Tag: Johan Santana

Santana now a New York Met

February 1, 2008 – So the Twins have traded Santana to the Mets and in return acquired 22 year old outfielder Carlos Gomez, and right handed pitchers Philip Humber, also 25, Kevin Mulvey who is 22 along with 18 year old Deolis Guerra. Although the final numbers have not yet come out, it sounds like the deal may be for 7 years and $150 million. Wow, Johan is the best pitcher in baseball but I see this as a huge risk for the Mets, seven years is a long time and that golden arm could get weary and sore before 7 years comes and goes.

If the Yankees offered Hughes and Cabrera and a bag of balls I would have much preferred that deal to this deal with the Mets. As for the Red Sox offer, I am not sure that Ellsbury has proven himself just yet so I have no problem passing on that deal. We will never know if the Yankees or the Red Sox actually offered the players that were rumored. As a Twins executive told me this week-end, it takes two teams to make a deal. I interpret that to mean that maybe the Yankees and Reds Sox deals weren’t the names that were so often bandied about because I can’t believe that the Twins would pass on a deal that included Hughes and Cabrera.

This deal with the Mets bothers me because there are no sure fire players that we can just plug in the line-up now. Force feed Gomez in CF to start? Maybe, maybe later in the season. The Twins can still be a fun team to watch this year but they can’t compete with the Tigers or the Indians. I think the Twins can play with the mighty Whities and the Royals but the Royals can be tough if their pitching shows up.

The Twins need to solidify their pitching and they could go a long ways down that road if Liriano can came back strong but that is a lot to hope for in 2008, and more likely to happen in 2009. Can Baker, Slowey or Bonser step up and fill the 2 through 4 spots? That leaves the final spot up for grabs between Blackburn, Perkins, and Humber. I would love to see Perkins in the rotation but with his history I am not sure he can stay healthy throwing that many innings. It is hard to be real confident in these guys and I am thinking we will get some good starts and a number of bad starts from this group as they learn.

So, if that is the case, why not do the same thing with the position players and try this line-up? Casilla leads off at 2B followed by Mauer catching, Young hitting third in left, Morneau bats cleanup and plays 1B, the right fielder Cuddyer bats fifth and the six hole is filled by DH Kubel, Lamb the 3B bats 8th and Everett hits 9th. Why not give Casilla and Gomez a shot and see if they can handle the job and learn how to play in the big leagues. With questionable pitching we can’t afford to give up any extra outs so we need strong defense up the middle and Gomez and Casilla should fill the bill. Plus, these guys should steal 90-100 bases between them. The Twins hitting this year will surprise some people. Mauer should bounce back big after an injury plagued season, the newly acquired Young can be a RBI machine, Morneau can improve, Kubel is just starting to get comfortable and I look for a big improvement with Jason. Lamb will add some power to the lineup and I think Everett will surprise a lot of people with his hitting.

My biggest concern with the Twins is their bullpen because I can see it getting over worked with the inconsistent starting pitching. I think Gardenhire and his coaches will earn their pay this year as they guide this young team through the season.

As for the other teams? This deal helps the Red Sox because they keep all their chips and don’t have to face Santana as a Yankee. They still need to move Crisp and I would not mind seeing him in Minnesota for a year or so while Gomez gains experience and learns the Twins ways in Rochester. The Yankees are hurt big time by this deal because now the Mets have the best pitcher in baseball across town and the Yankees still have to go into the season with either the old goat or the kindergarten pitching staff and neither option will end up being very appealing.

Twins Need to Move Forward!

January 11, 2008 – Here it is January 11 and Johan Santana is still a Twin. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see Johan wear a Twins uniform his entire career but in reality we know that is not going to happen. The Twins have stated that they would like to sign Johan but giving him a 4 year extension for $80 million but I just don’t see that happening. That means that they either trade him now or at the trading deadline or they let him walk and get nothing in return. Letting him walk and getting nothing does not make sense for a team that is dependent on promoting from within. Waiting to make a deal at the trading deadline is risky business, maybe they get more or they get less then they can get today. But what would happen if the Twins were in contention at the trading deadline, what message would that send to both the players and the fans if they sent Johan packing then? That would just paint the Twins in a corner. It just makes sense to move Santana now and be done with it. The Twins also need to make a decision on center field and hopefully that problem goes away in any trade they make for Johan.

The Mets seem to have interest in Santana and the names that have been tossed around are Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. Gomez is a 21 year old top notch Mets prospect that some say could be another Carl Crawford type of player. But is he ready to play in the bigs this year? The Mets seem to think no. Martinez , only 19 years of age, played in the eastern league last year and is nowhere near ready for the majors but is considered a top prospect, maybe the Mets top prospect. Humber, 25, a right hander and a former first round selection is in contention for a spot in the Mets rotation but has no real big league experience to speak of and has had Tommy John surgery in his recent past. Mulvey, 21 and right handed had a cup of coffee at the AAA level and is also in contention for a spot in the Mets rotation this year. Guerra who will not be 19 until April is a 6’5” right hander with 1 year of pro ball experience.

