More than six weeks after many thought he would be dealt, the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins agreed to a deal on Tuesday that would send four prospects to the Twin Cities for Johan Santana. Buster Olney reported the deal is pending a contract extension for the 2-time Cy Young Award winner. The Mets have 72 hours, 5:00pm ET on Friday, to work out a deal with Santana, who is reportedly seeking an extension in the 6-year, $150 million dollar range. Santana posted a career high in wins back in 2004, 20-6, if he posts 25 wins in 2008, that is a million dollars per win.
With Santana off the market, the last two weeks before pitchers and catchers report should be very interesting.
In a rematch of the 1984 National League Championship Series, at least that was how XM Radio billed the event, the Cubs will face the Padres in the last Hall of Fame Game on June 16th in Cooperstown. The Cubs played in the first Hall of Fame Game at Doubleday Field in 1940 and beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-9. The Cubs last played in the exhibition game in 1995.
Here is the latest from around the league as well as news, notes and a few rumors from the North Side....
Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts
The clock is ticking on Andy MacPhail's self-imposed deadline. MacPhail has stated, repeatedly, over the last few weeks that decisions would be made by the end of January concerning the future of Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts.
Ken Rosenthal was on with Dave Kaplan Tuesday night and talked about both players. Rosenthal thinks the Cubs will not be able to acquire Bedard but they may have a chance to land Roberts. Kaplan asked about the delay with the Mariners on the Bedard trade. Rosenthal said there are issues and he is not sure what they could be. He reiterated if Bedard is traded....Roberts would be next.
Rosenthal said Adam Jones is better than any prospect the Cubs could offer the Orioles for Bedard and there is not enough quality in the system to land both players. Other teams in the league do not see the Cubs' system as deep as the fans....see Fan Goggles.
Brian Roberts in a Cubs' uniform could be very interesting according to Rosenthal. He reminded Kaplan that Roberts has never played for a winner or in an atmosphere like Chicago. He said players react differently to such changes but he believes Roberts would thrive with the Cubs. Rosenthal said if he were MacPhail, he would want Felix Pie in any deal for Roberts. Rosenthal reiterated he has heard Matt Murton and Jason Marquis' names in various proposals.
Kaplan asked Rosenthal about the health of Erik Bedard. He said Bedard is a quality starter and the third best left-hander in the majors....despite the fact he has never pitched 200 innings in a single season and has averaged 157 innings over the past four years. He reminded Kaplan that Bedard has been pitching the AL East, and has been very effective. Rosenthal said he would take a chance on Bedard.
Rosenthal closed by saying he has heard the Orioles and Cubs "have not gotten close yet" on a deal. He believes, and told Kaplan this was his opinion only, the Orioles' problem is not Andy MacPhail but is clearly Peter Angelos.
Rosenthal stated in his latest column, that if Angelos does block the deal for Bedard then MacPhail should "quit on the spot."
The Orioles have been the hot topic of conversation, for good reason, throughout the winter. Everyone from New York to Los Angeles knows the Orioles have two very valuable trading chips. If dealt, those two players could help restore the once proud franchise. Think about it, the Orioles would receive three to four players for Bedard, and could flip one of those (George Sherrill) for additional prospects. And according to Rosenthal, they could receive Felix Pie, Sean Gallagher and "one or two marketable veterans" from the Cubs for Roberts.
The Baltimore Sun reported, "Adam Jones has a degenerative hip condition and that's why the Erik Bedard trade hit a snag." Roch Kubatko reminded his readers the news on Jones is a rumor but the Sun would not be reporting it if someone was "absolutely positive". Kubatko said, "For the sake of Jones, I hope it's false. For the sake of the person who said it, it better be right."
Andy MacPhail continued to deny rumors of the deal with the Mariners on Tuesday.
The Chicago Sun-Times mentioned if the Cubs do land Brian Roberts....it could be in the next few days.
The Cubs
Dayn Perry broke down all of the contenders' flaws for the upcoming season. It is a very good read, and Perry is right on track. He believes the Cubs biggest flaw is the backend of the starting rotation. Perry likes the top of the Cubs rotation (Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill) but thinks the 4th and 5th spots need help....Jason Marquis, Jon Lieber and Ryan Dempster. Perry mentioned Sean Marshall could figure into the equation and has "promise going forward."
From Around the League
The Astros signed two players to minor league contracts on Tuesday. Right-handed pitcher Brian Moehler and utility man David Newhan agreed to 1-year deals with invitations to Spring Training.
A day after Paul Lo Duca had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, the Washington Nationals signed Johnny Estrada to a 1-year deal to backup Lo Duca once he returns in 4-6 weeks.
