Yankees, Twins Slow Talks Down

by Eli Greenspan on Nov 27, 2007 7:23 PM EST

The Yankees and Twins have begun negotiations involving Johan Santana. "It's preliminary right now." Hank Steinbrenner told the AP. Santana, who has a full no trade clause, will be 29 in March and has told the Twins to start taking offers for him. Obviously, the Yankees see Santana's value. He is a lefty whose numbers would only improve playing for a team like the Yankees, and the Yankees have the money to lock him up for the next five years. The Twins could probably acquire three or four legitimate prospects in return, while also shedding some cash. The Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, and Red Sox are the four teams that are most interested, but it will probably come down to the Yankees and Red Sox. Both teams have prospects to offer, and could afford to not only lose prospects, but to add Santana's salary to their payroll. They are still far apart, because the Twins are looking to land Robinson Cano in the deal, but may have to settle for a package including Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, and another prospect. Not a bad deal, but we will see what happens. Personally, I think the Red Sox have a better offer ready, but I do not think they are as willing to trade their prospects. We will see what happens next week at the Winter Meetings.

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Where do you get your information from? This is the first time I've heard Joba Chamberlain mentioned in any deal..which leads me to believe you're full of sh*t

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 7:55 PM EST reply actions

Boston has better positional prospects, add in Coco and Buchholz or lester and that trumps melky, kennedy and two other prospects. The Yankees will not trade Hughes or Chamberlain. I think Cano is off limits too. Boston can survive without JS, Yankees not so much. They are missing an ace in a bad way.

by Bucky , NY on Nov 27, 2007 8:48 PM EST reply actions

Its being rumored that the twins were asking for Ellsbury and one of lester or buchholz from the sox. If im the sox you really have to consider lester, ellsbury and maybe another prospect. can you imagine having a rotation of beckett, santana, dice k and buchholz for years to come. as a sox fan losing ellsbury would not be good but i can deal with coco in center with his great defense, who knows maybe he can get his offense back to when he was with the indians. the line up could look like this

pedroia
youk
ortiz
manny
lowell
drew
tek
lugo
coco

sure the bottom of the line up may not be the greatest thing but with the speed of lugo and crisp at the bottom it provides the sox to be able to do different things down there. then they would have a rotation of

beckett
santana
dice k
schilling
wakefield
buchholz

they would still have 6 starters and even 7 if you want to count tavarez so they will still have depth. not to mention masterson down in the minors could be a call up sometime during the year or be ready for 2009

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 8:51 PM EST reply actions

any reason in particular you feel the mets would eventually fall out of the running? i think they have enough prospects to compete up to a nice point

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 9:30 PM EST reply actions

its funny how the other day you had a post about how it was very unlikely that kerry wood would return to the cubs, then after he signs with the cubs you get rid of that post...your a joke buddy.

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 9:59 PM EST reply actions

as for joba...check the mlb.com article and foxsports. i also talked with one of my correspondents who heard that is who the twins are asking for.

by Eli on Nov 27, 2007 10:02 PM EST reply actions

i changed it to say he signed...when you say it is unlikely-it is not official. you guys are looking for something to get critical with. it seemed that talks hit a snag. phil rogers, buster olney, ken rosenthal all thought it was unlikely...relax.

by Eli on Nov 27, 2007 10:02 PM EST reply actions

the mets have enough prospects...but are more intrigued by spreading them around in trades. meaning, they would like dan haren, a very good pitcher with more years left...and go after a solid power hitter with other prospects.

by Eli on Nov 27, 2007 10:04 PM EST reply actions

Please No!!! I am so sick and tired of the Yankees. I am praying that they finish behind the Rays and the Orioles this year.

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 10:19 PM EST reply actions

But the highest the yankees r going to go is Phil and there is almost no chance cano is on the trading block also if u look at the twins past u will see that 90% of the players they get for in trades r in A ball because they have the best scouts and talent judges in the MLB i mean Santana was a rule V pick

by GOD on Nov 27, 2007 10:36 PM EST reply actions

It's very clear that the Twins would ask for either Joba or Phil Hughes. If they don't then the Twins are stupid, and trust me, they aren't stupid. If the Yanks unload Hughes for Santana, it would show how desperate they are to get back to the World Series. And as an Indians fan, I would rather face Joba than Phil Hughes 18 times in a season. The Yanks are desperate, and I believe a deal can be worked out. Will it? Who knows, but if you don't think the Yankees are in desperation mode, then you're living in a dream world. Remember, this is the same organization that said they would not negotiate with Rodriguez since he opted out. How did that promise go?

by KevinGillman on Nov 27, 2007 11:23 PM EST reply actions

they haven't slown talks down, they are just in the early stages of it. if you read anything about that, you would know that.

yankees arent offering joba.
it'll be melky and hughes and maybe a lower level prospect

or
melky and kennedy and a higher level prospect if antyhing.

no cano or joba, i doubt they will include hughes either.

i say the yankees have a far better chance at landing santana than the red sox.

the yankees also ahve a lot of low level studs in their farm that you probably dont know about.

tabata, jackson, horne, etc.

by Anonymous on Nov 27, 2007 11:26 PM EST reply actions

Joba's always been part of this deal..

