Seems as if the tea leaf readers at the baseball winter meetings believe that the Red Sox are the final team in the Johan Santana trade discussions, with the Yankees’ voluntary midnight Monday deadline having come and passed. Reports have said that the Sox have swapped medical information on Jon Lester and Santana, perhaps signaling that the originally speculated deal involving Coco Crisp and Lester (but not Ellsbury) may be in the works. Or, as is also speculated, the Twins may be deciding which package they like better and are simply kicking the tires on Lester (who famously battled back from cancer to pitch in the World Series this year).
If the Red Sox are able to get Santana from the Twins and it doesn’t cost them Ellsbury, the Yankees’ brass will be left to question what might have been if they didn’t set the arbitrary Monday deadline. By taking themselves out of the game, the Yankees may inadvertently lowered the price to Boston. I have a feeling we may know something by late tonight.
December 4th, 2007
The deadline’s not the issue. No one really believes that if the Twins called the Yankees and said: “OK, we’ll take Hughes and Cabrera and a lesser prospect,” the Yankees would say no.
The issue is that the Twins are adamant that the Yankees have to include two of their top three pitching prospects in the deal.
LoHud’s reporting that the Dodgers and Angels are starting to get involved.
December 4th, 2007
Courtesy of The Buzz on Boston.com
From ESPN’s Peter Gammons (3:28 p.m.): “The Twins and Red Sox are getting closer to finalizing a Johan Santana deal. Boston has sweetened its offer by adding a fifth player to the the offer — outfield prospect Ryan Kalish, a ninth-round draft pick in” 2006.
December 4th, 2007
A fifth player probably means that the deal in discussion is centered on Lester, not Ellsbury (I hope).
December 4th, 2007
This from the NY Daily News’ Yankees blog: “According to just about every executive and scout I have spoken to here, they think Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a third player is a better deal than this one, but the Twins seem intent on getting Ian Kennedy as well.”
Oh well. Two of Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy had better turn out to be all that.
December 4th, 2007
From ESPN.com’s blog of the winter meetings:
“The Twins and Angels continue to talk about a Johan Santana trade. Many of the same players mentioned in the Miguel Cabrera sweepstakes — Howie Kendrick, Brandan Wood, Nick Adenhart, and possibly Jeff Mathis or Reggie Willits — would be included in a package for Santana.”
Not a bad groop right there but unless Adenhart is a pitching prospect, that’s all hitters right there.
December 4th, 2007
5 players for Santana? I’d like Santana in a Sox uniform, but it seems like the Sox are giving up a lot. Is this more about getting Santana or making sure the Yankees don’t? After all, the intact rotation was good enough to win the pennant and sweep the WS, and that was without a healthy Lester all season, a rookie Dice-K and only a few starts from Buchholz. Now I am not fooling myself into believing that Schilling or Wake have all that much left in the tank, but I’d really like to see what this final deal looks like and what we give up.
As for the deadline, I think everybody including the Twins can see this as mere Steinbrenner blustering. It’s a negotiating tactic. After all, it worked with A-Rod. Time will tell how many times the Yankee Brain Trust will go to that well.
December 4th, 2007
Just don’t trade Ellsbury; that’s really all I ask.
December 5th, 2007
After this morning’s big news of the Twins and Sox being on the verge of a deal, followed by radio silence, I wonder if the swapping of medical records might have been a calculated leak by either Minny or Boston to prod the Yankees into caving.
Now I’ll post this and bop over to ESPN to find that the Sox have pulled the trigger.