Johan Santana is now a Met, and the American League hitters are rejoicing. Any Twins fan, however, has to be scratching their head thinking about how little the team got in return for one of baseball’s best pitchers. How can things have gone so badly in conversations around the league that the best package of players the Twins could come up with didn’t even include the best prospect from the Mets farm system?

Other teams around the league have to be echoing these sentiments. There are at least a dozen General Managers out there wondering why they didn’t get a chance to steal Santana if he was going to come that cheaply. American League GM’s realize this was about getting Johan out of the league, so there frustration is far more muted. In the National League, however, everyone from the Dodgers out in Los Angeles to the Braves in Atlanta have to be wondering why they didn’t at least make a call. A team like the Cubs, for instance, has been in talks with Baltimore about Erik Bedard from time to time, but you know they would prefer Santana at the same cost in talent.

In most circles around baseball it is being widely agreed upon that the Twins took far less than equal value back in this trade. Whether this is the best value they could have gotten isn’t even really a question, as both the Red Sox and Yankees were reported to have offered more. The question really is was this the best option for the Twins. Was getting the best pitcher available out of the league worth the loss in value. This isn’t any easy question, but has two completely separate answers. To avoid the potential of a Red Sox staff anchored by both Santana and Beckett was, quite frankly, worth whatever it took to avoid. Those two young pitchers would have been such a devastating force for years to come that it didn’t make sense to let it happen.

On the other side, taking the Yankees offer might have made more sense. The Yankees don’t have any pitcher that has proven he can be as dominant as either of the previously mentioned pitchers. For this reason alone, the difference in value was far less worthwhile in this situation. Perhaps the Yankees had pulled there offer completely, and the Twins were left scrambling and took whatever they could get. If that is the case, however, this was one of the biggest mistakes in Twins history. Perhaps not the trade itself, but the way the entire situation was handled. Allowing them to get backed into that kind of corner trying to trade arguably the best pitcher in the game is a mistake that won’t soon be forgotten by Twins fans left waiting for the prospects that may never arrive.

Told you I wasn’t done geeking out, my husband is so proud.

I would just like to point out that the Twins have signed Livan Hernandez (1yr/$5mil) to try and fill the gap in their rotation.

If I were the Cubbies, I would be shitting bubbles about getting a lefty with as much strikeout power as Bedard. He's an immediate Cy Young candidate in Chicago.

This was definitely about getting Santana out of the AL. Even though he only won 15 games last year, he's STILL the best pitcher of this millenium.

Let's take a look at what the Twinkies got for Santana. OF Carlos Gomez, RHP Deolis Guerra, RHP Kevin Mulvey and RHP Philip Humber.
-Gomez is a sophmore OF, only got 125 AB last season in 58 games, hitting .232-2HR-12RBI. Not exactly great ROTO numbers. Playing a full 162 game season, he would only have been on pace for 6 long balls and about 40 RBI. Still, not great numbers. BUT, he stole 12 bases in those 58 games, putting him on pace for over 35 on a full season. The Twins are a young, fast team who will likely use Gomez as a rotate LF (even though he is a RF by nature - but the Twins have Cuddyer there) with Delmon Young, rotating Young with Kubel at DH.
-Guerra is an 18 year old prospect who, despite struggling last year, averages about 6.5 K/9, and has a career WHIP under 1.2. Much the same for Mulvey, 22, but his BB/9 (2.5) is a bit better than Guerra's (3.4). Mulvey is the better prospect of the two, but neither are garbage.
-Humber is a former 1st round draft pick (#3 overall in 2004), but has had relatively bad numbers in his big-league career - 5 GP, 1-0, 6.00 ERA / 1.33 WHIP, 4K-3BB. But you can't argue with being a #3 overall pick. Given a fair shake, Humber can make an impact, even potentially setting up closer Joe Nathan behind Pat Neshek.

So really, the Twins got decent guys for Santana. They're rebuilding.

i hate basball broke my jaw when i got beamed in the face

OUCH! That would hurt so bad.

i think the pitch was clocked at 84 mph

Wow. I couldn't imagine that. Did you get knocked out?

I would imagined he did. I got hit with a baseball in the back of the head once and I passed out.

ya when i woke up in the hospital it hurt so bad the out me in a mediclly induced comma for 3 days....

WOW. Now that is an experience I bet.

now you can say that you have been in a coma