groundgame
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 1,085
- Reaction score
- 104
Registered Members experience this forum ad and noise-free.
CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Theo would be arrested for rape.
Santana is one of the best pitchers in baseball. He has won two Cy Youngs. I don't see how you pass on him if you can work out a deal.
I wouldn't even do that deal. Santana is a year away from the open market. He's going to cost $25 mill a year. To me, that alone is a high enough price to consider passing, then when you're talking about giving up some of your best prospects who are MLB ready (some who are already contributing, Buccholz/Ellsbury), that just makes no sense when you're team is just coming off winning the WS.
I don't understand this mindset that we have to snatch up every great player available at all costs. Let Santana continue being one of the best MLB pitchers on another team and we can continue to win World Series.
Santana re-signing is a very realistic scenario, and most people around baseball expect thats what it going to happen. 15 GMs/assistants were asked about Santana, and 14 expect him to remain a Twin next season.So to say I'd be shocked if Santana doesn't get traded is an understatement. He's either going to re-sign long term with the Twins (which I don't think anyone views as a realistic scenario) or go out to the highest bidder in terms of players, and will negotiate an extension with his new team.
Santana re-signing is a very realistic scenario, and most people around baseball expect thats what it going to happen. 15 GMs/assistants were asked about Santana, and 14 expect him to remain a Twin next season.
The Twins are getting a new stadium and should be under a lot of political pressure to re-sign Santana. Trading away their best player would be a slap in the face to everyone who just agreed to fund their new stadium, and would make it a lot more difficult for them to get anything done that involves city approval. The reason they wanted a new stadium is to increase revenue, and the reason they want to increase revenue is to re-sign their marquee players like Santana. And they're also losing their most expensive player to Free Agency: No Hunter + Increase in revenue = More money for Santana.
they might think they have a chance of getting to the playoffs .and they might want the draft picks that they would get if Santana left after his contract expired .billy bean does that all the time .he just lets his players walk and gets the draft picks instead of trading his soon to be free agents.This really comes down to a money issue if Santana is looking for the top payday, that's going to be from Boston or New York, not the Twins.
Whether folks realize it or not Santana IS CURRENTLY A FREE AGENT for all intents and purposes.
For all the reasons you point out, the last thing the Twins are going to do is let him walk for nothing next season. It's re-sign him in the offseason or trade him
And bringin in Ellsbury, Bucholtz, Lester and others in a trade with the Sox isn't exactly chopped liver for the Twins... further more, seeing as the team finished with a losing record WITH Santana on it this year and out of the playoffs often during his tenure might lead some to believe that that's not enough to bring in more fans - and that the best idea is to rebuild with young pitchers and position players.
But letting Santana walk for NOTHING next season? I don't see that happening under any circumstances and would love to know why anyone thinks it would.
The Twins have won their division in 4 of the last 6 years, so I think 2007 was more likely a bad season than the signs of a team in need to be rebuilt. If the Twins believe that they have a shot at competing next year with Santana than they'll keep him. Oakland thought they could compete in 2006 with Zito so they kept him instead of trading him away for the big package of prospects everyone expected them to get. A team isn't going to trade away their best player if they think that they can compete with them.This really comes down to a money issue if Santana is looking for the top payday, that's going to be from Boston or New York, not the Twins.
Whether folks realize it or not Santana IS CURRENTLY A FREE AGENT for all intents and purposes.
For all the reasons you point out, the last thing the Twins are going to do is let him walk for nothing next season. It's re-sign him in the offseason or trade him
And bringin in Ellsbury, Bucholtz, Lester and others in a trade with the Sox isn't exactly chopped liver for the Twins... further more, seeing as the team finished with a losing record WITH Santana on it this year and out of the playoffs often during his tenure might lead some to believe that that's not enough to bring in more fans - and that the best idea is to rebuild with young pitchers and position players.
But letting Santana walk for NOTHING next season? I don't see that happening under any circumstances and would love to know why anyone thinks it would.
I'd be interested in hearing your theory as to why the Twins would choose to let Santana get to free agency and walk away without getting ANYTHING of value in return, as opposed to trading him this season.
JoeSixPat said:And I think I'd still do it... we'd have 2 #1 pitchers, plus a Dice-K who hopefully will have improved given a year to adjust (just like Beckett) and the Yankees will be scrambling to find another trading partner - either that or they'll offer Roger Clemens $30 million to play one more season!
they might think they have a chance of getting to the playoffs .and they might want the draft picks that they would get if Santana left after his contract expired .billy bean does that all the time .he just lets his players walk and gets the draft picks instead of trading his soon to be free agents.
That deal would get laughed at. They have ZERO interest in Tavarez, and Crisp is borderline worthless when talking Santana type talent. The Twins would take him, but not in a deal like that. You'd have to pay a lot more. They'd start with two out of the Buckholz, Ellsbury, Lester trio, and add pieces from there. Miguel Cabrera is allegedly going to fetch Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche, & Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers. That's 10 times better than the Sox deal proposed in here. Santana will cost a pretty penny.
The Twins have offered Santana a 5 year $94 million extension. My guess is he wants much more. If Zito got 7 years and $126, I think Santana will get more. The Twins aren't paying that, and Santana wants to win, which he knows the Twins might never do if they are paying him that much.
Santana re-signing is a very realistic scenario, and most people around baseball expect thats what it going to happen.
they might think they have a chance of getting to the playoffs .and they might want the draft picks that they would get if Santana left after his contract expired .billy bean does that all the time .he just lets his players walk and gets the draft picks instead of trading his soon to be free agents.
The Golden Glove Crisp is very highly valued by the Twins. Tavarez, a dependable 4-5th starter at a very manageable $4M salary, can be flipped to another team to fill a need position. Bucholtz, the stud in the Sox part of the equation, could be an 18 game winner by 2009. Carter, the throw-in, could groove his power hitting skills in AAA prior to hitting the bigs in '09. This proposed trade of 4 salary-light players for one $25M player is not laughable.
Unless Santana is infatuated with Minnesota, that's just not going to get it done. Considering the ridiculous contract Zito got last season, if I were Santana, I would start the bidding at 8 x $25 for $200 million. Ultimately, I think he signs for something in the 7 for 150 range, I've read that in a few places, seems reasonable. Still too much and too long for the Sox to pay, IMO.