Santana Rumors

It looks like the Mets are back in the offseason sweepstakes. The one that will determine where Johan Santana will be next year. According to the rumors, Santana has told the Twins, if they don’t plan on resigning him, he would like them to find him a new home before the start of Spring Training. Considering Pitchers and catchers report in February, that does not leave the Twins much time.

The rumors further state that if both the Yankees and Redsox know the other team won’t pick him up, they may not press so hard for Santana. In addition, the Mets are said to be offering a number of prospects with Omar Minaya saying it depends on whether the Twins want just one prospect (presumably exceptional prospect) or a number of them (presumably good, but not exceptional).

The Mets now need to decide how many of their prospects they are willing to give up. Should they give them all away and hope that a one-two punch of Santana and Pedro, with Maine, Perez and someone else does the trick? If they do not get Santana, or any other high quality starter, do they start losing fans?

Then there are the cynical fans who feel these rumors have been started to prevent season ticket sales from going down. The thinking goes that people will buy season tickets if they think Santana will be in a Met uniform. Once they sell those tickets, the Mets will announce, or it will be learned, they lost out on Santana.

I hope that if these rumors are true and it is not just a plot. Certainly I am not thrilled at the thought of literally having to give away the farm. Still, if they can get him AND sign him to a contract extension, it could make things interesting and exciting in Queens.

With a new stadium in the works, the Mets probably need to do something to put rear ends in the seats and Santana will do that. So hopefully, they get him, hopefully the fans come out to see him and hopefully he puts us over the top.