Pirates' reliever Damaso Marte was involved in a car accident on Tuesday in the Dominican Republic according to a report on ESPN. Marte did not receive any serious injuries but complained of neck pain.
Finally.... Tim Souers from Cubby-Blue posted a Valentine Card from Lou Piniella.
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A few thoughts..
* Not at work today due to a nasty head cold.
I only hope that Kevin I is making us some money.
* I admit, I think the Mets got the better of that deal by a wide margin. I wonder if Joe Nathan will be next?
XM Radio is reporting the Bedard deal to Seattle could be completed today...source Seattle PI
I wonder why a Pie/Colvin/Hill/Gallagher package might not have been better than the package the Mets gave for Santana...and seeing what the Mets gave up, why weren't we bigger players for Santana?
Do you suppose it had anything to do with the mega-contract that he'd have to be signed to? If he wins 16 games next year, that'd be $1.5M per victory. That is quite an investment. Management must not have thought he was worth it...
The Mets have one of the best offenses in the league, and they just picked up the best pitcher in all of mlb.
Jim Hendry loves tossing around the word "volume" and "depth". The problem is that quality and stars win championships, every single time, over depth.
Look at the Bulls...a bunch of good pieces, but no true stars, and they are no longer overachieving and are playing to their talent level.
The Cubs have stars: Ramirez, Lee, Soriano, Zambrano. I wouldn't include anyone else yet, but Fuku and Hill could turn into stars, as could Marmol and Wood in the closer role.
The problem has been the quality of the complimentary pieces. Jordan needed Steve Kerr and Tony Kukoc and Bill Cartwright, etc... They weren't superstars like Jordan and Pippen, but they perfectly balanced out the team.
The Cubs too often seem to lack commonsense with the concept of balance. They have their strong HR/RBI guys, and then the rest of the guys have bad OBP (Jones, Theriot, Neifi, Barrett, Pie) so there are less baserunners to drive in, and we have too many 1-2-3 innings as a result.
Defense is another issue...we add Soriano, who has a gun for an arm, but is still new in the OF, and we complement him with Jacque Jones and Cliff Floyd/Murton in the OF???
We had questionable end-of-the-rotation starters (Marquis, Marshall, Miller) and we had a horrible receiving catcher in Michael Barrett.
Our non-stars (such as Cedeno and Murton) would often make dumb mistakes, too, such as on the basepaths. If you aren't a star, you have to play good defense and be a smart player, at a minimum.
This year, I think Hendry has addressed the issue of balance...or, more likely, Lou Piniella stressed it. Dusty would play "his guys" regardless of balance and common-sense. Lou plays the best players, or so he says.
As a result, we have likely got a solid defensive OF from Pie and Fuku (our non-stars in the OF). We have increased OBP in Fuku. We hope Theriot continues to improve his OBP, and we hope Pie does as well.
Soto is better defensively behind the plate, and projects as being decent offensively.
Lieber is Maddux-lite, and should keep us in games, and with better defense, and a better field surface, that may be a good move.
We could still use Roberts and his OBP and speed to further balance and complement our lineup. His addition, if DeRosa isn't traded, would also allow DeRosa to be a supersub, further providing solid balance in case of injury, or when guys need rest.
So I like the balance better this year...I still think we need one more piece; either Roberts, or a #2 or #3 starter, but I am not sure we need both to be successful.
I agree with Dayn Perry, especially when we compare the Cubs to the new, Santana, Mets.
Forget about Roberts and go for Blanton, who only had 40 walks in 34 games last year. The Cubs ranked #4 in the NL for walks allowed. The offense should improve with Fukudome, and so will the defense. Soriano should have a better start and so should Lee. I don't think Roberts is the number one need for 2008
Is it just me or does including Pie in the deal for Roberts not make sense? It seems that in trying to fill one need, we are creating a bigger hole at another position, by trading Pie. If Adam Jones is included in the deal for Bedard, the O's won't need Pie. If we send him packing, we don't have a player on the roster capable of playing center field on a daily basis. I like Fuld as much as the next guy, but no where does he project to be more than a fourth outfielder. Lofton, was good in his prime, but he is not the same player he was in 2003 and can't play the kind of defense you want next to Soriano in left.
Adam -
It's possible that part of the reason we dropped out could have been Santana and his agent. It's not just the players involved, but having to sign him to a contract following the deal. While Santana doesn't have a no-trade clause in place, he does have the ability to refuse to sign an extension with a particular team... which really amounts to the same thing.
It's possible that he (or his agent) let the Twins know they wanted to go to Boston or New York for various reasons (east coast, media, etc).
Granted I'm just speculating, but it doesn't seem far fetched.
Jason B. -
I agree completely.
