Sunday, December 2, 2007

All Things Considered, This Is Fun

By M. Haas

Johan Santana is a great pitcher. We have watched him turn from a young unheralded long inning reliever into a dominating starter. I don't think you realize how good he is. He should have three Cy Young awards. I won't go into why he has been so good, Jason Stark just did that the other day, but just trust me - he's better than you think. And the best part is, he has pitched his whole career in Minnesota. He's the best pitcher on the planet, and he's ours. So one would think that I would be sad during all this trade talk. Well I am, but this whole situation is actually pretty fun.


It's fun because we have the Yankees and the Red Sox fighting against each other. We are demanding their best young players, and actually getting them. Yankee fans do not want to part with Phil Hughes. Red Sox fans do not want to part with Jacoby Ellsbury. Dude, it's awesome. The Yankees and Red Sox would much rather wait for Santana to hit the open market, but feel compelled to beat each other by offering the Twins their best prospects. There are headlines like, "Baseball Waits For The Twins," and "The Twins will not compromise." And people are writing things like, "The Yanks are apparently holding out on (sending a good low minors prospect), trying to retain some dignity." It's just hilarious; Yankee fans are all up in arms about this.

The other thing is, these players the Twins could get are good. Phil Hughes is a good pitcher. Jake Ellsbury is good at playing baseball. The Twins are going to get one of these two players. I am excited to see what they can do. And you have to admit, there is a chance that the 2008 team could be better than the 2007 team.

Who knew getting rid of the best pitcher on the planet could be this fun?
.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed. This is great. Granted this is runing the game of baseball, oh well barry did an alright job of putting a good tarnish on it already. (if guilty) but this is fun, the twins better get rid of johan now, they got me all excited about some new faces and new talent, and should make for a sweet 2008 season.

Daymonster said...

i want jacoby.

Anonymous said...

Who else read Jim Caple's article the other day when he said if Liriano can make a healthy come back they should keep Johan and they would win the world series? As much as I would love to see that happen I just can't convince myself that its a good enough possibility to miss out on what we will get in return for Johan.

bizmarkie507 said...

I'd love to have either, but I'd rather have Hughes. Liriano and Hughes would be a nice tandem for the next 5+ years. We desperately need help in the rotation if Santana is traded.

Daymonster said...

I think we need elsbury, and then get a starter, maybe not a 1 or 2 but a decent started from trading nathan. but that's just my opinion.

Daymonster said...

but i guess Neshek won't close.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_7595271?source=rss&nclick_check=1

TwinsWin83 said...

Johan said that he would not wave his no-trade clause during next season so that means the Twins have to trade him this offseason or lose him next year for nothing.

Hopefully they pull this thing off soon so that we can all debate and speculate over what our lineup is going to look come opening day 08. It is sad to see such a big part of the Twins organization go but its fun to think about the potential of an outfield consisting of Young, Ellsbury and Cuddy.

Anonymous said...

I guess we'll be reduced to cheering for Venzuela in the next Word Baseball Classic (whenever that is).

Anonymous said...

The next Minnesota Twin???

Free Agent

Shortstop
2006 world series MVP
Lead off hitter
Batted .309 in 2007

Selected to the Jewish All-American team despite the fact he is Catholic and not Jewish

He was also a member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. David was voted "Most Helpful", " Grittiest", and "Sweetest" in the Class of 1993.

His name means "cornerstone" in German.

His "entrance music" is Ludacris's "Number One Spot"

Ladies and Gentleman....we got 'em....

Leading off for the Twins...

David Eckstein!!!!

Now we go, now we go....

Anonymous said...

hahaha well said tilla! silly guy you.

Daymonster said...

when did wikipedia start commenting on blogs?

haasertime said...

ha. We'll have to get Tila to write a whole entry about Eckstein. I have a feeling he could talk about him all day long. Even if the info is all yanked from wikipedia.

jim caple is awesome, but i'm buying the company line and saying that i'd rather have hughes and cabrera for years to come, rather than just sanatana for one year.

nathan has been linked to the astros in some rumors lately. not sure who we would get. i saw a funny quote the other day in some article "without santana and hunter, having nathan on the twins is like having a mercedes hood ornament on a saturn"

yes, they need to pull it off soon. no fun or good news today. just stupid 'tampering charges' and deadlines and no new awesome offers. cmon B.S!

Daymonster said...

that's such bs... I think I am the only one that doesn't think we are going to be worse off next year because of missing hunter.

I am actually excited about the twins next year.

Anonymous said...

I'm excited too. I love having moves to talk about in the off season. As Twins fans all we usually have to talk about is how many sets of stairs Wally the Beerman walks every winter.

haasertime said...

Dude I saw Wally the Beerman at the Wild game on Friday. I saw him climb at least 5 with my own eyes.

we should get an interview with him.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm sure Wally would have some wild stories to tell.

soup said...

Liriano and Hughes...

Koufax and Drysdale who?

Anonymous said...

I agree with daymonster I think the Twins will not miss hunter and will be even better if they land cabrera and hughes. i am of the personal feeling that cabrera is a better fit for the Twins. Cabrera is a year younger and has some pop while ellsbury has zero power. The Red Sox can get away with having a guy with no power and hits for good avg but I dont feel we can. If you look at their minor league numbers Cabreras are very similar except with more power and a little less speed and avg.
I got to believe the Astros have mentioned Ty Wiggington in their package for Nathan. That would help at 3B and be a trade that made very good economic sense.

haasertime said...

alright, this thing was fun 24 hours ago, but now it's not fun at all.


Matthew Cerrone says the Twins have moved on from the Yankees and Red Sox, and are calling other teams to discuss Santana. Tyler Kepner says the Yanks have interpreted the Twins' nonresponse to their offer as a rejection. Peter Abraham, though, says the Yanks and Twins are meeting tonight.


it could still get done, this is fucked up. i hope billy smith doesn't screw it up. things were looking up.