The Yankees keep changing their mind from day to day as to their status in the Santana hunt. I don’t buy that, the Yankees need starting pitching and I don’t think they want to start the season with that much youth in the rotation. The Yankees have supposedly offered Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and some other low level prospects. The Twins want Ian Kennedy included in the package but so far the Yanks have said “no deal”. Hughes, 20 and right handed is a strapping 6’5” and is projected to be a star in the near future and will start the season in the Yankee rotation assuming he is not traded to Minnesota. Cabrera, a switch hitting 23 year old already has several years of ML experience and will probably never be a super star but can fill the center field hole for the Twins.

The Red Sox seem to be playing it close to the vest and have offered Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson and Jed Lowrie. .Masterson is a 23 year old right hander who stands 6’6” and reaches 94 on the radar gun now and then. Some scouts say that long term he will make a better reliever then a starter. Lowrie is a 24 year old shortstop that some scouts say will end up as a 2B in the majors. Range is average but his throwing accuracy has been questioned. Lowrie played in the Arizona Fall league this past season but was not impressive with 1 home run and a .163 batting average in 98 at bats. Lester, a feel good story who has beaten cancer, is a 24 year old lefty who is 11-2 in 26 starts for the Red Sox the last 2 years and has a decent strike out to innings pitched ratio. Crisp is 28 and is a switch hitting lead off type hitter who can steal 25-30 bases for the Twins and play a nice center field. Although his average has been in the .260 range the last two years, Coco is a nice player that needs to get out of Boston. The Twins want Jacoby Ellsbury instead of Crisp but Boston is resisting sending the young prospect and World Series hero to Minnesota in the same package with Lester. The Red Sox also have Clay Buchholz who the Twins would take in a second but Boston is not even talking about him.

So, what should the Twins do? First off we eliminate the Mets deal since they are not offering any immediate line-up help although down the line this might be a good deal for the Twins. That brings it back to the Yankees and the Red Sox. Although I like Crisp to play center and Lester can crack the Twins rotation, I would pass on the Red Sox deal simply because they are NOT offering their top prospects in Ellsbury and Buchholz and they want the top pitcher in baseball in return. I would go to Boston just before I take the Yankee deal and tell them if they want Santana before we send him to the Yankees that you need to give up Crisp, Buchholz, and Lester. The reason I say Crisp instead of Ellsbury is that Ellsbury has not proven himself over a full year at the major league level. If the Red Sox say “no”, then I have no problem going to the Yankees and taking their offer of Hughes, Cabrera, and a minor leaguer or two. I plug Hughes into the Twins rotation and put Cabrera in center and we are ready to play some baseball. Then the only hole is at 2B but maybe Punto and Harris can platoon there and fill that slot. Come on Twins, let’s get this deal done!

 

Baker on a roll

Scott Baker

Scott Baker pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Twins to a 4-1 victory over the Tigers yesterday afternoon. It marked the third consecutive start that Baker has not allowed an earned run. Over the last 35 seasons, only two other Twins pitchers have had a streak of three consecutive starts without allowing an earned run in a single season. Francisco Liriano had two three-game streaks in 2010 and Johan Santana did it in four straight starts in 2004. Source: Elias

Keep’em Dancing

Jim Kaat

To be a good pitcher they say, you need to keep the hitters off-balance and you can’t let the hitters get comfortable at the plate. If you look at the Twins pitching history, you will see that some of the Twins top pitchers were not afraid to plunk a hitter now and then. I can’t tell you for sure if these pitchers threw at batters on purpose or if they just felt that they owned the plate and they were not afraid to pitch inside, but either way, the pitchers on this list hit their share of batters and a number of these pitchers pitched in the days when they themselves had to step up to the plate to hit. Jim Kaat hit the most batters when he pitched for the Twins, hitting 89 batters (plus 7 more as a Washington Senator before he became a Minnesota Twin) but he also pitched just under 3,000 innings and he averaged a hit batter once every 33.25 innings. Mike Smithson, who certainly was not afraid to pitch inside hit 46 batters in his time with the Twins and he did this in just 816 innings so he hit a batter every 17.74 innings, far and away the most hit batters per innings pitched. Let’s take a look at the Twins top ten.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Jim Kaat 89 2,959 33.25
2 Bert Blyleven 80 2,566 32.08
3 Brad Radke 62 2,451 39.53
4 Jim Perry 50 1,883 37.66
5 Mike Smithson 46 816 17.74
6 Kyle Lohse 44 908 20.64
7 Scott Erickson 42 979 23.31
8 Dave Boswell 34 1,036 30.47
9 Frank Viola 29 1,772 61.10
10 Johan Santana 27 1,308 48.44

Now let’s take a look at the Twins current starters and see how they compare.

  Name Batters hit Innings Innings per hit batter
1 Scott Baker 25 915 36.60
2 Francisco Liriano 20 617 30.85
3 Nick Blackburn 17 668 39.29
4 Carl Pavano 12 397 33.08
5 Brian Duensing 6 289 48.17