No Santana, No Regrets for Red Sox

Earlier this morning, MLBTR noted how Ken Rosenthal doesn’t think the Yankees have regrets over not landing Johan Santana despite their would-have-been trade pieces now struggling or injured.  Today’s Boston Globe discusses the Red Sox similar feelings.

Chad Finn not only brings us an amusing baseball card of a young Lou Pineilla, but also shares his relief that Boston did not give up Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, and/or Jed Lowrie for Johan (consequently setting the record for a trade involving the most players with first names beginning with the letter "J").

Referencing Buster Olney’s blog, Finn concedes to Olney that this years version of Santana is still better than 95% of the starters in the bigs.  Still, he harkens back to this piece from November in which he suggested Santana was beginning to decline and should be dealt for a monstrous booty (as he was) and feels he may have been right with recent grumblings from scouts as reported by Olney:

"Sources say his shoulder showed some wear and tear, which is not unusual for a pitcher of Santana’s age. This is not to say Santana is not an effective pitcher now, but all of this information makes you wonder how effective he will remain during the course of his multiyear deal... Said an AL scout who has seen Santana this month: ’His stuff isn’t even close to what it was [with the Twins].’"

No hot stove news here, but it’s still a much-discussed topic in rumorland.  And as it stands, it seems all three teams (Mets included) have, so far, made good in this situation.  In his NL conquest Santana, known for stronger second halves, has a 3.36 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, yet a 7.8 K/9 down from a career 9.4.

By Nat Boyle