Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Quick thoughts on Santana Trade as my class is taking a Quiz

Big Winner: The Mets

The prospects they gave up, I'd be surprised if any of them make an all-star team. The Mets needed this. Clearly there is a big risk involved, as signing a pitcher for (most likely) 7 years at that kind of money is a dangerous proposition, but it had to be done.

Assuming the end of last season was just a fluke for Santana (probably was) and he hasn't fallen off at all, he clearly is the front runner already for the Cy Young Award. Going to the NL should only make him better. Pitching in Shea should only make him better. The Mets have, once again, made themselves into preseason favorites, and didn't even give up Martinez to do it. If they had to give up those 4, and Martinez, I think they still should have done it.


Winners, but just by a little bit: Yankees and Red Sox

Neither of them wanted to make the deal. I was having painful thoughts about giving up Hughes and I really like Melky. I've been dreaming of a Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy trio with Wang. Look at what the run the Braves had starting it with 3 young pitchers, and the Yankees will always have better hitting than those Braves teams did.

The Yankees and Red Sox are both spending a lot of money on the farm systems. They are both trying to build that way, and $20+ million per season is a lot of farm system.


Big Loser: The Twins

I don't believe the Yankees and Red Sox were never really in it. I think the Twins wanted the best NL offer possible. I think they were having nightmares about facing Santana for many years to come. I truly believe they did not take the best deal they could have gotten, just to get him out of the American League. The Twins got ripped off for the best pitcher in baseball.

1 comment:

Greg said...

Agreed completely - the only reason the Sox and Yanks were even involved was to keep the other one out. Mission accomplished.

Amazing (Amazin'?) deal for the Mets they're the favorite in the NL now, definitely.

I'm already putting Bill Smith in the bottom third of MLB GM's... this deal was horrid.