I’m Smart
As predicted in my column which is running right now on AOL Sports and sizes up the market for Johan Santana in an oh so eloquent way, the Mariners have become players in the Santana derby, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Several teams — including the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Angels and Dodgers — have expressed interest. And it was learned on Thursday that the Mariners are in the running, too. … The Mariners, with outfielder Adam Jones, and the Angels, with infielder Brandon Wood and pitcher Nick Adenhart, have young players to dangle.
And here’s what I wrote earlier this week, published today:
Seattle is a sleeper for Santana, but it needs pitching help (anything to stop Horacio Ramirez from making 20 starts again) and it’s minor league system, while not deep, has some parts that could intrigue the Twins — namely center fielder Adam Jones and infielder Wladimir Balentien. The M’s don’t have an ideal package of talent, but GM Bill Bavasi is probably be more willing to part with elite young talent than many of his competitors for similar reasons as Colletti. If the quality and number of prospects drifts into the Mariners’ territory, they’ll be serious players.
Everyone is making it seem like Santana to Boston or the Bronx is a certainty, but the key to this deal is who is willing to give up the most. Sorry, Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman just don’t fit the bill with the likes of Ned Colletti and Bill Bavasi and even Omar Minaya in the woodwork. Theo and Cash are too smart for this derby.
Buster Olney speculates in his blog that both “secretly hope that the other team winds up giving up the boatload of prospects and the boatload of dollars for Santana — because doling out this kind of package in prospects and money is not something that Epstein or Cashman believe in, philosophically.”
In a baseball world that has become saturated with coverage of Johan Santana, Joe Sheehan had one of the more unique takes on the situation today for Baseball Prospectus. He thinks neither Boston nor New York will end up with Santana because their best chips are pitchers (save Ellsbury who appears completely off limits) and what the Twins really need — even after the Delmon Young trade — is hitting.
Frankly, he’s probably right. And as we head into the Winter Meetings, here’s something to remember. The baseball insiders — the Jon Heymans, Ken Rosenthals and Peter Gammons’ of the world — are caught up in the inside info, which right now points directly to the Red Sox and Yankees. Sometimes it takes an outsider with a heavy dose of common sense to reel the rumors back in.
After all, if it comes down to Adam Jones or Phil Hughes, Johan Santana is going to be listening to grunge music, wearing flannel and drinking lots of Starbucks.