Larry, I agree with you. Soriano, Pie, Fuk, Ramirez, Theriot, DeRosa, Lee, and Soto in the starting lineup looks great to me. We have 3 solid pitchers in Zambrano, Lilly and Hill. Everybody rails on Marquis, but he did win 12 games last year, which is not bad for a 5th starter. I am hoping that either Marshall, Lieber or Dempster can be that 4th starter. I would include Hart and Gallagher in the mix and I would decide in spring training who that 4th starter would be.
I would like to see Roberts with the Cubs, and let DeRosa play the super-sub role on the team, but I would not give up Pie for him because that would open up a defensive hole in center field. We don't know about Pie yet, but I would like to see him get a full shot at the job. I don't want to give up on him before we really know what he can do.
The other thing I like about the Cubs is that we have Sweet Lou. I think last year was a learning experience for him and we still went to the playoffs. I think this year's team will have a much higher OBP and I think they will be more aggressive on the basepaths. Let's get this thing started already! GO CUBS!!!
According to Bruce Levine (On the Waddle & Silvy show.)"The Cubs approached the Twins when the Twins made it known that they would be entertaining offers for Santana." The Cubs had a list of prospects ready for the Twins to take but Santana
said "That he wanted to play for an East Coast team that played Spring Training in Florida" That was why we only heard about 3 teams (Bos, NYY &NYM) thereafter. Levine also said that he heard this from a Minnesota source.
We can't rag on Hendry for this, the guy probably is trying to make deals but if a player has his heart set on a certain location and has a no trade provision in his contract there is really nothing that you can do.
I wouldn't want to sign him for the long term since he'll command $12-15 million a year, but what about dealing for one season of Joe Nathan. Now that the Twins are rebuilding and won't sign him, would they deal him for a few middling prospects like Gallagher, Patterson, and Ceda? If we could deal Pie, Cedeno, and Marshall for Roberts and do a deal like than for Nathan, I think we'd have quite a team shape. A bullpen with Marmol, Howry, Wood and Nathan means you only need 6 solid innings from your starters.
Gramps -
By all accounts out of the minors, Fuld is actually a better all-around defender than Pie... so it wouldn't be a loss on that side of things. I think the consensus is that Pie has more raw offensive talent though.
Personally - the way this club's offense is constructed and especially if we add Roberts, I wouldn't mind a defensive specialist/contact hitter at a position or two - we've got enough guns to score runs in a whole lot of different ways.
Jim (TP) - thanks for the "east coast team / spring training in Florida" quote. Just see4med like something along those lines was going on with Johan.
A question from a chat on Espn about the Cubs getting Roberts. Jim Callis response...
Jim Callis: Yes. Sounds like the Orioles will try to complete a Bedard trade first, then the Roberts deal may happen. The Orioles may get more for Roberts than the Twins did for Santana.
I understand that Santana wanted to play for an east coast team, and I am fine with that. If the Cubs are thinking about giving up that type of package, one worthy of Santana, I certainly hope JH brings a heck of alot more than Roberts back to the Cubs!
Peter Angelos is a first class jerk. I live in Rochester, New York, the former home of the O's AAA farm club, and watched this guy turn a thriving farm system into complete crap. We now have the Twins AAA club, so I guess I can't complain that much, but it's a shame that this guy has been allowed to destroy a once respectable franchise.
I agree with Jason B. to an extent. I think that we match up well on paper with the mets, who are obviously now the team to beat. We can't predict key injuries or anything of that nature, but to end this drought once and for all we have to put ourselves in the best position to win. Its hard to justify giving up the farm for a chance to win now, but that is exactly what we need to do. Bedard is a must at this point. I don't care who we have to give up to get him. If we don't, we're going to need a good deal of help from the baseball gods to have a chance against the mets. That puts us in no better position than last year, or '03, or '98, or insert your favorite disapointment here. Unless we do this, we shoot ourselves in the foot right out of the gate. Burnett, or others, would be a decent consolation prize but he's only started 21 and 25 games in the last two years.
We're pretty much conceding that Pie is going to be a part of whatever trade we make, so that means we need a CF more than a second baseman. Yeah, I know Fuld is going to be good, but I would feel a lot more comfortable if he had to win the job from an established veteran (Lofton,Crisp,Pierre).
I would like to see Roberts in cubbie blue as much as the next guy, but that's like buying beer in a snowstorm. We need to eat.
We need to establish a plan B to go out and get a starter- Maybe Pie,Cedeno, and Murton for Lester/Buckholtz and Crisp. Not necessarily that, but all indications are that we need to find other options. Lets look at what's feasable and hope they go out and do it. Sorry about the rant, but the time is now. Go Cubs!