I have a serious question for ya... What do you think about the Santana trade?? I think they could've gotten much more. Didnt the Sox offer a package including Buckholz and Elsbury? And the yankees Hughes and Cabrera? I guess i am just interested in what you think(a Twins fan)...
No no no, the Sox never offered a deal for Buchholz, Ellsbury. The choices were Jon Lester and Crisp, Lowrie. Or Ellsbury, Lowrie, and some other minor league pitcher. As far as anything has been made public they couldn't even get Jon Lester and Ellsbury in the same deal(which was reportedly part of the reason why a deal didn't get done over the winter meetings). If Buchholz had been offered with Crisp and Lowrie I'm pretty sure the Twins would have accepted that pretty quickly. The deals offered were rather ho hum in my mind and Bill Smith waiting was just fine as I was hoping to get a better deal than that because none of them were going to be superstars.
The Hughes, Cabrera, much inferior minor league prospect has its own ups an downs. Hughes is pretty much certain to be a very good pitcher and possibly dominant. Cabrera isn't as exciting as Ellsbury if you ask me but is better than Crisp. He's a good CF option but isn't great. The biggest lack in this deal was the lack of a MI prospect and that what was offered wasn't all that high quality.
The Mets possibilities were most interesting. Pretty much none of them were/are sure things but definitely the highest upsides. If Martinez had been included this would have been my favorite deal, as it is I like the Boston one more and the Yankees one slightly less. Gomez could be very good but he could bust out with all of his strike outs, and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he does. Humber I'm thinking is the one who the Twins dig, before his TJ surgery he was ace material but after coming back this past year he was merely ok. If he never regains his old stuff and speed then a 4th or 5th starter, if he does then this deal becomes much less of a problem. Mulvey is ok and should be pitching with the Twins either this or next year to some capacity, surest thing in this deal but he won't wow anyone. Guerra is a long way aways but I've heard(I don't know much about him) people rave about his possibilities. He's 19 though so he could flame out. If things go right then this deal is the best. If they go wrong this deal will look terrible a couple years down the road.
Personally I don't fault the Twins front office for whats happened. The deals being offered in December seemed low-ball for the best lefty in the majors now come Feb Santana says trade me now or during the season I won't waive my NTC. Puts them in a tough spot, the Twins reportedly even offered a 5 year 100 million dollar extension. Bill Smith did his best but he didn't end up on top in this situation and while I don't like the trade he was between a rock and a hard place.