Johan Santana Looking For $140MM?

Johan needs to stop being silly.

Best pitcher in the world or not, no one's going to be crazy enough to give him SEVEN years at 20 mil per.

I am a regular reader of the Star Tribune and would like to bring up the point that Hartman is senile. I would take anything he comments on with a grain of salt!

Tolo, Hanky Wanky says hello while getting a job from Afraud and said: "7 years too short, let's do 10 years 250 mil. How bout that Johan? then you can share with Alex? K?"

I think we can safely say that signing big contracts is not just a Yankee thing anymore. Look at Zito with the Giants, Soriano with the Cubs, the Angels spending $90mm on a canterfielder a year after they spent $50mm on one. The Dodgers doing almost the same. Red Sox giving $70mm to JD Drew.
Someone will give Santana his $140mm. It doesn't necessarily have to be the Yankees.

and if he gets a good 5 to 6 year offer from the sox or yankees i think hell take it, hartman is senile used to be great, but always way way off now, so hurry twins and trade him for ellsbury, lowrie, masterson, and have them add in the cf prospect from low a ball----> Kirsh was it?

Yeah Tolo man, you forgot to mention the wankers have a bunch of kids in the farm who are untouchables cos they will definitely be future perennial all stars.

Yours truly,

Haile.

PS Like my new ID?

@Haile

I forgot about the untouchables known as Alan Horne and that Single A sensation Austin Jackson.

P.S. Love the new ID!! Let the Yankees' victimization begin!!

Wow. These Sox fans are more childish than anything I've seen on the internet. Tim, maybe you want to start censoring some of the useless and obviously incendiary stuff.

Anyway, it looks like the Twins are playing the exact same game with Theo as they did with Cashman. Give us what we say we want, then we'll ask for more. Willing to include Hughes? Great! Now put in Kennedy. Willing to include Ellsbury? Great! Now put in Buchholz. Same game. Bill Smith is a moron, until someone else is a bigger moron.

By the way, as cheap as teh Mets can be at times, I don't think they will allow any team to out bid them for a stud ace like Santana. They are too desperate for pitching and if they can aquire it with out giving away their already thing minor league talent they will pay any price. Yeah, the Yanks have spent heavily in the past and still can going forward, but you are dealing with a team with a strong need and the financial ability to do it, you also have a scarce supply, if Johan sees free agency.

They didn't give Zito that money because Zito wasn't the best picther in baseball, so there was no reason to pay him as such. Oh and don't forget, the Mets were willing to pay the highest per year, but they weren't going to go past 4-5 years.

Andrew,

I think suffice it to say we are all a bit childish for spending much of our spare time chatting about rumors that may never materialize with complete strangers and then attacking each other simply based on the team we choose to support...But I guess that's half the fun now isn't it?

I have finally reached that point I have seen so many others on this board come to. I am tired of the Johan/Red Sox rumors.

I just want this thing to get done so we can move onto Bedard, Haren, Nathan, etc.

Surprise me Twins/Sox/Mets/whoever. Get this thing done.

I agree with Mr Punch this is as annoying as the past Manny trade drama...Given the sizeable contract demands I just can't see how Minnesota has much leverage. They can either take the draft picks, pay up or get what they can now. I still think it may be in their best interest to work out an extension with him to make nice with the fans and taxpayers who are about to pony up $300m+ for a new ballpark. It's not like the MLB.com revenue won't completely cover his salary and then some.

I wonder if letting this get played out so much in the media, it has hurt the ability of the Sox, and to a lesser extent- the Twins, to get a deal done. It makes sense for the Twins to let people know who they are offering since they have the superstar. But the Sox, Mets, Yankees, etc are throwing names out there- some as possibilties, some as "untouchable." If they do not deal someone they mention (say Ellsbury) does that affect chemestry? If they include an untouchable (Jackson or Kennedy) does that open them up for public scrutinty? They are hamstringing their own ability to get anything done.

The 5year $125 mil was actually a six year extention starting in 2008, you can't tell me that he isnt worth at least that

"Actually the Twins have some pretty dang good pitchers that are a year or more away (Manship, Robertson, Swarzak) that would make a lot of sense for the Sox to go after. "

Well I don't know how much more SP the Sox really need... even if they trade Lester and Bowden in the Santana deal, they'll still have Beckett/ Santana/ Schilling/ Matsuzaka/ Buchholz/ Wakefield for 2008. Beckett's signed for 3 more years, Matsuzaka for 5, Buchholz they control for 6, and if they sign Santana they'll have him for at least 6-7. So that's 4/5 of the rotation set for 3 years, and 3/5 set for 5 years.

They also have a slew of guys who'll be ready over the next few years:

Potentially 2009-ready: David Pauley, Daniel Haigwood, Devern Hansack
Potentially 2010-ready: Mike Bowden, Matt Goodson
Potentially 2011-ready: Dustin Richardson, Daniel Bard, Nick Hagadone, Kris Johnson

ALthough they did learn in 2006 that there's never enough pitching.

Well Hanky, you obviously dont know the rules. To the common Yankee fan, Bill smith is a moronic idiot, how dare he not accept the Yankees package? Who the hell does he think he is, seriously?

ahh andrew, you sure love to dish it out, but are seemingly incapable of hearing even one anti yankee remark.

perhaps it would benefit us all if you untwisted your panties before logging on?

"I was starting from the assumption that every team needs depth at SP, which I think is the assumption that the Sox are starting from when they are reluctant to part with Lester in a deal involving Ellsbury."

Well, remember that the Sox were offering two different packages for Santana; one with Ellsbury and one with Lester. They are willing to trade from their SP depth, partially because they'd be getting another great SP in return. But their strength is their SP, and they need to trade it away to fill other needs; so I don't know if trading two SP (Lester and Bowden) and getting two SP (Santana and once of your prospects) makes a lot of sense. It certainly wouldn't be BAD, but it makes more sense for the Sox to try and acquire position prospects, which they're short in.

And no, not all the Sox prospects I mentioned project very high. But they all project to at least 4th or 5th starter, and that's all the Sox would be short of for the next 5 years (whether or not they acquire Santana).

"Bowden, Masterson, Hagadone and Kris Johnson would be about the only 4 SP the Sox system has of any degree of quality, and none of them are blue chip."

Well, I would argue that Masterson and Hagadone could be considered blue-chip; both are in the top 10 of Red Sox prospects and have insane upside (although Masterson might actually be converted to a closer).

It's true that Bard was excellent as a reliever, but he's only seen 16 IP as a reliever. I think the Sox might hold out on converting him; he already throws 5 pitches (fastball/ 2-seam/ cut FB/ curve/ circle change), he hits 97-98 mph regularly, and he's only 22. He has the time to learn control, which is his one real problem. (He should probably narrow his pitches down to 3 as well.)

Like I said above, I don't think it would be bad at all for the Sox to get Robertson, Swarzak or Manship... I just think that they have more pressing needs.

I suggest it because I think a move like that would break the impasse.

I think if the Twins sent a prospect back it would make the pill of trading two good young players (well maybe three if Lowrie would pan out) for one 28 year old. I just feel like Sox Nation values bringing up some of their own talent- this would give a good young player back for the Sox to develop. Twins get their guys (and a far superior deal than the Yankees or others have offered) and the Sox get the best pitcher in Baseball for the next half decade or more and a promising talent to groom. Everyone wins...

well not the Mets, or any team in the AL for the next couple years, but everyone else does.

no way. i dont sign any pitcher for that kind of money for 7 years. (not that any other kind of money exists at the 7 year contract level.)

even with johan, i think ur guaranteed to regret this contaract 1 day.