USA Today believes the Mets have landed Johan Santana from the Twins for Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Philip Humber.

A contract extension would still have to be worked out, so even if it is officially agreed to, this will likely linger through Friday at least. It's a pretty disappointing day for Twins fans. Both packages being discussed by the Red Sox and Yankees during the winter meetings seemed more attractive to us. Gomez and Guerra are big-time talents, but Gomez lacks plate discipline and might not fit in the top half of the lineup and an awful lot could go wrong before Guerra even sniffs the majors. Mulvey and Humber are third starters at best and probably more like fourths. It's a whole lot better than losing Santana for draft picks next winter, but we'd have taken a Phil Hughes or Jacoby Ellsbury package over this.

SI.com and FOXSports.com are confirming that the Mets and Twins have agreed to a Johan Santana trade and that the 72-hour window for a contract extension is in place.

According to Jon Heyman, people familiar with the Mets thinking say they'd like to keep it to a five-year contract while Santana is believed to be seeking a deal for six or seven years. Still, we doubt it'd go this far and then fall apart over money. Each team in the running for Santana had a pretty good idea of what it would take to sign him. Heyman also adds that the teams discussed possibly substituting reliever Jorge Sosa for Philip Humber in recent days, so Twins fans at least have a little something for which to be thankful.


-Rotoworld.com

Mets agree to Santana deal, pending extension agreement

Omar Minaya kept telling rival executives this winter that he was going to land a star pitcher, a guy who could lead his rotation, and a month ago, none of his peers imagined how that could happen. But on Tuesday afternoon, the New York Mets agreed to a tentative deal with the Minnesota Twins for arguably the best pitcher on the planet, Johan Santana, for a package of four prospects.


Santana has a full no-trade clause and can veto the deal unless he gets a contract extension, and it's expected that the Mets and Santana will begin negotiating as soon as possible. New York and Santana have until 5 p.m. EST Friday to reach an agreement, a baseball official told The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity. Deadlines have been extended in the past, however.

If Santana agrees to a deal -- and it is thought he will seek a six-year, $150 million contract -- then he also would have to pass a physical.


In return for Santana, the Twins would receive center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra -- a package which some talent evaluators believe could be the fourth-best offer that Minnesota received during this process.

USA Today was first to report this deal, and Peter Gammons confirmed it for ESPN.

"If it's true, obviously, you're getting arguably the best pitcher in the game," Mets third baseman David Wright said, according to AP.

"We are hoping to bring some finality to this soon but I have nothing to report yet," Twins general manager Bill Smith told the Twins' Web site.

Contacted by 1050 ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand, Mets vice president of media relations Jay Horwitz refused to comment on the deal.


In early December, the Yankees had offered a package built around pitcher Phil Hughes and center fielder Melky Cabrera, and the Red Sox talked about two separate deals, one built around left-hander Jon Lester and the other around center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, with pitcher Justin Masterson and infielder Jed Lowrie prominently involved.


But the Yankees yanked their Hughes proposal off the table in early December, and Boston's interest waned, as well. Over time, the Red Sox pared back their proposals. Baseball operations personnel for both the Yankees and Red Sox were extremely wary of the double-barreled cost of acquiring Santana, despite his incredible record -- first, shipping out a boatload of prospects to get Santana, and then giving him a record-setting contract.


Minaya and the Mets, perceived by the Twins initially to have much less to offer and less to lose, remained aggressive, fending off the Twins' interest in shortstop Jose Reyes and top prospect Fernando Martinez along the way.

Santana -- who was an outfielder as an amateur and is a spectacular athlete -- will fit into the Mets' needs perfectly, stepping to the head of a rotation that also includes Pedro Martinez, John Maine and Oliver Perez.

"For our younger pitchers to develop under a guy like Pedro, a guy like Johan, you can't ask for any better situation," Wright said, according to AP. "He's going to go out there and he's going to give you seven or eight innings every five days and he's going to get you a win. That's just what it comes down to. I've gotten a chance to get to know him a little bit the past couple years. He seems like a great clubhouse guy. He's going to fit in perfectly with the chemistry that we have."


Mets' officials were confident mid-Tuesday that they had the best offer on the table, as the Twins looked to honor a Santana request to resolve his situation.

Santana completely controls his fate because of the full no-trade clause that he possesses, and he asked the Twins to make a decision, which is why Minnesota imposed the Tuesday deadline for offers from interested teams. It is not known if the left-hander explicitly informed the Twins that he would invoke his no-trade clause for the rest of the year and then file for free agency after the 2008 season, but that has always been his right. It appears that the Twins took his request seriously.



