Red Sox In Lead For Santana?

[organizedfamine]

That's what Twins writer, Charlie Walters is saying. Until now, I haven't let myself get excited about the possibility of Santana. Walters had the inside scoop on the Delmon Young/Matt Garza deal previously.

According to Walters, the Red Sox would give up Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, and Justin Masterson. Now I have to apologize to another

Comments

[durandal_1707]

Even if the Twins acquire Delmon Young from the Rays (no longer D-Rays), they're still going to need a centerfielder (anyone who has seen Delmon's butchery in right field should be nodding their heads right now). Also in that trade is Jason Bartlett going to Tampa Bay - it's unclear if Minnesota really has any interest in playing Brendan Harris or if they just view him as a throw-in. If they do view him as such, then they may be looking to bolster their middle infield and hence the value of Jed Lowrie in this trade scenario.

It should be noted how much money Santana will be commanding over the next few years - we're talking in the $20m/yr tier for him. He's certainly worth it in my book (his "poor" season last year had him at a 3.3 ERA with a flukishly high HR/FB rate), but the only teams that I think can really entertain such a salary are the Yankees and the Red Sox.

I do think the Yankees have the pieces for the trade (Cano and Cabrera) but moving them creates some gaping holes for them.

[0bsessions]

Now that they've got Young's bat, I do think Crisp is the better option over Cabrera. They'll need someone to pick up the slack in terms of covering for Young's less than stellar defense and Crisp does that without breaking the bank. He also might bounce back offensively in the less intense Central climate. While I like this deal in terms of the Red Sox getting Santana without giving up anything I can't live without, I don't think the Yankees have anything to top that offer without seriously hurting themselves. Sure, they've got more young pitching prospects, but the Twins aren't in any dire need of pitching. With Young's bat added, they need a defensive minded center fielder and Crisp is the absolute best bet for that on the trade market right now.

[durandal_1707]

I'm wondering if the Twins are planning to shop Nathan as well (there's been rumblings of the sort about him). If so, combine that with dealing Garza and they might be needing to replenish some of their pitching. If the Yanks are willing to part with one of Hughes or Chamberlain (though all indications point to the contrary), they might gain the upper hand in the sweepstakes.

I'm starting to think that this article was a clever ploy by the Twins to try to get the Yanks to add Hughes/Chamberlain.

[organizedfamine]

It's quite a real scenario that this is the Twins attempting to drive up the price of the Yankees.

[0bsessions]

I'll take either one. If this is a realistic trade, good on us. If it drives up the Yankees' price, well at least they're losing out on a shit ton of young talent to get him. The last thing I want to see is the Yankees getting ahold of Santana while managing to hold onto Chamberlain, Hughes AND Cano. With a deal like this on the table, the Twins would be retarded to take a Kennedy, Cabrera, mid-level prospects deal. If this is what the Sox are willing to offer, it stands to reason the Twins will demand Hughes, Kennedy, Cabrera AND a high level middle infield prospect. While the Yankees would be getting Santana, I could live with seeing that go through as it's severely damaging to the Yankees' future.

[organizedfamine]

The Yankees don't really have any good high level middle infield prospects. They're the opposite of us - long on pitching, short on position players. And since one of the Twins biggest needs is middle infield, the Yankees would likely have to give up Cano if they want to top Lowrie.

[curseintongues]

This makes the assumption we've got a glut of positional prospects.

Outside of Lowrie and Ellsbury, who else is there until Anderson's ready, if he's ever ready? Diaz had a hot HWL, but come on.

[0bsessions]

While it's not a glut; to the best of my knowledge, we're much better stocked to give up positional players than the Yankees are right now

[organizedfamine]

I think the Twins don't really care who they'd get between Crisp and Melky. Both are certainly below average offensive centerfielders (Melky was 10th out of the 13 AL CFers that qualified for an OPS ranking last year). If Crisp has a bounce back year he'd be as good as Melky offensively and he'll aways be a much better defensive CF.