The Waiting Game

I remember when Alex Rodriguez was going through all of his contract situations and how sick I was of hearing about it. There seemed to be something new about it everyday. After all of the Johan Santana rumors, I look back and realize how simple A-Rod’s situation was after all. The Santana rumors seem to change once every couple of hours, making it very hard to keep up on. I’ll run down the latest situation even though everything I wrote now could be completely different in a couple of hours. As of now the Yankees brass has decided to include Phil Hughes in the package for Santana. The package will likely now be Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and a third player. At one point, it was rumored that the third player would be Ian Kennedy, but it was proven to be nothing more then a rumor. Good thing that it was just a rumor or else the Yankees would have been fleeced by the Twins. It is hard enough to give up one of the big 3 pitchers (Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy) but to give two of them up would just not be worth it, not even for Santana. The Yankees have now listed five players as off limits for as the third player in the deal, those five being Kennedy, Austin Jackson, Jose Tabata, Alan Horne, or Dellin Betances. The Twins are likely not thrilled with what’s left for them to choose for them, but Humberto Sanchez, Jeffrey Marquez, Juan Miranda, Jesus Montero, or Brett Gardner appear to be their best choices. They reportedly have some interest in Alberto Gonzalez (for some reason) to replace Jason Bartlett, but another choice they could choose would be Ross Ohlendorf, who showed impressive stuff during his very short stint with the Yankees at the end of the 2007 season. This is the Yankees way of keeping the price down on Santana since they are already giving up a lot in Hughes and Melky. Reportedly, the Yankees have also given the Twins a deadline to accept their offer, although it was not said of when this deadline was. This is another attempt to gain some of the leverage back from the Twins but it remains to be seen of how concrete this deadline is.
Going on elsewhere, the Red Sox are weighing their own options on the Johan Santana front. The Red Sox are said to have come up with “new” offers for Santana, although those new offers are not known either. The Twins are still holding out for the Red Sox to offer a package that includes Clay Buchholz or Jacoby Ellsbury. The Twins much prefer Ellsbury to patrol center field for them over Melky Cabrera (who wouldn’t?), but it seems as though if the Red Sox and Yankees offer similar packages the Twins may take the Red Sox due to their infatuation with Ellsbury and Buchholz. The Mariners and Dodgers are said to have still been having conversations with the Twins about Santana, and the Mets still seem to be lurking in the shadows but are not serious contenders especially after trading away Lastings Milledge, so as usual things should come down to the Yankees and Red Sox. However, if the Twins become difficult to deal with, both teams have shown a willingness to walk away from the deal and pursue other options, namely Dan Haren in Oakland or Erik Bedard in Baltimore. Neither are the type of pitcher Santana is, but they are more affordable and under contract for longer. Regardless of what happens, this promises to drag out for a long time, unless a large amount of progress can be made during the winter meetings. Stay tuned folks, because this one promises to get a lot crazier before it gets any simpler.