Uh...really?

It's been a while since this site has had a baseball post, the last being the epic All-90s Team. So since it has been a while I now must bring up one of the biggest stories of this off-season: the trade of Johan Santana.

It was announced earlier today that the Mets and the Twins have reached an agreement that would send Santana to New York in return for four prospects: Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra. Now this agreement hinges on two things. First, and more importantly, Santana and the Mets must come to an agreed contract extension (which will likely be upwards of 6 years and $150 million, a hefty sum no doubt). After that, Santana must pass a physical. Given the Mets' extremely deep pockets (only the Yankees and Red Sox have more money to spend) and the fact that Santana is in great shape, both these seem very likely. All that must be asked then is, "Seriously, Minnesota, what the hell?"

I should be very pleased as the Twins sent arguably the best pitcher in the league to a division other than the American League East (Lord knows the Orioles suck as it is...they don't need to go up against a pitcher of Santana's quality even more often). But the inner general manager in me is upset at the package the Twins took. This talent group, filled with two really good prospects (Gomez and Guerra) and two good prospects (Humber and Mulvey). While that's a pretty good haul, it was generally viewed to the the third or fourth best talent package out there (after the Yankees and Red Sox groups and similar to the Mariners package, which is now being offered for Erik Bedard, a great pitcher but no Santana). The Twins could have pulled the trigger on deals that would've netted them much more talent and potential (granted, potential is just that, ultimately it could amount to nothing; but a prospect with no potential is limited in how high they can get). Or, if they really wanted to be gutsy (or, in my opinion, smart) they could've held on to Santana until the trade deadline, when teams are much more likely to panic and overload a deal. The only logical reason for the Twins to take this deal would be if these players allow them longer contractual control (in the interest of full disclosure: I do not know if this is the case or not, if anyone does know please tell me, as I am curious, like a cat).

In summary, the Twins failed. Maybe next time fellas.