Sigh of Relief

Santana To Mets

In the end the Yankees did not relent. They didn't trade Phil Hughes for Johan Santana - which for this franchise is a new sort of thing. I'm pretty happy that Phil Hughes is staying. The 7year 20-25mil extension Santana is looking for is pretty scary. Understandably Hal, younger sibling to Hank, and Brian Cashman just didn't want to go there. Even if it's not my money, I have to say I'm happy they didn't go there either.
Here's Tim Marchman's take:

By trading for 28-year-old left-hander Johan Santana, generally considered the best pitcher in baseball, Minaya has outdone himself. The deal will send four prospects to Minnesota so long as the Mets and Santana agree on a contract extension, likely for six or seven years, at something near $25 million a year. The deal makes them clear favorites to win the National League pennant, and gives them a young ace to match peerless young infielders David Wright and Jose Reyes.

Trading for Santana at all would have dispelled the evil funk that has surrounded the team since it collapsed down the stretch last fall; getting him by giving up what Minaya did makes for one of the great moments in team history. Much as the Atlanta Braves did when they signed Greg Maddux, then 27, in 1992, or the Boston Red Sox did when they traded for Martinez when he was 26, the Mets have acquired something irreplaceable: a pitcher established as the very best in the game with years left in his prime. It would be unfair to expect Santana to elevate his game, as Maddux and Martinez did by winning world championships and multiple Cy Young awards with their new teams. It would also be impossibly cynical not to wonder if he just might be able to do that.

Describing Santana as a two-time Cy Young award winner seems actually to diminish his achievements. He's in his own class. Over the last four years, Santana struck out 983 batters; Jake Peavy is second, with 844, and no one else has struck out even 800. His earned run average over that time was 2.89; one other American League pitcher with at least 600 innings has below 3.60. Impossibly efficient, he's never thrown 120 pitches in a game, and yet has pitched 25 more innings than anyone else in baseball over the last four years. He was dominant in his most recent playoff starts; he even won a Gold Glove award this year. And he did all this in perhaps the toughest division in baseball.

It might be a big win for the Mets, but in many ways, it's a big win for the Yankees for not getting fleeced out of their own farm. Phil Hughes plus Melky plus 2 more was a ridiculous price tag. There is no way that trade was anywhere near fair even for just the 2008 season and not counting the subsequent extension years Santana would have got.