Mets Steal Santana From The Minnesota Twins
The New York Mets are doing a bit of trading to make sure that they win the championships this year. In order to accomplish this goal they have decided to grab hold of Johan Santana –player of the Minnesota Twins. For now the deal is still pending till the Mets and Santana reach a decision on how long the contract should be; six or seven years. Also they are waiting for Santana to pass his physical.
The Mets paid a price in prospects to land Santana, agreeing to send the Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. “We are hoping to bring this to a close, soon. Nothing to announce today,” Twins general manager Bill Smith said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. The deal would give the Mets the much-needed ace at the front of their rotation. Santana won the American League Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006 and is 93-44 lifetime. He went 15-13 with a 3.33 ERA for the Twins last season. Santana has struck out at least 235 batters each of the past four seasons.
While the deal drains much of the talent out of the Mets’ farm system, they did manage to hold on to top prospect Fernando Martinez, an outfielder. Instead, they headed the package with Gomez, who turned 22 in December and spent 58 games with the Mets last year. Gomez is what scouts like to call a five-tool player, a combination of offensive ability that includes power and speed as well as an above-average defensive game and a strong arm. He has worked to cut down a strikeout rate that was high during the early part of a minor league career that began in 2004 after the Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic. He made his major league debut last May and hit .232.
Santana would give the Mets the best rotation in the NL East after they missed out on the division title by one game thanks to a historic September collapse. He’d likely be joined by Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez. The Twins, meanwhile, would see yet another young star they produced leave the organization. Their Gold Glove outfielder, Torii Hunter, left for the Los Angeles Angels this off season. Gomez would be a candidate to replace him in center field.