Johan Santana Trade

It looks like Johan Santana is getting traded to the Mets (pending physical and the Mets signing Santana to an extension). The Twins will be receiving outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra in exchange for Santana.

It seems many people think that this deal is less than what the Twins could have gotten if they had made a deal with the Red Sox or Yankees at the Winter Meetings. I agree.

The Transaction Guy has a nice first look at the trade.

My first thought was to wonder how this trade stacks up to some other recent blockbuster trades for Ace starters.

The Twins have traded a Cy Young winning pitcher to the Mets in the past. In 1989 they traded Frank Viola to the Mets in a 5 for 1 trade. Of the 5 the Twins got back in exchange only Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani were worth it. David West, Tim Drummond and Jack Savage - not so much. Aguilera made 3 All-Star teams for the Twins while Frankie V won 20 games in his first season in Flushing, was below average in his second season and was in Boston by year 3.

In 1997 the Expos traded Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez to Boston for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas. This was a huge one sided win for the Red Sox. This is the cautionary tale the Twins are afraid of duplicating with the Santana deal.

It is tough to compare the Santana deal to the deal that brought Cy Young winner Randy Johnson to the Yankees because the deal for the Big Unit ended up being so convoluted. In 2005 the Diamondbacks sent Johnson to the Yankees for 3 players and cash. Two years later - they sent 4 players to the Yankees for the Big Unit and more cash. The net for the Diamondbacks was pretty much getting Randy Johnson back plus top prospect Chris Young along with a bunch of George Steinbrenner's cash.

Finally and maybe most significantly - Dan Haren was traded just over a month ago to the Diamondbacks from the A's. Haren and Connor Robertson went from Oakland Athletics in return for Carlos Gonzalez, pitchers Brett Anderson, Greg Smith and Dana Eveland, outfielder Aaron Cunningham and first baseman Chris Carter - a 2 for 6 deal. It can be argued that the A's got a better group of prospects for Haren than the Twins got for Santana. It will be interesting to compare how Carlos Gonzalez does in comparison to Carlos Gomez.