The NY Post reported that the Yankees could still make a Santana deal if the Twins ask for less (we get it, its been a slow news week). An interesting detail in that article is that the Twins asking price was Philip Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Ian Kennedy, and Jeff Marquez. Originally the Twins had also asked for the kitchen sink, but withdrew that request upon the Yankees backing out of the negotiations.
The fact of the matter is this, it is in Santana's best interest to wait until free agency to find a new team and its within the Twins best interest to make sure that doesn’t happen. Right now, Santana holds all the cards. He has a full no-trade clause, and is a year away from free agency. He will only go to a team that will pay what he wants, and let’s face it, there’s not too many teams willing to pay Santana like figures. Further more, if he waits until free agency, instead of negotiating with one team in a potential deal, he will be negotiating with several teams. The Mets will be throwing big dollar figures around, the Red Sox will get involved to drive up the price even though they have no intention of signing him, and the Yankees will be left either keeping up with the bids or letting him go to the Mets. Its basically what’s happening now only instead of the Twins benefiting, Santana will.
I for one don’t want to see the trade happen. We can make a strong push during his free agency and let it fall out without trading half our farm to the Twins. The Red Sox are bluffing. If they were really planning to sign Santana they would have done it by now. They won’t pay Santana $20 million a season when their current staff ace Josh Beckett makes $10 million.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Testing HTML.
You make it seem like the Red Sox are the only team that intentionally drives up the price on the hot stove trades or on highly touted free agents. The Yankees invented that in MLB and are artists.
I wish we could get him without giving up Hughes say for Cabrera,Kennedy,Horne,and Tabatha
Driving up prices is an art all teams need to know how to do. In the case of Santana, the Sox are the culprits.
I fully agree with your analysis. And the last point you make is perhaps the most compelling; to wit, how can the Red Sox agree to pay Santana twice what the team is paying Josh Beckett, arguably the best pitcher in the American League in 2007, and the runner-up to the Cy Young Winner?
That's exactly it stugoll. On a side note, its amazing how many players the Red Sox have at discount prices. Ortiz makes $13 million a season on average (Same as Damon and Matsui), and Lowell is set to make $12.5 million a season. Meanwhile JD Drew makes $14 million, and isn't nearly as productive as those guys.
Post a Comment