Hello everyone!  It is that time once again, baseball!  

The biggest news right now centers around the Twins / Mets deal for Johan Santana.  It is important to keep in mind that the deal is not complete.  It all depends upon the Mets and Santana can agree on a multi-year deal.

It sounds like they are close to a six-year $150 million deal with a $7 million signing bonus.  Close is a relative thing when you talk about a salary of this magnitude.

Personally, I've always been impressed by the Twins.  They know what they are doing and they have a plan.  It is not as fancy as Billy Beane and the A's, but they play smart small market ball.  Let's look at what they are getting.

Carlos Gomez
The 22 year-old Gomez is a classic Twins player.  He is .286 in Triple-A, has excellent stolen base speed, and is very good defensively.  Gomez is likely to take over in center field moving Delmon Young to left field.  

Phil Humber
Humber was the #3 overall pick in 2004, but his value has dropped significantly.  He had TJ surgery in 2005 and should have been at full strength this past year, but is still not.  His fastball was once in the mid-90's, but has now dropped to the low-90's on a good day.  He has a plus curve and change.  Although he had a 4.27 ERA, is did SO 120 in 139 innings while only walking 44.

Deolis Guerra
Guerra is similar to Santana with a mid-90's fastball and excellent changeup that looks just like his fastball until the ball is released.  He's added a couple of MPH in the past year and is only 19, so there will be more as he fills out.  His curve needs work.  He could potentially make the Twins forget all about Santana.

Kevin Mulvey
Mulvey is also an interesting prospect.  Only 22, he went 11-10 with a 3.32 ERA in Double-A striking out 110 in 151 innings.  He is a low 90's fastball, a good slider and curveball and is working on a changeup.  Put it all together and you have a solid middle of the rotation starter.

So the Twins give up the best starter in baseball, but they weren't going to be able to keep him anyways.  They get a starting center-fielder and three pitchers all of whom could be in their rotation.

The problem with this deal is that the Twins are trading for more of their strength.  They already have Liriano, Bonser, Baker, Slowey and Blackburn who can pitch now and they are all young, so they will be pitching for a couple of years.  They really could use some power in their lineup.  When you add Adam Everett to a lineup, you need someone to make up for that and Jason Kubel and Garrett Jones  is probably not the answer.  

Adam Jones for Erik Bedard
This deal seems to have hit a snag.  The Orioles have decided to trade their best starter because, well, they do that.  I know from my limited knowledge of twenty-five years of playing Strat-O-Matic that the best way of winning is to trade your best starting pitcher when you have no one to replace him with.  It's usually the first thing I do every September, trade my best guy.  I play better when I have a huge gaping, breathing chest wound.

How it started is that Adam Jones, the centerpiece of the deal was told by by the Mariner front office to report to Baltimore for a physical.  Jones was in Venezuela playing winter-ball, so getting to Baltimore was a pretty big deal.  Jones told the local newspaper that he was part of the deal.

Andy MacPhail issued a statement that the deal was not eminent.  Now it seems that the Orioles are considering offering Bedard a contract extension instead.

Crede to the Giants
The White Sox have two starting third baseman in Joe Crede and Josh Fields.  Fields hits better but is a poor fielder.  Crede is a potential Gold Glove, but his bat is questionable and he has a bad back.  Crede had surgery and should be at full strength.  The White Sox and Crede agreed to a $5.15 deal making him cheap to move.  The Giants and White Sox seem to have agreed to a deal but will wait to see how Crede looks in Spring Training before formalizing it.

Exactly what the Giants will do with someone under the age of 30, I don't know.

That is all for now.  Just twelve days until Pitcher and Catchers report!

JP Kastner is the winner of the 2007 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online Expert League World Series.  In five seasons of SOMBOE, JP Kastner has five winning seasons, four playoff appearances, three World Series appearances and now one World Championship.  He is in his second season in the Tout Wars mixed league.