Johan Santana to NYM, Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey to MIN [Merged: Mets sign Johan (7 yr, $150M); see reply #83]

[TooLiveBrew]

Look at Knoblauch's stats from 1994-1997 and tell me that he wasn't a star at that point. Basically the Twins trading Knoblauch would have been like the Brewers trading Molitor after 1982.

 

More like the O's trading Brian Roberts than the Crew dealing Molly. Molly was 25 in '82, so it's not entirely accurate to point to Knoblauch's ages 25-28 seasons and think it's a good comp... not to mention the major injuries Paul incurred during his age 24 & 26 seasons (which really stunted his development imo). It's really apples to oranges beyond that they both played some 2B.

 

Ages 22 & 23, Molly was vastly superior. Then his injuries at 24 & 26 really throw off any comparison. Knoblauch was a fine player, to be sure, but nowhere near the caliber of athlete Molitor was, imo. Paul really peaked as a hitter once his body didn't have to deal with the wear & tear he put on it in the field. I'm not sure you can equate Knoblauch's demise to that... he just didn't sustain. He even logged some time as a DH in his age 31 & 32 seasons, and that wasn't a solution.

 

Btw, there's no question Chuck K. was a star, but using the public perception as a reason to not trade a player, or define a trade as 'blockbuster' or whatever, is what I took issue with.

 

EDIT: I said "Minnesota teams", not Minnesota Twins.

I think one thing that caused confusion was that you gave the impression that other Minn. franchises somehow affect/influence/predict the Twins. I'm assuming you were more making a comment about 'hard luck', though.

[DrWood]

molitor peaked as a hitter after he stopped doing blow--that was what really caused "wear and tear".

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm sure there was a bit more to it than that.

[RockCoCougars]

I think one thing that caused confusion was that you gave the impression that other Minn. franchises somehow affect/influence/predict the Twins. I'm assuming you were more making a comment about 'hard luck', though.

Absolutely. Those fans in Minnesota are long suffering. It seems like since Puckett any guy who has gotten big there has been traded without much in return. It's a real sore spot with all my Minnesota buddies, and I still haven't worked up the nerve to rib them about the Garnett trade. It is kind of funny that they think the Moss trade was made by Red McCombs solely to "flip the bird" to the Minnesota fans for not supporting a new stadium. Come to think of it, there might be something to that.

[TooLiveBrew]

Imo the Marbury one doesn't fit, since Stephon threw a hissy-fit about wanting out. Not much the team can do then.

[crewcrazy]

This is a nice deal for the Mets, but by no means guarantees that they'll make the playoffs, let alone the NLCS/WS. Pitching isn't what caused that gigantic collapse last season -- offense was. Jose Reyes was pretty bad throughout September and David Wright cooled off considerably as well. I'd be shocked if Luis Castillo and Moises Alou play as well as they did last year, especially at their age. You never really know what you're going to get from Carlos Beltran month to month, and that bullpen is still a huge question mark (they dumped Mota on the Brewers and didn't do much else). And they have Willie Randolph still managing out there, who could be considered a Ned Yost clone and is a guy that no one in New York has any faith in. As far as their rotation goes, I like Johan-Maine-Perez, but you don't know how much you'll be able to get out of Pedro this year (he pitched well coming back from rotator cuff surgery last year, but that was only 5 starts and something like 28 innings), El Duque is like 87 years old, and they just traded away whatever starting pitching depth they had in the minors. I could easily see the Mets faltering late in the year again, just as easily as I could see them winning the division by 5 games.

[Ennder]

Not sure you can say Wright's 1.034 OPS in Sept was cooling off.

[DrWood]

willie randolph might be a ned yost clone if you gave yost a brain...and more melanin...and whatever other accoutrements go with being a black guy.

[ELCABALLO45]

6 year 137.5 million dollar extension.. making his deal at 7 years (one for this year) and 150 million dollars!

[Ennder]

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/mets/archives/2008/02/mets_johan_not.html

 

The two-time Cy Young winner receives a six-year extension for $137.5 million to go along with the $13.25 million he already was owed for 2008.

The total package is for $150.75 million over seven years.

[mothershipconnection]

Barry Zito: 7 years, $126M

Santana 7 years $150 M Sounds pretty reasonable

 

Edit: posted the wrong amount

[zurch1818]

ESPN

 

This makes him the highest paid pitcher in mlb history and also the third highest paid player ever on a per year basis. Number 1 and 2 on the list are Arod.

[PlayerHader]

Absolute steal compared to that Zito deal.

 

Actually it'd be 6 years $137.5 M or 7 years $ 150M for Johan.

[TheBrewer]

jez I'm jealous of the Mets. I wish we could've gotten Bedard.

[DHarris34Phan]

Speaking of Barry Zito, does he have the worst contract in the MLB? Maybe it was one bad year, but his numbers last year were terrible.

[craigharmann]

So, if $21 million per yer is what Santana gets, what would be the going rate for Sheets? $15 million per year? $10?

[Ennder]

If Sheets is healthy all year and goes back to his 2004-2006 numbers, the injuries more or less go away as a bargaining chip and Sheets is probably at least $16M per year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Brewer fans have been hoping for a healthy year from Sheets ever since 2004, so expecting him to be healthy all of 2008 is a stretch. I don't care whether his injuries are related to his arm or not - he's had all kinds of problems that have kept him from taking the ball every 5th day, simple as that. Even if he stays healthy all season, the injury history doesn't go away - he could get 16 mil a season, but contract length will probably be limited to 3 seasons at that amount. Regarding Santana's deal, it's going to be interesting to see what this deal looks like 3-4 seasons from now - Santana's been able to stay healthy for his career, but he's pitched a ton of innings over the past 3-4 seasons. The deal compared to Zito's is great right now, but long-term deals (5 yrs +) given to pitchers don't have a history of working out to well for organizations - (Mike Hampton, Kevin Brown, Zito)

[Ennder]

regardless, Sheets injuries are just not the type that worry GM's a ton. For all the complaints about him he has had two real injuries in his career and only one of them has any longterm ramifications, that isn't bad for a pitcher. It might limit him to a 3 or 4 year deal but it certainly won't hurt the per year total of his contract on the open market.

 

Now if the Brewers actively go after him they might get a little discount because of them, but a team like the Yankees are going to focus on what happened in 2008 way more than a jammed finger in 2007 or an injury that he has been recovered from for 2.5 years by the time he hits the market..

[don1481]

I'd say 3/48 would be more than acceptable to offer Sheets. With a team option for year 4 that automatically vests if he meets certain criteria.