This article has been submitted by Jack Forsayeth.
Everyone in the American League let out a major league sigh of relief when they heard that Santana was off to the National League’s New York Mets. The most excited of these fans should be the Blue Jays faithful because for a long time it looked as though the two-time Cy Young winner was on his way to either the Red Sox or Yankees. All three teams put up extremely impressive packages of prospects, and in my opinion the best came from the Yanks, but I think the kicker for Minnesota was getting him out of their playoff competition.
The Twins received OF Carlos Gomez and pitchers Deolis Guerra, Philip Humber, and Kevin Mulvey from the Mets. Somehow they were able to get away with not giving up super prospect Fernando Martinez and probably their second best pitching prospect (next to Guerra) in Mike Pelfrey. That being said, history has shown that the Twins have a serious knack for finding the perfect prospects for their small ball needs (remember AJ Pierzynski for Bonser, Liriano, and Nathan?). As rare as it is in professional sports, I really do believe that this is a win-win for both teams. The Mets get the best pitcher in baseball and will likely be the opening day favorite to win the World Series. The Twins would not have been able to re-sign Santana anyway and they have also lost Torii Hunter’s contract, so they pick up a substantial amount of salary room as well as four solid prospects that will greatly contribute to the future of the team. The Twins always compete and I think that Liriano will rise up next year and be a Cy Young contender once again.
The last star on the market is the Orioles’ Erik Bedard. His most likely destination seems to be the Mariners, although the Reds, Dodgers, and Blue Jays have been mentioned. Yes, the Blue Jays. This of course is one of those stunts where a Canadian superstar goes on the market and the media assumes that the Raptors or Jays are the front-runners (see: Jamaal Magloire for the last eight seasons). I would not get too excited over these rumors because they are not true, with the Os having asked for Burnett plus a top prospect). It will be interesting to see where he ends up and all Jays fans should once again hope that he gets out of the AL, or at least the AL East.
This article has been submitted by Jack Forsayeth
#1 by Blake Murphy on January 31st, 2008
I really hope Peter Angelos pulls the trigger on that Bedard deal. Even though the proposed offer doesn’t have any sure-fire pitching prospects, they do get Adam Jones (who?) to roam CF for a long time to come. I think Angelos feels he can get more by waiting out a deal but I’m not sure that’s the case.
If I’m JP Ricciardi, I’m calling Seattle right now and offering to throw in a Jays Double-A prospect to push the deal over the top and keep Bedard out of the AL East. Now can you dig that, suckaaaaa?
#2 by Erik on January 31st, 2008
I really think that Minny settled for a lesser package of players. If you believe the rumors, it looked like the Yanks and Sox were prepared to give up a serious impact prospect. Still, I guess they got some nice players in return from the Mets.
I respect teams like Baltimore, Oakland and Minnesota. Why? Because here are great examples of teams that aren’t going to settle with being “competitive.” These teams aren’t serious world series contenders and management has the balls to blow it up and make new goals.
Different sport, but TML brass take note?
But the Jays, for whatever reason, never had trouble with Santana. His career numbers against the Jays are awful.