Courtesy of LEN III over at the Tribune online.
If you head over to La Velle's blog, you'll find a statement issued to him from Johan Santana. He asked Neal to deliver a message for him, but print wouldn't allow a message of this length, so LEN III put it on his blog.
Hopefully we can take this better than some of the readers at La Velle's blog, who somehow construed a note of thanks into a kick in the teeth. As though, because it wasn't a full-page ad in the paper a la Corey Koskie, it wasn't authentic enough. Some of the commenters refused to take it at face value, as the positive message that it is--instead choosing to be "vicitms of greed" and acting like someone who just got dumped. (And not the regular someone-who-got-dumped...we're talking the I'm-holding-a-vendetta-dumped...which is scary.)
Santana wished to express some sentiment, and luckily for all of us La Velle was able to find a way to get it out. Johan didn't have to do anything, but he chose to let us know how he felt, and I'm glad he did.
(And for the record, it's okay to feel like you just got dumped. But isn't it better to know they at least enjoyed themselves? I submit that it is.)
This is what Johan had to say:
I want to thank all my teammates who shared all these special moments with me. I'm very proud of what we shared together and I have confidence you will continue to make the Twins fans proud.
Most importantly, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the Twins fans who have supported me throughout my eight years in the Twin Cities. You guys were great to me and my family. My stay in Minnesota was a great experience.
We love you all and good luck in the future.
Believe it, Johan Santana.
Good luck and happy trails, Johan. You'll be missed.