Red Sox To Let Beckett Walk After 2010?
In Peter Gammons latest piece, he explores the trickle-down effect that the extension signed by Johan Santana will have on other pitchers. While the article focuses on pitchers closer to free agency (ie. C.C. Sabathia), there was one surprising quote from an unnamed Red Sox official:
We’d better enjoy Josh Beckett the next three years. Because we won’t be able to sign him after his deal is up after 2010.
Beckett, who finished second in the Cy Young voting this past season, will be 28 on Opening Day and is scheduled to make $9.5MM this season, $10.5MM next season, and has a $12MM team option for 2010. While Beckett will certainly command top-dollar on the open market, it is hard to imagine he would seek a deal in the same range as Santana or Barry Zito, even with inflation factored in. Both Santana ($137.5MM) and Zito ($126MM) are lefties and signed their deals prior to their age 29 season. Beckett, a righty will be 31 when he begins his next deal. Still it is interesting to note that the Red Sox may have already resigned to the idea of not retaining the services of their ace past 2010.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Johan Santana
Unless Omar Minaya fumbles the most important contract negotiation of his career (we can’t see that happening), the biggest story of the 2007-08 off-season now has an ending and the enduring national nightmare is over. Johan Santana is a Met…now we can get back to talking about more important issues like Kyle Lohse and Livan Hernandez. But before we do let’s take a look at reactions to the Santana trade from the blogosphere.
- Aaron Gleeman is sentimental as his blog has grown up along side Santana’s career. Now he is disappointed in the package the Twins received but hopeful it could still work out in the long run.
- Twinkie Town believes trading Santana is status-quo for the Twins as the franchise seems to be in a perpetual state of rebuilding. This seems like overreaction considering the Twins have been in the playoffs four of the past six years.
- Twins Territory is not disappointed in the trade outcome. They believe Bill Smith had his hands tied and four top prospects is a nice haul.
- Amazin’ Avenue was still smiling hours after the news broke and feels Twins fans must be disappointed in the package they received.
- Metsgeek doesn’t care what the price was for Santana. He is worth it and they are giddy.
- The ‘Ropolitans are begging the Mets to pay Santana whatever it takes to get him signed. We have to agree. The Mets can’t mess this one up.
- Fire Brand of the American League (Red Sox) speculates that the Red Sox may have backed off of Santana when they learned the Yankees were no longer interested.
- My Baseball Bias believes the Yankees won the Santana Sweepstakes by not mortgaging the future for one $150 million player. Normally we would agree, but Santana is not 35 and winning is about pitching and Santana is the best pitcher alive.
- Was Watching shows that the Mets (and the Red Sox) have done a better job of acquiring pitchers than the Yankees, and Santana is the latest example.
Odds and Ends: Helms, Bako, Crisp
I am going to toss today’s non-Santana odds and ends into this post.
- Paul Hagen runs through some possibilities for the likely-to-be-traded Wes Helms: Marlins, Rays, Twins, Giants, and A’s. Any teams you’d like to add to his speculation?
- The Pirates have moved on from Johnny Estrada to Paul Bako. He’d battle to back up Ronny Paulino.
- OK this is Santana-related. Gordon Edes says the Red Sox will listen to offers for Coco Crisp, but are fine with keeping him around as perhaps the game’s best fourth outfielder. See any good fits for Crisp?
Santana Aftermath
Now that the players have been agreed upon for the Johan Santana trade, some depictions of the 11th-hour negotiations have leaked out.
- LEN3 says Santana is expected to get a six-year deal worth around $130MM ($21.66MM annually). He also notes that Santana had given the Twins an end-of-day Tuesday deadline or else he would’ve used his no-trade clause.
- Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record chronicles Bill Smith’s last-ditch attempts to get the Yankees and Red Sox involved. He apparently asked the Yankees for Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and a top prospect and was denied. The Red Sox wouldn’t part with Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury. To me this makes the Yankees and Red Sox look really fickle. They were willing to offer up these huge packages a few months ago but now both have done a 180? I know the free agent market has shrunk but it’s still crazy that their stances changed so dramatically.
- Newsday says the Mets added Deolis Guerra as the final offer yesterday.
- Joe Posnanski has heard many varying opinions on the deal.
Johan Santana Traded To Mets
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 4:22: Ken Rosenthal says the 72-hour window to sign Santana is now open.
