Twins playing with fire in upsetting Santana
By The Heckler
Baseball Big Mouth
baseball news
With nothing to gain and everything to lose in further straining relations between themselves and All-World left-hander Johan Santana, the small-market-and-proud-of-it Minnesota Twins seem intent on showing the rest of baseball that they can succeed employing the ol’ Cowardly Lion act: “I’ll fight ya with one paw tied behind my back.” Not content to go into the last half of the season by adding a player or two, the Twinkies instead went out and dumped their everyday second baseman for some prospects, theoretically to save $2 million – and completely pissed off pending free agent (after next year) Santana. Not exactly a good business move from this perspective. In fact, it may be the final straw in leading Santana to greener pastures according to these quotes:
“It’s not just about hope,” Santana told The Minnesota Star Tribune. “In a realistic world, you have to really make it happen and go for it . . . You always talk about future, future. . . But if you only worry about the future, then I guess a lot of us won’t be part of it . . . Why waste time when you’re talking about something that’s always going to be like that? It’s never going to be beyond this point. It doesn’t make any sense for me to be here, you know?”
One more year and out of Minnesota for the great Santana?
Yikes. Not exactly sounding like a man looking to re-up with the team. They can have all the Joe Mauers and Justin Morneaus of the world in their everyday lineup (both are indeed locked up through 2010) but, minus Santana from the top of that rotation, and they fast-become just another baseball team. Who knows how well Francisco Liriano will throw upon his return? Is Boof Bonser a number one? Carlos Silva? Can Bert Blyleven still throw that wicked curve? Woe to the Twins if they lose Johan.
How much you wanna bet the Yankees and Red Sox are salivating to get their mitts on this guy — and by that, I do mean how much? Is $20-25 million a year a stretch? Hardly. The Venezuelan won his second Cy Young last year out of the last three seasons, taking the pitching triple crown with 19 wins, 2.77 ERA and 245 K’s. He also led the league in starts and innings. This year, he sits at 11-8 with a 2.92 ERA. He is in the third of a four-year $40 million deal.
While we here at BaseballBigMouth.com traditionally believe everyday players to be far more valuable to their teams than pitchers that appear every fifth day, guys like Santana don’t come along every day. He’ll get his payday — and then some . With each passing day, it appears less and less likely that windfall will happen in Minnesota.
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