First of all, let me get something off of my chest.  I hate the fact that a deal hasn’t already been struck.  At first, the hoopla and anticipation surrounding Santana to [insert large market team here] was fun and it was fun to check to look for updates to Loony Lavelle’s or J.Christiansen’s Trib blogs for updates.  That time has officially passed and as time drags on, it looks as if the anticipation (or lack there of) will be my cross bare.
Since I am a true Twins fan (so much so that I have my own blog), I feel that I must keep up to date with this.  So what have we learned from last week?
·  The Yankees are “pulling” out of the Santana sweepstakes because they would not pony up Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in one package for the Santana.
·  The Red Sox (who in my opinion) were only in the running to bid the Yankees up have now stepped up.  They want to offer some combination of Coco Crisp, Lester/Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson and Babe Ruth to the deal.
·  The Mets aren’t interested in a trade if they have to give up Jose Reyes or David Wright.
·  Hank Steinbrenner apparently has all the bad qualities of his father…..but none of the good ones.  He’s been accused of tampering and general dishonesty by the media and the baseball community.  Major League Baseball will only investigate him for tampering, since Lying : Baseball :: Fireworks : 4 of July
·  New Twins GM, Billy “not to be confused with Beane” Smith is taking the hard-line on Santana.  He’s more than willing to hold on to his pitcher and let him walk away next year to the highest bidder.
A few of my own personal observations:
·  Don’t trust anyone with the last name Steinbrenner.  He comes from a long lineage of people who refuse to come in second.  Everyone knows, including Hank, that if the Sox get Santana they will be in the World Series every year from now until 2012.  With a lineup that starts with Santana, Beckett, Dice-K and Shilling they will not be beat.  When Hank said that the Yankees are out of the race that is a bold face lie.  They are trying to see what the Sox offer so that they can possibly swoop in at the last moment.
·  Many people who are loyal to the Twins are ripping the potential deal for Santana by saying that “He’s the best pitcher in baseball” in conjunction with “The current deal on the table is not enough”.  I would suggest that this is flawed logic for several reasons.  First off, the Twins will NOT be a playoff team with Santana next year.  The Twins can not afford Santana’s contract demands.  With those two things being as they are the Twins NEED to unload Santana before he hits the free agent market.  When every owner in baseball is aware of these factors, the Twins have no leverage in making the monster deal.  Sure they have the goods but to be honest, the Yankees and Sox will be just fine without Santana.  They were good last year and they’ll again be good.
·  The trade haters also point to the fact that the trade is horrible if it includes CoCo.  I disagree.  There are several reasons for this.  First off, his salary is favorable for the Twins.  We could keep him for a few years and then either resign or let him go.  Hopefully by then we could develop or trade for a young center fielder.  The haters also would prefer Ellsbury over Lester.  There are many who spew their opinions stating that Lester is no better than a 3 or 4 pitcher.  They are dying for Ellsbury but I know that this is only the case because they saw what he did in the World Series.  What they fail to remember is that the only reason that he was able to play towards the end of the season last year was due to a Crisp injury that kept him out of the lineup for some time.
·  We will not be able to evaluate any trade properly for several years.  Those who are adamant against this trade would likely not be happy with any realistic trade because of the emotional attachment that they hold for Santana.
Who knows when we’ll find out what the future will hold for Santana.  Until then, I’m going to take some Advil.  This trade can not come soon enough.