That plus a few prospects who are a few years away for Santana AND Nathan? Why not add in Liriano, Morneau, and Mauer too?

There is no reason the Twins would want to make this deal.

1. Ian Kennedy
2. Melky Cabrera
3. Alan Horne
4. Brett Gardner
5. Jeff Marquez

for Johan Santana? That’s 2 major league ready players including 4 top 15 prospects in the Yankee organization for the best pitcher in baseball, for any other team that could mean stripping the farm and ruining the future but in a system as stacked as the Yankees’ I think its a pretty fair trade.

So that’s saying that Phil Hughes is worth Ian Kennedy, Alan Horne and Brett Gardner, I think a future ace in Hughes is worth a future number 2-3 starter with possible ace production in Kennedy, a 3-4 starter or solid setup man in Horne and an average to above average outfielder in Gardner. If they ask for more than that I would even throw in a another lesser prospect. Or… even better imagine a package of the following:

1. Melky Cabrera
2. Jeff Karstens
3. Alan Horne
4. Austin Jackson
5. Dellin Betances
6. Damon Sublett
7. Jeff Marquez
8. Juan Miranda/Zach McAllister

This is a pretty huge haul, wouldn’t you say? That’s two major league ready players in Melk-man and Karstens, and 5 top 15 prospects including 3 top 5, not to mention McAllister/Miranda are ranked in most top 25′s. Is this too much? Maybe we could get away with offering less, like making it a 6-7 player deal, subtracting Marquez and/or Miranda/McAllister? Ask the Twins, but I highly doubt it. Either way I hope you catch my drift… we can give them quantity while still providing much quality. They are asking for 2 major league ready players, we give them Melky and maybe they would take Moose, Karstens or Igawa as the other? An 8 player deal huh? We would likely ask for some prospects back but wouldn’t get any value in them.

Imagine being able to keep the big 3 and adding Santana? You would be killing the farm, but it’s so stacked that the Yankees still have some sort of life. Doing this could even move Joba to the bullpen and our rotation would be:

1. Santana
2. Wang
3. Pettitte
4. Hughes
5. IPK/Moose

IPK could even be the long man/spot starter to limit innings, and then when Moose falls apart he could take over as the number 5. Sign Texiera next year to clear up the first base problems, heck if the Twins want another big bat give them Giambi for a year as a filler even pay his entire contract, with Joba able to fill the 8th we could even give the Twins Farnsworth if they want so they could trade Nathan (to us hopefully as part of the Santana deal) and get even more prospects. Or we could just give them a bunch of fillers and add Moose to the mix (if he’d waive his no-trade) We saw the Diamondbacks get Haren and a throw in 6 players, none of which seem to be major leaugue ready. So imagine another scenario:

1. Mike Mussina
2. Melky Cabrera
3. Jeff Karstens
4. Kyle Farnsworth

5. Alan Horne
6. Austin Jackson
7. Dellin Betances
8. Damon Sublett
9. Jeff Marquez
10. Zach McAllister

Is a 10 person trade even possible? Obviously we would be getting Santana plus Nathan in this deal, maybe something else too, like a lefty reliever or 4th outfielder, doubt it. We would also have to send cash to cover Moose’s contract as well as Farnsworthless’. Unless we get Nathan, I would stick to the 6-8 prospect trade listed before this one. We would be swapping 2 one year contracts in Mussina and Farnsworth for a one year contract in Nathan, not to mention we would be adding some amazing talent to their farm while also allowing them to contend somewhat in ’08. Mussina and Karstens fill out their rotation, filling the void left by the departures of Silva and Garza, I actually think Mussina and Karstens will do better in ’08 than the combination of Silva and Garza. Yet, the Twins become the ’07 Yankees and have no true ace; Santana’s void is filled by the farm system that has just become one of the best in the league, as well as the return of Liriano. Nathan’s void is filled either through the farm system or some magical reinvention of Kill Farnsworth. Imagine this for the Yankees then…

SP:
1. Santana
2. Wang
3. Pettitte
4. Hughes
5. IPK
CL: Mo
Setup: Joba, Nathan
Relivers: Hawkins, Albadejo, Ohlendorf, Britton/Igawa (Igawa is a situational lefty/long-man)?
All of a sudden our bullpen is the best in the league, as is our starting pitching. Our lineup barely takes a hit as well, our farm system may be somewhat depleted, but nothing too damning… we still have an average at worst system.

Lineup:
1. Damon (CF)
2. Jeter (SS)
3. Abreu (RF)
4. Arod (3B)
5. Cano (2B)
6. Posada (C)
7. Matsui (LF)
8. Giambi/Duncan (DH)
9. Minky/Betemit (1B)

Until we sign Teixera to a 5-7 year contract with an average salary of approximately $20-25 million we could sign Minky to a 1-year $1.5 million contract and have him and Betemit handle the bulk of 1B duties while having Giambi and Duncan switch off at DH. That’s some nice platoon action for both DH and 1B. I think that leaves us 2 more spots? We could add more bullpen help, or sign two more bench players preferably an outfielder who can handle center in case Damon gets injured.(Maybe bring back Bernie for the 4th outfielder spot unless anyone sees a better option?

Now a lot of this is just me messing around, but who knows, I think some is at least feasible. We, of course, sell out and strip our entire farm system for Santana, yet we keep the big 3 which is fine by me, since we won’t be needing any pitching prospects for at least 10 years… and can just buy Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia in ’09 in the range of 4-6 years and an average salary of approximately $15-20 million annually. The only gaping hole with the Santana trade is the void in the outfield defense left by Melky’s departure, but he was part of all the trade talks anyway, plus above average fielders with average bats are a dime a dozen, unless you’re talking $4 million for Killin’ Me Farnsworth.

THOUGHTS?

Player 1: Melky Cabrera

.273 Average
8 HR’s
73 RBI’s
.327 OBP
.391 Slugging
13 SB
.989 FPCT

Player 2: Mystery

.269 Average
8 HR’s
45 RBI’s
.304 OBP
.386 Slugging
37 SB
.990 FPCT
——————–

You want to know who the mystery player is? It’s Corey Patterson formerly of the Baltimore Orioles. So for those thinking we can’t go a season without Melky patrolling center think again, and I doubt Corey Patterson would cost anything more than 4 million at the most. He’s a great fielder too with a strong arm, and he’s a much better base runner than Melky.

As far as Melky’s low average (.273 this season), lest we forget it took four seasons (two half and two full) for Bernie Williams to develop into the five-time All Star, perrennial 25hr/100rbi MVP candidate that he became. Don’t give up on Cabrera so quickly, guys. Who else will fill that void? I love Matsui, but he’s getting old, Damon can’t throw, and Abreu stay away from the wall like it’s going to get him sick or something.

Keep Hughes & Cabrera and see how good they become. If Phil had the kind of year Joba had, this conversation wouldn’t even exist…let’s give him that chance.

I’m still in favor of getting Santana if we can do it while keeping 2 of our 3 top prospects, and most of our top 10. That’s very different from yesteryear’s selling of the farm for far less than Santana.

But when I hear that the Twins value Melkie less than the Yanks do, I’d love to see the Yanks add more prospects to the deal and keep Melkie.

Hey, if the Twins like Crisp, they can probably have him for a half decent prospect.