Continue reading »]]> The Pioneer Press:

After talking to Bill Smith, I’m more convinced than ever that Johan Santana will be traded next week, or next month, but not today or tomorrow. It just appears he believes that competition will pick up again at some point, and the offers will improve.

La Velle E Neal III:

It appears unlikely a deal will be reached this week.

So, with that, I’m signing off of the baseball radar for a few days in preparation of my trip West.  I’m sure I’ll come across tidbits and random musings, so watch the “Catching my attention” area in the sidebar.  It is my catch-all for random snippets of information, and my reactions.  If you come across something, feel free to drop the tidbit in the comments.

Continue reading »]]> In the midst of the ongoing trade discussions of Santana to the Red Sox or Yankees, I’ve been following along with the Boston Globe and the NYTimes beat writers.  It has given me an entirely different perspective on the potential trade.

First off, these comments from the Globe gave me good perspective of the games being played:

We ran into Terry Francona, dressed in sweats, who was off to see a friend … he pleaded ignorance when asked if anything was going on. Pitching coach John Farrell also passed by, but said he had yet to be brought up to speed.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman, meanwhile, had yet to arrive. GM Theo Epstein and his aides have been holed up in the Sox suite, holding meetings and making phone calls, and there remains a school of thought that the Sox’ primary interest is driving up the price for the Yankees. One Sox type told me a little while ago that there may be more rumor than substance to what has been reported to date, which is par for the course at these things, though we are persuaded by our sources that Ellsbury and Jon Lester have been offered in different packages.

Now, the NYTimes:

The Yankees have agreed to include pitcher Phil Hughes in a package while the Red Sox have agreed to include center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury their offer. The Twins, who need a center fielder, rate Ellsbury as a better prospect than Hughes.

The rumor that the Sox may just be driving up the price doesn’t surprise me.  Yet, it’s a high priced gamble should the Twins call them on a potential bluff.  My take is that the Twins are more interested in Ellsbury than Cabrera.  All this talk about needing starting pitcher strikes me as a bargaining chip more than anything on the part of the Twins.  I’m mostly comfortable with a rotation without Santana but with Liriano.  It may be a step backwards, but the offense would be taking a massive stride forward.

Back to a potential bluff on the part of the Sox.  Perhaps, Bill Smith is playing the poker game.  So far he has successfully torqued off Steinbrenner and induced the Sox to include Ellsbury in a package.  Ellsbury would be an upgrade over Hunter and is a player that plays Twins baseball (that is he hits the gaps, swings for average or better, shows some power, has above average speed and is defensively sound) as opposed to Cabrera who is a more of a free swinger that hits for power, lower average but with very good arm strength (16 assists in ’07).  At the moment, I’ve got complete confidence in Bill Smith.  We’ll see how that plays out in the next few days.

On a side note – as of 3pm EST, Cashman still hasn’t arrived in Nashville:

No news yet on the Yankees and Santana, by the way. General Manager Brian Cashman took an afternoon flight from New York and has not yet arrived in Music City.

Things really won’t get boiling hot again until he has landed, made his way to the hotel and setup shop.  Then let the fun begin!

Continue reading »]]> Yesterday, the Santana to the Red Sox hot stove started to get quite heated.  In fact, there are several sources all reporting the same trade.  Santana to the Red Sox for Coco Crisp, Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie with a fourth player that varies.  TwinsGeek.com has an excellent breakdown of the players involved.

Coco Crisp – Two years ago he was a cheap, 26-year-old center fielder with over 1500 major league at-bats with an above average bat. Now he’s a somewhat fragile 28-year-old center fielder with a below average bat and a two-year, $10.5 million contract.

…

Jon Lester – Well, we know he’s a cancer survivor. That’s important, because he’s quite a bit more valuable to the Twins than if he wasn’t. But other than being a young pitcher (he’s 23), I don’t know that much more about him, other than he’s not Clay Buchholz.

…

Jed Lowrie – The hidden player that the Twins are likely quietly lusting for. He’s 23 years old, but he’s also a Stanford alum who exploded through AA-Portland and AAA-Pawtucket last year. He moved from second to shortstop last year, though I haven’t seen any reviews of his defense.

…

Michael Bowden and Justin Masterson – We’ll put these guys together since they’re both pitchers who show promise but haven’t advanced beyond AA. They’re both right-handed, both have high strikeout rates (around 1 per IP) and were both born about the time I was losing my virginity. Hmmm. You know, that’s not as depressing a thought as I thought it would be.

There is more information on TwinsGeek.com about each player with a more statistical look at each player.

Also this morning, rumors that Clay Buchholz has replaced Jon Lester in the trade talks are starting to heat up.  It’s going to be an interesting weekend.  I wouldn’t be surprised if a deal gets done over the weekend – the chatter is getting too loud for something not to happen, and the Twins really gain nothing by waiting.