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 3:15pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today says an agreement to trade Santana to the Mets has been reached. They’ll send Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey to the Twins. The Mets still have to work out a six or seven year extension for Santana, according to Nightengale. If this baby reaches its true conclusion we’ll sit down and analyze.
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 2:55pm: More from Olney. His sources say the Mets have the best offer, the Red Sox also made offers, and the Yanks are out. Santana apparently asked the Twins to make a decision, wrap this thing up. Wrap it up! Olney is not sure whether F-Mart is part of the Mets’ offer.
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 2:06pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman weighs in. He sees the Mets as the frontrunner, the Red Sox on the fringes, and the Yankees as nearly out of the running. The Mets are offering Gomez/Humber/Mulvey/Guerra but not Fernando Martinez. If they get Santana, the Mets will commit to only five years but with a high average annual value of $22-25MM.
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 1:11pm: WFAN’s Mike Francesa believes the Twins upped their offer to five years, $100MM for Santana, but he rejected it.
UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 9:42am: ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Twins asked for each team’s "last and best offers" on Monday. They could decide Santana’s fate as early as today. Olney adds that the Yankees "appear to be not presently engaged whatsoever in the Santana talks." Olney used to be a Yankees beat writer, so he’s bound to have a good line on this.
As for the Red Sox – Olney is hearing conflicting things about Jon Lester‘s availability. It’s possible that Lester could only be had in a more limited package – he, Coco Crisp, and not much else.
FROM 1-29-08 at 8:02am:
Over at MetsBlog today, Matthew Cerrone does a nice job summing up the Johan Santana situation.
The New York Daily News indicates that the Mets are the one team pushing for Santana, but the Twins might use the Erik Bedard haul as a measuring stick. Joel Sherman sees it as a Mets-Red Sox battle. He notes that Carlos Gomez will skip the Caribbean Series not because of an impending trade but just to limit his games.
We could finally get some kind of resolution with Santana this week. Just to keep things interesting, check out Mark Healey’s note about the Dodgers "creeping into the picture."
Wilkerson Signs With Mariners?
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times is being told that "the Mariners already have a one-year deal with free-agent Brad Wilkerson in their back pocket for the moment a Bedard trade is finalized." Wilkerson will pass on a one-year, $2MM plus incentives offer to be a Red Sox backup. This all gels with MLBTR’s report from January 24th.
ESPN’s Jayson Stark mentioned that Luis Gonzalez could be another option for the Ms. Gonzalez recently scoffed at a $2MM Marlins offer. Gonzo made $7.35MM in ’07.
David Aardsma Traded To Red Sox
According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox acquired reliever David Aardsma today from the White Sox for minor league pitchers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich.
Aardsma, 26, was a first-round pick of the Giants in ’03. He started a bit in the minors in ’03 but has mostly pitched as a reliever. If nothing else, Aardsma still throws hard. Maybe John Farrell can fix him up.
Johan Santana Rumors
UPDATE, 1-28-08 at 9:42am: LEN3 jumps on his blog to give a few more tidbits. He doesn’t see the Twins adding a player or any kind of three-team scenario unfolding, based on talks with Twins officials.
FROM 1-28-08 at 9:09am:
I imagine there will be a daily thread for Johan Santana rumors. Here’s the latest from LEN3.
- The Twins "may soon tell teams…to step up with their best offers." The Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets are all still in the mix.
- The officials Neal spoke to disputed Buster Olney’s suggestion that Jon Lester was off the table.
- The Twins still want a big ol’ package from the Mets that includes both Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez.
- Meanwhile, Sid Hartman at the same newspaper quotes the Twins’ assistant GM as saying their four-year, $80MM offer remains on the table. Santana doesn’t seem likely to relent that far, and a trade may be a phone call away.
Projecting Clay Buchholz
Projecting Clay Buchholz for 2008 is not easy, and I don’t have all the answers. But head on over to RotoAuthority if you are interested in the fantasy baseball discussion.
Brad Wilkerson Rumors
I’ve got some more info from the same source that told me about Boston’s interest in Brad Wilkerson.
- The Red Sox offered Wilkerson one year and $2MM plus incentives, and today is the deadline for him to decide. The appeal is that Wilkerson would join a winning organization for the first time; he’d be a backup first baseman and outfielder. It does not seem that Wilkerson is seeking three years and $21MM.
- Wilkerson’s fate could be linked to the Erik Bedard situation. If the Mariners are able to acquire Bedard and give up Adam Jones, they would be interested in signing Wilkerson to play right field. That would be a better chance for playing time for him.