Musings From the Bleachers 05:22:08: A Tale of Two Trade Partners
Posted by Frank Fedele on 05.22.2008
The big prize in the offseason was Johan Santana. The Twins had decided that they had to move him before he left as a free agent and lined up suitors. Two power house teams from the AL East made offers with young pitching as the key component before pulling those offers off the table. One team has been very happy with their decision, the other much less so.
A Tale of Two Trade Partners
The last two weeks we looked at the phenomenon in baseball with teams relying on young pitchers rather than signing or trading for older vets. One pitcher last off season tested that philosophy.
Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins.
One can understand with the resume the 29 year old lefty had amassed thus far.
93 wins
An ERA under 3.25
3 time All-Star
Two time Cy Young winner (2004 and 2006)
He was also available at an age when few pitchers are, in his prime. The teams lined up to put in bids for the power pitcher. The Yankees and the Red Sox were at the front of the line.
The New York Yankees
The Yankees had a dynasty of sorts in the early years of Joe Torre's tenure with the team. The team was built on young home grown position players up the middle. Players like Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter.
The strength of those teams was always their strong starting pitching. David Wells (before he became a big tub of goo), David Cone and Andy Pettitte (another young home grown talent) anchored the staff, with Mariano Rivera, Jeff Nelson and Mike Stanton in the bullpen. The starters went deep into the game and their set up guys were consistent getting the ball to Rivera for the end game.
The teams pitching however, grew old, or in David Wells case just grew. Cone was injured and retired. Pettitte went to Houston and the farm didn't produce any help. Veterans were brought in to stabilize the staff to no avail. The team had gotten away from what made them good and had vowed to get back there.
Young pitchers were drafted and brought through the system. Names like Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alan Horne and Joba Chamberlain began putting up great numbers in the minors. The team was ready to develop through the minors again.
Johan Santana's availability began to cause the Yankee brain trust to waver. The price was high for Santana and much of the requested return to the Twins were some of those prized arms, like Hughes and Kennedy. The Yankees also had another thing to worry about however: Santana could end up pitching for their main rival in Boston.
The Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were fresh off a World Series sweep. They had put their team together borrowing concepts from those old Yankee teams. Building through the farm system, youngsters like Pedroia, Ellsbury, Youkilis and pitchers like Papelbon, Lester and Buchholz began playing big roles in their success.
That farm system also had many major league ready players and young players that teams coveted when talking trade. Teams like the Twins. The Red Sox began to look at the possibility of moving some of this surplus to give them a young front end of the rotation of Beckett, Santana and Matsuzaka that would dominate the division for years to come. The Twins wanted some of those major league ready arms like Lester and Justin Masterson. The Red Sox didn't need Santana, but it was something they needed to think about.
The Result
Both the Red Sox and the Yankees passed on Santana, not wanting to give up their star arms for the lefty. The Mets then put together a package and paid him a huge sum of money to pitch in Shea for many years. How does each team feel about holding on to those young arms thus far this year????
Jon Lester just pitched a no hitter over the Royals.
Phil Hughes is on the DL and Ian Kennedy got shelled. You be the judge.
Oh, and the Yankees are in last place in the division right now. Yup, I am sure they have no regrets.
Well, that is it for this week. Thanks last week for one reader to suggest Clayton Kershaw as a player to watch. You are right; he is a stud and soon should be pitching in Los Angeles for the Dodgers. See you next week for more musings from the bleachers.