Anyways i think it's ridiculous that the Twins could be forced to take a lesser value when other teams are offering much more than the Yanks.

by Jon Shields on Nov 27, 2007 11:49 PM EST reply actions

The rumored Hughes, Melky, Jackson package from the Yanks for Santana has to be a joke, right? Am I the only one who has a hard time seeing Melky's value? He has no speed, little power, bats below .300 and slugs less than .400. I know he's young and all, but the Twins can't seriously be entertaining the thought of trading the best pitcher in baseball for a package that does not include any of the Yanks true studs? I would have to think Joba AND Cano would be going the other way in order for this deal to make sense.

by Anonymous on Nov 28, 2007 8:15 AM EST reply actions

first off this guy sooks...joba is definitely untouchable...as a yanks fan kennedy, and cabrera is the package thats acceptable...hughes and cano, absolutely not. the mets prospects also sook...they have three outfielders and no one is high on their pitchers...this rumor mill has zer0 credibility...check out prosportsdaily.com

by Anonymous on Nov 28, 2007 9:43 AM EST reply actions

Chamberlain isn't going anywhere you idiot.

by Anonymous on Nov 28, 2007 12:41 PM EST reply actions

I can understand why the twins would ask for clay or jon and jacoby. If i was the sox though i would say we already have beckett, dice-k, buchholz, and lester. I admire santana's talent but why get greedy when you could also have a young potential star in center. theo likes young players and to him clay and jacoby are untouchable and probably lester as well

by Anonymous on Nov 28, 2007 5:15 PM EST reply actions

For all you confused Yankee's fans tell me this, would you take Santana for just Joba? I hope the majority of you would. So yeah Joba isn't untouchable, the yanks just have a very high price placed on his head and the Twins obviously are not going to trade Santana unless they get some good players to fill their very vacant holes at 3rd and OF. If this Garza Young deal goes through, this is definatley going to mix up the Santana talks though.

by Anonymous on Nov 28, 2007 7:06 PM EST reply actions

yanks fan here...no I would not take santana for just joba...who's going to be pitching longer?...if that got the deal done...i get it...but i would rather hold on to the 3...and the idiot(kevingilliman)...yanks aren't desperate right now..a-rod came to them not vice versa...

by Anonymous on Nov 29, 2007 9:36 AM EST reply actions

Yankees: Just trade your prospects for the holes Minny still has: 3B, SS, and CF....

Oh, wait... you don't have any...

Not unless you keep convincing yourself Melky is anything better than a 4th OF.

Bet you wish you had a Jed Lowrie in your back pocket right now...

by Anonymous on Nov 29, 2007 11:07 AM EST reply actions

Jed Lowrie.... you mean the guy people only started hearing about 2 days ago? That Jed Lowrie?

by Anonymous on Nov 29, 2007 8:41 PM EST reply actions

Joba for Santana - You wouldn't take the best pitcher in baseball because you think Joba has potential to pitch longer, you'll be lucky if he's 3/4 the pitcher Santana is? Guaranteed if you send that deal to Cash or Stein it's done in seconds. Santana was a rule 5 draft pick, best pitcher in baseball, came to big leagues quietly, not a lot expected - 5 years later the best pitcher in baseball. This stuff is hard to predict, all I know is hard throwing pitchers with a nasty curve/slider usually don't last long. Just off the top of my head Liriano and Zumaya. Change up artist whose only 29 and most likely has 6-7 great years left. Santana has a good delivery and his style of pitching is easy on his arm. Believe me nobody is worried about him falling off anytime soon, maybe a slight decline in numbers but he's going to be dominate for a long time.

by Anonymous on Nov 30, 2007 1:23 AM EST reply actions

I also love it how these prospects come out of nowhere and are gods all of a sudden. Jed Lowrie, good prospect, but about half of what Boston's finest make him out to be.

by Anonymous on Nov 30, 2007 1:25 AM EST reply actions

lets see the yankees have betimet ( not how u spell it but unimportant) for third has never really played a full season as a starter but has average D and a lot of pop also for SS the yankees have alberto gonzaliz(not spell right again still dont care) who has a great glove and hit .300 in AAA i think
CF u have Melky who can be a good outfielder because he has good speed great arm good range and ok eye at the plate that is getting better
so looks like the yankees do have the players to fill the holes so look for a little info before u run your mouth

by GOD DUH on Nov 30, 2007 2:21 PM EST reply actions