The Twins had the option of keeping Santana into spring training, in the hope that a more aggressive market for the left-hander developed.

For instance: If Andy Pettitte's involvement in the Roger Clemens case seemed to be distracting the left-hander, Hank Steinbrenner -- who had been the most prominent member of the organization in favor of making a Santana trade -- might have spurred the team to give the Twins the package they have requested, including pitchers Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

Or if the Red Sox suffered multiple pitching injuries, they might have pushed for a Santana deal. But if the Twins believed Santana would not waive his no-trade clause after his requested date for resolution had passed, this may have added pressure on them to finish the deal.

If the Twins had kept Santana through the year, until he became a free agent, they would have received two draft picks in compensation if he signed with another team. The Twins, who just signed Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer to extensions totaling $104 million, might have preferred to turn the page and make a deal now.

Humber, a 25-year-old right-hander, has made one start and four relief appearances for the Mets during the past two years, and went 11-9 with a 4.27 ERA last season for Triple-A New Orleans. The 22-year-old Gomez batted .232 in 125 at-bats with New York last year and .275 with 19 steals in the minors.


Guerra, who turns 19 in April, was 2-6 with a 4.01 ERA at Class A St. Lucie, and Mulvey, who will be 23 in May, was 12-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 26 starts at Double-A Binghamton and one at New Orleans.


Santana is under contract for 2008, for $13.25 million, and could get a new deal that surpasses Barry Zito's record of seven years and $126 million. And if the Mets work that out, Minaya will have his man.


ESPN's Peter Gammons and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-ESPN.com

Santana would be absolutely untouchable in the NL. He is where he belongs.

Kind of gay that the Sox didn't trade for him, but at the same time the Red Sox youth in the rotation is pretty phenomenal.

woulda been nice if the yanks landed him but the price for him was pretty high. hughes joba and kennedy have potential.

this helps the mets. they should come out of the nl unless they choke again

Kind of gay that the Sox didn't trade for him, but at the same time the Red Sox youth in the rotation is pretty phenomenal.

I actually think this is the best case scenario to be honest. The price for him in young players was enormous. Now he's off to the national league where he's gonna be locked up long term and not a worry to them.

We lose all of our key players for every sport. Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett and now Santana.

We lose all of our key players for every sport. Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett and now Santana.

:owned:

We lose all of our key players for every sport. Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett and now Santana.

Sox got Ortiz from you idiots too.

Santana is getting 7 years/$150 million

It is 7 years if you take into consideration that they beefed up his pay for next year from 13 plus million to 20 plus million.

Johan Santana reportedly will make $150.75 million over the next seven years under the terms of his deal with the Mets.

Santana was already owed $13.25 million for 2008, so this is a six-year, $137.5 million extension. He's expected to get $7 million in the form of a signing bonus.

Source: SI.com

Fucking insane.

Fucking insane.

You have Barry Zito to blame. The VaGiants gave him $18 million a year and he proceeded to suck.

You have Barry Zito to blame. The VaGiants gave him $18 million a year and he proceeded to suck.

I almost never watch sports but I'm not oblivious to what athletes are paid. It's just nice to forget about it, and I do for the most part but when I'm reminded it justs pisses me off again. Most athletes would've played just as hard for 100K. I mean seriously, 100K is some good money plus you are getting payed to play a sport. iduuno..........

^^Obviously I'm talking about the fact that this has gotten way out of hand many years ago. Unfortunately there's no turning back.

Yeah man... Basketball salaries get me the most tho. I mean... terrible players get signed to large contracts entirely based on their height.

I just saw today when they were talking about the Lakers-Grizzlies trade, Kwame Brown is making a little over 9 million dollars just this season. Kwame Brown has averaged 7.6 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game over his 7 seasons in the league. Astounding.

I almost never watch sports but I'm not oblivious to what athletes are paid. It's just nice to forget about it, and I do for the most part but when I'm reminded it justs pisses me off again. Most athletes would've played just as hard for 100K. I mean seriously, 100K is some good money plus you are getting payed to play a sport. iduuno..........

I would love to play baseball for $100,000. Hell, I could probably play better than Willy Taveras or JD "Nancy" Drew.

WAR MERR

Can we at least limit that to posts about Frank Mir, please?