Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on May 12, 2009 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
A.J. Burnett returns to Toronto tonight and he’ll be facing his old mentor and friend, Roy Halladay.
Sam Borden was over at Citi Field last night and wrote a column about Johan Santana and the lack of support he has received from the Mets.
I was not in favor of the Yankees trading for Santana, which now seems kind of foolish given that Ian Kennedy struggled last season and will undergo surgery that is likely to end his season today. You also have to wonder if Santana wishes he had gone to the Bronx instead of Queens. He is 4-2 and did not give up an earned run in either loss. That has to be maddening.
The Yankees wish they turn back on time and trade for Santana, this guy is just too damn good.
What would we have had to give up again? Kennedy, Hughes and Melky or just Kennedy/Melky.?
Doesn’t really matter, I wanted to give up whatever for Santana as long as Joba wasn’t in the mix. Given the debacle of Hughes. Kennedy and Melky it’s just another Cashman blunder. Whenever you base decisions on what might be as opposed to what is based on performance you mostly endup on the short end of the stick.
What a shoulda, woulda, coulda…huh?
I think the trade offer was for just Kennedy and Melky. However, the Yanks would also have “lost” someone else — namely, CC Sabathia, whom they almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to sign with Santana on the payroll. So, as far as this year and the future are concerned, it’s hard to say which road is the better choice to have followed.
Kennedy and Cabrera wasn’t getting that trade done or the Yankees would have done it. They would have had to include Hughes, and they were banking on him as the next phenom that would be a cheap cog in the rotation for years to come.
But what fan doesn’t wish that that trade had happened? You have to really wonder why the YAnkees have so much faith in Cashman. Look at Boston where they have made sensible investments (for the most part – though they have their share of failed signings) and have been great at developing talent. The Yankees minor league talent doesn’t seem to be translating into full time major league talent. Their last success story is really Cano and that was a few years ago, while players like Tabata were more the norm since then.
He may have 2 losses, but the Mets have a better chance of reaching the postseason (and were closer last year too).
Enough with Santana. If we get Santana probably no Sabathia. I didn’t want to make the trade for him then and I still would not do it now.
Perhaps I’m misremembering, but I thought the final demands for Santana were Kennedy, Melky and Wang? Either way, Cashman’s apparent policy of not paying for players twice, once in players and than in large, long term contracts, is certainly a good one and will pay dividends in time. As well, had we gotton Santana we may not have gone for Sabathia, who is a comparable pitcher without the prospect cost.
The players involved kept on changing. At one point Wang was involved, then Hughes.
“Their last success story is really Cano and that was a few years ago, while players like Tabata were more the norm since then.”
I would say that Cano still can be touted as a farm system success. For all the hate of Hughes, I still think this kid is going to be big time.
Oh and did you forget about this kid named Chamberlain? I heard that he is just OK…
“He may have 2 losses, but the Mets have a better chance of reaching the postseason (and were closer last year too)”
I put that on the weaker level of teams they face in their division and league as a whole. Just saying.
What was CC Sabathia’s record/ERA in the National League? Petitte? Clemens? Face it, pitchers has 3-4 get out of jail free cards every game in the NL that they just don’t get in the AL. That allows them to pitch around a lot of players when they are in trouble.
No, not all fans wish that we traded for Santana. I didn’t then, and still wouldn’t now, if it came up again. They wanted Hughes, Kennedy, and Melky, IIRC. The names were always changing, which is part of the game of a trade.
As far as whether the trade looks foolish now, hindsight is 20/20. Who could have predicted that IPK would have gotten this injury. Hopefully he comes back strong.
And if you want to keep looking @ other teams so much, just go be a fan of them. Makes it so much easier to see the grass from their side of the fence.
i rather have had santana than sabathia…
Meh, who’s to say Santana would be doing that well in the AL East. It’s really hard to compare pitchers between the AL and NL. To be frank the AL strike zone pretty much forces pitchers to put the ball on a platter at times.
He would be 0-4 on the Yankees with our bullpen LOL
Santana would have came in when the Yankees payroll was above what it is now, by a lot. Keeping Hughes and Kennedy who dominate the minors both for under 1 mill a year, makes total sense then. And total sense now. Hughes is what 21-22, and is fully capable of being a #1 starter of the future.
Fans will say trade the farm for Santana, and once the Yankees do not a have a back up at a position, they will blame Cash for trading the farm. Just trust Cash to do a great job, he is way more informed than any of us on his decisions.
no regrets on passing on Santana
You guys are idiots!!!!!Santana didn’t do anything for the Mets last season, and most likely wouldn’t have done anything for the Yanks either, all you have to do is look at both teams won-loss records from last season. Yeah right!!!! Santana really would have helped the Yanks with all the problems they had last season. It’s still questionable he can lead the Mets to the postseason this year with the Mets staff pitching like crap. Hell, with the Yanks crappy pen I doubt he would even have 4 wins. Also this team’s farm system doesn’t have that many prospects who can be considered close to major-league ready. This tem would be up ****creek if it didn’t have the prospects it needed down the road to be a successful organization. This system is already going backwards to the 80′s and 90′s when the farm system was considered crappy.
Holliday and Santana are the 2 best pitchers in baseball. Yanks should have traded for Santana. Mets got him for basically nothing.
Don’t compare CC to Santana. Look at their AL stats. Enough said.