The race to sign 2-time Cy Young and 3-time All-Star pitcher Johan Santana has ended. The New York Mets traded Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra to the Minnesota Twins for Santana. If you have never heard of these four players, don't worry, you aren't alone. I am still scratching my head to figure out how the Twins accepted this trade. First of all, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees offered the Twins their own trades for Santana. These requests contained current players for both teams, including potential stars such as Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera for the Yankees, and Jacoby Ellsbury for the Red Sox. Now, for Met fans this is an amazing trade. They gave up four young guys who are nowhere near developed as baseball players and recieved the most dominant pitcher in the last seven years. Santana is 28 years old and at the top of his game.
Supposedly, the only reason the Twins wouldn't accept trades from the Yankees or Red Sox was because they didn't want to trade Santana within their own league, the American League. So instead, the Twins gave up the best pitcher in baseball for four young players no one has ever heard of, but keep in mind he is in the National League now instead of the American league. Who cares if you trade him within your league? It would be different if the Twins trade within their division, but they are in the American League Central. The Yankees and Red Sox are in the American League East. So, the trade went through, the Twins wanted to gain some money back from getting rid of Santana and the Mets have the best pitcher in baseball. What does this mean for the Mets and the rest of the National League? National League, watch out!
The National League is considered more of a pitcher's league than a hitter's league because the pitchers get up to bat as opposed to the designated hitter in the American League. Santana will most likely be a better pitcher in the National League than he ever was in the American. There is no doubt that the Mets' pitching rotation will be better with Santana. Since Santana is the number one starter, everyone else will just get better because opposing teams don't want to face Santana. It looks like the Mets' starting pitching could be the top starting pitching in the league. Let's not forget that this is the same Mets team who blew a 7 game lead in their division with 17 games left last year, and wound up not making the playoffs. The Mets are truly the definition of choke. In the past few seasons their players have proved that they cannot perform in the clutch. There is no one player alone who can turn a team around, or is there? Can one great pitcher make the Mets a World Series team? We will find out next spring.
Supposedly, the only reason the Twins wouldn't accept trades from the Yankees or Red Sox was because they didn't want to trade Santana within their own league, the American League. So instead, the Twins gave up the best pitcher in baseball for four young players no one has ever heard of, but keep in mind he is in the National League now instead of the American league. Who cares if you trade him within your league? It would be different if the Twins trade within their division, but they are in the American League Central. The Yankees and Red Sox are in the American League East. So, the trade went through, the Twins wanted to gain some money back from getting rid of Santana and the Mets have the best pitcher in baseball. What does this mean for the Mets and the rest of the National League? National League, watch out!
The National League is considered more of a pitcher's league than a hitter's league because the pitchers get up to bat as opposed to the designated hitter in the American League. Santana will most likely be a better pitcher in the National League than he ever was in the American. There is no doubt that the Mets' pitching rotation will be better with Santana. Since Santana is the number one starter, everyone else will just get better because opposing teams don't want to face Santana. It looks like the Mets' starting pitching could be the top starting pitching in the league. Let's not forget that this is the same Mets team who blew a 7 game lead in their division with 17 games left last year, and wound up not making the playoffs. The Mets are truly the definition of choke. In the past few seasons their players have proved that they cannot perform in the clutch. There is no one player alone who can turn a team around, or is there? Can one great pitcher make the Mets a World Series team? We will find out next spring.
