January 24, 2008

More Santana Speculation

Good morning. Lovely day outside (about -15°), but that's Minnesota for ya (I actually don't mind the cold or snow, just making small talk.) ;)

Anyways, what would life be like if we didn't have a day without Johan Santana trade speculation? Hmmm. Well, sorry, we're not going to find out what that's like, at least not today. This morning, the Boston Herald had this to say about the trade talks:

The Mets, and not the Red Sox or Yankees, remain the front-runner as the team most likely to succeed in pulling off a trade for Minnesota ace Johan Santana, according to baseball insiders in touch with both the Mets and Twins in recent days.

A package the Twins could receive will probably not include both of the Mets’ top outfield prospects, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez. There are indications that Martinez would be in the deal, along with major league outfielder Ryan Church and at least two other prospects. Starter Mike Pelfrey could be part of the deal as well. . . .

Well people who've read this site before, would probably be familiar with a deal similar to this as I've speculated on such a deal before. It's been very doubtful all along that the Twins would be able to pry both Gomez & Martinez away from the Mets. In regards to their position prospects, they don't have as many to choose from, and honestly they're actually the only two worth mentioning. The Mets would like to keep one of them as they'll likely have a glaring hole in one of the corner outfield positions in as soon as 2009.

This may also go with the reports that the Twins are still debating on whether to acquire major league ready players versus prospects.

The Mets recently acquired Church in the Lastings Milledge trade. Church, a 29-year-old left-hander who's put up good numbers in the minor leagues before he became a regular in the Washington Nationals outfield in 2005. He hit .292/.375/.506 with 93 home runs and 399 RBI's in 2,120 MiLB AB's. That's pretty impressive for a guy who was drafted in the 14th round of the 2000 draft by the Cleveland Indians.

He'd fill center field nicely and would also give the Twins a decent leadoff hitter. Unfotunately, it'd likely mean that Jason Kubel would not be able to bat infront of Joe Mauer, which is one of the reasons why fans feel Kubel would have a breakout season.

But perhaps Kubel's breakout season can be because of the birth of his son, Owen Kubel who was born Wednesday morning. Awww.

Anyways don't mean to get sidetracked, back to trade speculation. Yippie.

This is also the first report that suggest the Mets could also part with Pelfrey (at least to my memory). There has been little discussion of the 24-year-old starter who had a horrible 2007 season after dominating the minors through 176.1 innings. My biggest concern is infact that, he hasn't pitched over 200 innings in the minor leagues and the Mets may have stunted his growth (not height, but potential) and we may never get to see the pitcher Pelfrey is supposed to be.

I'm not sure who the other prospect would be, but one could only guess that Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey & Phil Humber are all candidates.

Anyways, would this be a horrible deal? I'd love for the Twins to re-sign him, but if we do pull off a deal, this isn't that bad... is it?

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