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Santana Aftermath

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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

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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."

Yanks Ink Cano Through Arb Years

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UPDATE, 1-28-08 at 9:25pm: Peter Abraham has Cano’s contract particulars.  The deal could be worth $57MM over six years, at the high end.

UPDATE, 1-25-08 at 5:06pm: Jon Heyman has the probable contract details.  Cano gets $28MM over his arbitration years.  He then has a 2012 option for $13MM and a 2013 option for $15MM.

FROM 1-24-08 at 12:54pm:

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Yankees are close to a four-year deal with second baseman Robinson Cano. Since he’s a Super Two, this will cover all of his arbitration years. Rosenthal also says that the deal will include a club option or two, allowing the Yankees to buy out some of Cano’s free agency. The deal looks to be worth $30 million.

Rob Neyer recently said that if he was picking a second baseman for the next five years, he’d take Cano. We at River Ave. Blues totally agree. His defense has improved every year that he’s been in the majors, and save for a horrific slump from mid-April through May, Cano was an absolute monster at the dish last year.

This is odd protocol for the Yankees, who tend to let their arbitration guys go year-to-year. They didn’t even sign Derek Jeter before he was ready for free agency — and they actually lost an arbitration hearing to him prior to the 1999 season. Of course, he more than made up for it with his 10-year, $189 million contract.

-Joe

Johan Santana Rumors

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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.

Odds and Ends: Dotel, Valverde, Wilkerson

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Some Saturday odds and ends to mull over…

  • The Yankees considered bringing Octavio Dotel back, but wouldn’t go two years on him.
  • Richard Justice thinks Astros GM Ed Wade is making a mistake by setting a deadline and going to arbitration hearings with Jose Valverde and Mark Loretta.  I doubt the Astros wanted Loretta to accept their offer of arbitration in the first place, but they took the $4-5MM gamble hoping to get a draft pick.  But they actively sought out Valverde, and this might not bode well for him staying past 2009.
  • Can’t promise anything, but my source is saying Brad Wilkerson is likely to become a Mariner on a one-year deal.  Put this in the unconfirmed category for now.
  • Did the Rangers DFA Armando Galarraga in anticipation of including him in a trade?
  • Troy Tulowitzki explanation: he can opt out of his $15MM club option for 2014 if he’s traded. Tracy Ringolsby also reports that Garrett Atkins had unfruitful extension talks with the Rox last year and would still like to stay.
  • "No substantive negotiations" on a multiyear deal for Ryan Zimmerman.
  • Casey Blake’s agent put in a counteroffer but hasn’t heard back from the Indians yet; the two sides are $1.5MM apart on his ’08 salary.

Johan Santana Rumors

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UPDATE, 1-25-08 at 9:46pm: According to LEN3: I was told today that next week is a big week in terms of determining if and where Santana will be dealt.  The end is in sight, then?

FROM 1-25-08 at 9:30am:

Time for your daily Johan Santana rumors post.

  • LEN3 talked to a Twins official who said there had been no recent extension talks between Santana and the Twins.  Meanwhile Sid Hartman at the same paper says the Mets and Yankees won’t go seven years, and he think the Twins’ 4/80 offer is fair.
  • Neal says that while Santana won’t necessarily veto any trade reached after Spring Training starts, it’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid dragging it that far. 
  • The Mets are still reluctant to part with Fernando Martinez, seemingly the dealbreaker right now.  Aaron Heilman could enter the mix though.
  • Neal believes the Yankee/Red Sox offers from December are still on the table.  This has been my hunch as well.  Which is why I think Boston can still pull this off.
  • If no deal can be reached soon the Twins might have to sign a stopgap CF like Corey Patterson or Kenny Lofton.
  • Buster Olney on Johan’s warning signs: I talked with evaluators and scouts with three other teams since then, and they all saw the exact same thing in Santana: diminishment in velocity, relatively few sliders thrown, subpar (for Santana) performances. But two of the three believe the regression could be attributed to the Twins not being in the race, Minnesota not playing in a high-adrenalin situation, and Santana coping with a cracked nail. The third evaluator wonders, too, if Santana is OK. "If a deal is made, you could see there would be a complete physical, given the money involved," said the evaluator.

Odds and Ends: Zimmerman, Tulo, Hawpe, Wang

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Some bits and pieces from today…

Johan Santana Rumors

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman and the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s La Velle E. Neal III recently weighed in on the Johan Santana situation.

  • Neal says the Mets, Red Sox, and Yankees have all had recent discussions with the Twins about Santana. He says the Twins have "stepped up their efforts" to make a deal before Spring Training.
  • Heyman believes the Mets have taken the lead.  He thinks it would take five or more prospects, and submission by the Red Sox and Yankees. 
  • Heyman says the Twins may prefer Carlos Gomez over Fernando Martinez.  That would be good for the Mets, who do not want to part with Martinez.

Odds and Ends: Cano, Colon, Lowry

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Here are some links I’ve rounded up this morning.

  • In theory, Robinson Cano would be open to a long-term deal. River Ave. Blues recently took a look at how historically good Cano has been so far, and suggest the Yankees lowballed him with their arbitration submission.
  • Baseball Prospectus’ Derek Jacques saw Bartolo Colon pitch in the Dominican League Finals, and lends his evaluation.  Colon was not impressive, but not terrible.  It doesn’t seem like he will get the two-year deal he wants.
  • The Brewers will bring Abraham Nunez to camp.  Versatile, but a drain on offense.
  • Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune notes that the White Sox aren’t done yet.  The Joe Crede situation should linger into spring.  Gonzales also mentions that the Giants are "listening to offers for Noah Lowry."
  • A factual look at whether Omar Minaya really stockpiles Latin American players.
  • The Astros can’t settle their gaps with Mark Loretta or Jose Valverde, and Ed Wade expects the team to go to its first arbitration hearings in over a decade.  Wade has set a deadline of this afternoon and will go to hearings otherwise.  Loretta asking for $4.9MM seems particularly off.
  • Matthew Cerrone takes an educated guess on the current Johan Santana situation.
  • Some interesting quotes from XM Radio from Michael Cuddyer and Scott Boras, separately.

Johan Santana Rumors

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I know some of you crave daily Johan Santana updates…today we’ve got a blurb from Charley Walters:

The Twins say they’re not panicking while holding out for the best deal for Johan Santana. But word within baseball circles is that offers by the New York Yankees (no more Phil Hughes) and Boston Red Sox are diminishing by the week. Best bet now for a trade of the two-time Cy Young Award winner appears to be with the New York Mets in a deal that would not include fast-rising hitter Fernando Martinez.

Yikes – from those solid Yankee/Red Sox offers to a Martinez-less Mets package?  If that happens then I would say Bill Smith overplayed his hand.  Kat O’Brien recently talked to Smith, but wasn’t able to get much out of him.  She believes the Yanks, Red Sox, and Mets "all retain some interest."

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