Tuesday, January 22, 2008

"Diminishing" Red Sox and Yankees Packages for Santana

There has been such a lack of Santana news lately, that I was wondering if teams forgot he available. But Charley Walters had an update today which makes it sound more like teams have simply lost interest. The most important thing he said is that the Yankees are no longer considering parting with Phil Hughes. If Walters is accurate in this, then the Yankees have virtually eliminated any chance they had of acquiring Santana.

Walters specifically said that, "offers by the New York Yankees (no more Phil Hughes) and Boston Red Sox are diminishing by the week. Walters doesn't mention how the Red Sox offers for Santana have diminished, but I wouldn't be surprised if they've taken Ellsbury off the table. I'm not sure how much that affects their chances of acquiring Santana, however, as it appeared that the Twins preferred the Red Sox package which included Jon Lester.

If this is all true, then I think the Mets chances of acquiring Santana have increased. But without the Yankees involved anymore, the Red Sox chances of acquiring Santana could be as good as ever. I've said it before, and it seems to be even more and more likely now - Twins fans will probably be disappointed with the return on Santana.

Twins GM Bill Smith can only yank these teams around for so many months. If he's lost out on a chance to acquire a Phil Hughes, Jacoby Ellsbury or Fernando Martinez, it would be a very rough start to his tenure as Twins GM.

5 comments:

Michael said...

one of the more interesting aspects of this story is the devotion yanks and sox fans are showing to their young guns and ellsbury.

we all know how great an addition santana would be to either team, but it seems pretty clear that most of the fans would rather he end up in queens...

Royal Rooters said...

I would love for the Red Sox to deal Lester, Crisp, Lowrie and Masterson for Santana. I'd take Santana in a heartbeat if the Red Sox can acquire him without hurting the rest of their major league team.

And I don't understand why Yankees fans wouldn't have liked to deal Hughes, Melky and Marquez. Hughes would be replaced by the best pitcher in baseball. And Melky could be replaced rather easily. I think it's fine to hope that Hughes is as good as Santana some day, but to expect it is wildly unrealistic.

Michael said...

"best pitcher in baseball" that tired phrase...

Royal Rooters said...

Michael, there is a reason why everyone uses it for Santana. The worst WHIP he's posted over the past four years is 1.07.

If Santana isn't the best starter in baseball, could you make the case for any other starter?

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