Question for Twins Territory

by Tony_O on Jul 17, 2008 10:03 PM EDT

So i am sitting here watching Twins Classics on FSN north tonight , and the august 19th 2007 Game where Johan Santana Threw 17 K's vs Texas in a 1-0 win is on, and this question Popped to my mind.

Would you have Rather Kept Johan Santana, Started Denard Span in CF, not Signed Livan, and just had your rotation of Johan, Liriano, Blackburn, Baker and Slowey, No Gomez, No Mulvey,Humber or Guerra?

Speak your Peace!

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NO

Not me.

by Old Twins Cap on Jul 17, 2008 10:23 PM EDT 0 recs

If I had a terminal illness and would die sometime in the next 9 months, I would say yes, I wish we would have done that. But I don’t. So I’m glad we didn’t.

by lookatthosetwins on Jul 17, 2008 10:54 PM EDT 0 recs

Of course I would

It remains unclear, several months later, whether any of the players the Twins got in return are going to be average major leaguers.

by Eric in Madison on Jul 17, 2008 11:03 PM EDT 0 recs

I don't think so

I wouldn’t want to be dealing with all the media talking about who the Twins were going to trade Santana to by the trade deadline.

We will never know if Span would be as good as he is now if he would have started the season with the Twins, so would the Twins have played as well with him in CF from game 1?

I think the Twins would not have had as good a 1st half with Santana (just a feeling, no stats to back it up) I think all the media speculation would have been too big a distraction.

All that being said it would have been fun seeing Santana and Liriano being the 1 and 2 but as we saw at the start of the season Liriano wasn’t ready anyways so even if the Twins would have kept Santana, it wouldn’t have been the S&L show.

by caluofmn on Jul 17, 2008 11:14 PM EDT 0 recs

Santana tonight

Santana pitched four innings and gave up 6 runs to Cincinnati of all teams. I for one think we probably unloaded him at the right time. I know if you look overall he hasn’t done much different than before but the drop in velocity and only doing the same against the NL where he faces the pitcher 2 or 3 times a game tells me he’s at least slightly dropping off.

So no I don’t think I would. Gomez is exciting and I think once he grows up a bit he’ll be great. Span has been great for about a year if you count his last couple months of AAA ball last year. He may have turned a corner but only 70 at bats doesn’t have me convinced that he’s the CF of the future.

With that said, I tend to think of some of the other alleged deals that were out there. If there ever was a deal with Lester and Masterson, well I’d sure like to have those guys on our team right now.

Another interesting one would be if we could have somehow coaxed Reyes out of the Mets good this team could be especially if a Beltre deal goes through. I’m sure it was very unlikely to ever happen dang that would be ridiculous.

Peyton's good but have you ever heard of Jeff George?

by halfchest on Jul 18, 2008 12:34 AM EDT 0 recs

Not a fair question

For this season, that not trading Johan gives the team the best chance of winning. few would argue with that. This trade was done not for 2008 but for 2009 and beyond. There is no way the Twins get anything close to Gomez and Guerra in the draft after this year.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2008 12:36 AM EDT 0 recs

In the long-term

picture, what we would have had to have done to keep Johan in Minnesota was just too much. The Twins made the right decision trading him, knowing that they’re building towards something big in the next couple of seasons. Johan is great, and he would have helped this team win, but the restrictions he would have placed on payroll and personnel just aren’t worth it.

by Jesse on Jul 18, 2008 7:22 AM EDT 0 recs

Would still trade

I love Johan. First truly MLB best pitcher for the Twins I’ve ever seen. But $130 million or whatever it was—that’s just nothing but toxic for an organization like the Twins. Financially it doesn’t work, and unless Johann turns Clemens and gains some “competitive advantages” as he gets older, I just don’t believe that in 4, 5, 6 years from now Johann will still be dominating and justifying a $20+ million a year salary. Give to Mauer.

by biggity2bit on Jul 18, 2008 11:48 AM EDT 0 recs

I wouldn't do It

I loved Johan and he was (not sure is anymore) the best pitcher in the league. I’m shaky on Gomez. That would be a playoff team if Santana stayed. I still don’t like the trade we got for him, just think if we’d have Lester and Ellsbury. Drool.

by CARXRiedmann on Jul 18, 2008 2:47 PM EDT 0 recs

Yes

If Lester and Ellsbury were available together, I suspect they’d be in Twins unis now. But they weren’t. Still, knowing what we know now, I’d rather have Ellsbury, Lowrie and Masterson than what we got. But who knows if those three were part of the same offer or just “discussions”?

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 18, 2008 3:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'd be so happy with those three.

by CARXRiedmann on Jul 19, 2008 1:39 AM EDT up 0 recs

God Yes!

World Series rings are all that matter.

Dear Firpo, looks like my stock is fine.

by MNPundit on Jul 19, 2008 1:36 AM EDT 0 recs

Even with

Santana the Twins would have been a pretty big underdog going into the season.

Besides, if WS rings are all that matter, every team would be built without regard for the future. Which, fortunately, makes no sense.

by Jesse on Jul 19, 2008 10:29 AM EDT up 0 recs

I don't see how Johan would have made that big a difference

I don’t think the Twins with Johan would = WS rings. At least not a lock for WS rings.

by caluofmn on Jul 19, 2008 2:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

WS rings don't matter

Playing exciting baseball games matter. When the Braves made the WS like 3 or 4 years in a row before they finally one it, they were still a lot of fun to watch. Their fans had a lot to cheer for. I’d rather have a team competing for playoffs/WS every year. That is the fun part. Remembering one big win isn’t enough for me.

by snolls on Jul 22, 2008 9:59 AM EDT up 0 recs

Great Question asked to a very biased group

Every Twins fan is high on the potential of Gomez & Guerra & hopefully the Twins will get some decent innings from Humber & Mulvey too- but this question won’t be fully and fairly answered for years. Other interesting variations of this question include did Smith get more from the Mets than he could of from the BoSox or Yankme’s. To which most faithful Twins lovers would issue a quick and resounding yes. One thing that really bothered me about Jo -and I gotta say I loved watching him pitch, his fight, hard work and enthusiasm. Was the I have to be traded before the season starts demand. I read all the classy stuff he said to La Velle about how much he loved Minnesota and how he wished the Twins the very best and he hoped the players they got for him turned out to be terrific. And I believed what he said. But I thought all along the Twinks could have gotten alot more out of him in July than during the winter.

by Swanee on Jul 20, 2008 12:53 AM EDT 0 recs