As expected, the Minnesota Twins announced that they were willing to trade their ace Johan Santana this week. Perennial big spenders and World Series contenders - including the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, and Mets - all lined up for Santana's services. Santana, at 29 years old, is a two-time Cy Young winner and is at an age where he is entering his prime. The problem for the low-budget Twins is that after the 2008 season, he will also be entering free agency. Rumors of shopping Santana have been circulating since the trade deadline last season, but things have progressed rapidly this last week.
Santana's pending free agency makes the trade negotiations as complicated as the MLB has ever seen. The Twins cannot settle for anything less than multiple premium prospects from any potential suitor unless they want to face complete and utter backlash from their fans in the Twin Cities. Yet no team interested in him is willing to trade the farm for Santana knowing that after the deal is complete Santana will command the biggest contract any pitcher has ever received, probably somewhere in the six year, $150 million range. Making matters even more complicated is that Santana's current contract with the Twins has a full no-trade clause in it, meaning that if Santana does not reach the record contract extension he is looking for within 72 hours of the trade agreement, he can simply nix the whole thing and the Twins are back to square one.
First-year General Manager Bill Smith is in charge of finding the perfect deal for the Twins. It must have occurred to Smith that the outcome of the Santana negotiations will go a long way in shaping the level of trust that the fans, the media, the Twins' organization, and the league itself have toward him.
The most public negotiations have been with the two teams that are considered the frontrunners for Santana, the Red Sox and the Yankees. Both teams have been quick to keep their most elite prospects out of preliminary offers. For the Red Sox, young centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and pitcher Clay Buchholz, of no-hitter fame, were considered untouchable before Espn.com reported on Sunday that the Sox were willing to trade Ellsbury. The Yankees have done the same with bullpen sensation Joba Chamberlain and their young second baseman Robinson Cano. This development has left the Red Sox as the most likely organization to land Santana.
2008 Woodie Awards
