Omar Minaya: Baseball Thief

Did you hear about Bill Smith getting robbed?

Yes folks! The GM of the Minnesota Twins traded away staff ace Johan Santana. But not for major-league-ready young pitching, as he previously claimed. Not for a package involving Jacoby Ellsbury or Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox or Philip Hughes or Melky Cabrera from the Yankees. No sir. Johan Santana was traded to the New York Mets for four prospects, only two of which are ready for the majors! Let's examine this further:

• OF Carlos Gomez (22) - Played 58 games with the Amazins' last year. Despite speed that gives him above-average defensive skills, he only compiled a .339 OBP during his four seasons in the minors. Billy Beane is laughing right now. And why do the Twins need another outfielder again?
  
  
• RHP Phil Humber (25) - Was a Mets first-round pick in 2004, but didn't get off to a great start in A ball. He had to have Tommy John surgery in 2005, and since then has thrown three games in the majors with a 7.71 ERA in 7 innings. Yikes. There's a chance he could turn it around; there's also a chance he doesn't.
  
  
• RHP Deolis Guerra (18!) - A Mets prized prospect known for a mid-90's fastball and a killer changeup. He'll probably start at AA for the first time in his life.
  
  
• RHP Kevin Mulvey (22) - A second-round pick in 2006. Had a 3.32 ERA in AA ball last year, and will most likely begin in AAA in 2008. He has a variety of pitches with none being truly dominant.

Minaya did what the Yanks refused to do--pillage the farm system. Although Mets fans may feel uneasy about this at first, consider that pitching prospects are complete tossups and can always go either way. Having a proven ace on your team for 7 years (assume, at most, he'll fall to a #3 by then) is a hell of a lot more comforting than depending on a number of rookies in the future. With all due respect to the Mets' farm system, this was a steal.

And what happened, Bill Smith? To the Yankees (and Red Sox eventually), the demand was to get at least one major-league proven arm in exchange for Santana. That's not Humber. The fact is that the new GM played his cards all wrong. He thought he could raise the bar to a ridiculous level and outsmart Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein, but they're no idiots. Naturally, they pretty much told Smith off, but by then it was too late. He had already made the statements about trading Santana, and he had too much pride to change his mind. So he made the only play available--to make the deal with the Mets for much less than he would have desired. Joke's on you, Bill. Let's see how long you last in MN.

Well, this means two things. One, Johan Santana will dominate in the weaker league. And two, the Twins have no chance of getting past the Tigers and taking the Central. Way to usher in a new stadium.

(On the bright side, at least this means Phil Hughes is safe. But on the other hand, my favorite pitcher is on one of my least favorite teams...)