever

6. Mariano Rivera-Closer

*A note: The Nady/Marte trade hasn't worked out that well. Both are pretty much out for the season while Jose Tabata is raking and Jeff Kartasens and Ross Oldendorf have both been pitching very well (Ross would've been a nice 5th starter).

Pat Venditte On E:60

Venditte's one-of-a-kind. I really hope he gets to the majors and that the Yankees don't trade him for some mediocre player.

Yankees Sign 3 Draft Picks

The Yankees have signed their 1st, 2nd and 5th round draft picks today according to Jim Callis and Keith Law.

1st Round Pick: Slade Heathcott

The Yankees signed their 27th pick overall for $2.2MM, that's about $1.9MM over the recommended amount. Heathcott will play as an outfielder in proball and is a legitimate 5-tool player.

2nd Round Pick: JR Murphy

Murphy joins in a long line of Yankees catching prospects (J. Montero, F. Cervelli, G. Sanchez, A. Romine) after signing for probably 7 figures. Murhpy was an outfielder but converted to catcher due to athleticism.

5th Round Pick: Caleb Cotham

The Yankees signed the righty out of Vanderbilt for $675,000. That's just $5,000 short of the most in the 5th round and 4 times the recommended amount. Cotham was bothered by a sore knee in the Spring, but didn't allow an earned run in the Cape Cod league and threw 91-94 with his fastball.

What More Could You Ask For?

What more could you ask for from this series so far. On Thursday, the Yankees and Red Sox slugged it out in a 13-6 Yankee win. The two teams combined 19 runs, 26 hits, and 6 home runs.

However, the story was much different on Friday as fans (that watched all 15 innings) witnessed quite possibly the greatest pitched game in Red Sox-Yankees history as the two teams held each other scoreless until the bottom of the 15th. At that point, the only pitcher left in the Boston bullpen was rookie pitcher Junichi Tazawa who had never before pitched in the majors. So that, combined with the fact that Alex Rodriguez was overdue for a home run (he hadn't it one in a career-high 70+ ABs) set the stage for a 2-run walk-off home run by A-Rod who had been booed early in that game.

So what's next? What could they possibly do to build on these first two games. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking no-hitter? They've certainly come close: remember August 29th and 30th 2007? Plus it's not out of the question with CC on the mound.

Papi Was A No-Brainer

For years Yankee fans were tormented by those of the Sox for all the pinstriped players using PEDs. But no longer must we just look back at them blank-slated, for now we have a comeback. His name: David Ortiz.

When the Minnesota Twins released Ortiz after the 2002 season, they did so knowing that they were giving up an average player. However, he was no where near the level that he was at when he arrived in Boston. "Big Papi" hit 58 homers combined with the Twins over 6 seasons. That's only 4 more home runs than he hit in the 2006 season alone. Ortiz never drove in more than 75 runs in the Twin Cities, but has accomplished that feat in every single season in Boston and had driven in more than 100 runs in everyone until last year when he "only" knocked in 89. His SLG%, which always hovered below .500, rose up to the mid .600s on the BoSox.

It really was no secret that something happened when he changed cities and it definitely wasn't the stadium. Before joining the Red Sox, Papi was a terrible 1-for-23 at Fenway with only 2 RBIs and no home runs since 2001.

At this point, it was pretty apparent that Ortiz was probably taking PEDs, but the way he talked about them, he made some people think otherwise. David was one the biggest voices against steroids in baseball that you would've never thought he would have been taking them himself. However, that has now turned him into one of the largest hypocrites to ever play baseball (unless Wade Boggs turns up on a list as well).

The only thing that remains is for Papi to admit it, something he has yet to do. And if he doesn't, that'll mean just another thing that A-Rod has surpassed him in.