Yankees Up and Out

The Yankees are out of the Santana talks (for now).  They seem content with keeping their current staff, as is.  PA’s got the news about it, here.

Red Sox Acquire Santana?

According to this source, the Red Sox have reached an agreement with the Twins to send Johan Santana to Boston.  I don’t know how reliable the source is but the guy on the site swears by it.  I posted this below as well, with all the other news, but I figure a lot of you guys (Yankees fans and some Sox fans) would appreciate it seperate.  IF this is true, the Red Sox will start working towards an extension with Santana.

Beckett, Santana, Schilling, Dice-K, Wakefield/Buchholz…..

Say hello to a tough task in a short series.

**UPDATE — From BaseballProspectus:

Johan Santana to the Red Sox is all but done. Jon Lester, a center fielder, Justin Masterson and Ryan Kalish are the package. More details now.

–Will Carroll, 5:15 p.m. ET

Done deal (almost).

***UPDATE—

Regardless of what has been posted here, it seems as though the deal is not done yet.  Check in with us at www.thebronxzoo.wordpress.com for more.

BLOCKBUSTER DAY: DEALS & INFO

WTF.  I heard about the Tigers-Marlins and their ongoing talks just a day ago (I believe) and I had always thought that the Angels were leading the pack.  Well, that’s not the case, as the Tigers traded for the super-productive Miguel Cabrera and the reliable Dontrelle Willis.

From ESPN,

The Tigers have won the Miguel Cabrera sweepstakes. Detroit acquired Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for six players — Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, catcher Mike Rabelo and three minor league prospects.

What a deal this is.  I can’t even believe the lineup for the Tigers now.  With a healthy Sheffield, a productive/healthy Ordonez, Polanco, Granderson, Guillen, Renteria, now Miguel Cabrera?  That’s simply relentless.  Also, their rotation is great with Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson, Rogers, and Willis.  The package that the Tigers sent to Florida included Cameron Maybin (a projected superstar), and Andrew Miller (great young pitcher).  What swift work by the Tigers.  Talk about an upgrade at 3B.

In a few years, when Maybin is a star, I wonder who the Marlins will trade him to?

With that said, this deal automatically effects the Red Sox-Twins deal which has been increased to 5 players at this time (Crisp and Lester spearhead this package).  Some are reporting that a framework has already been completed on the deal, meaning that the Red Sox will have a window of opportunity to negotiate an extension with Santana.  I’m not sure if this is true or not, but if so it is a big blow to the Yankees.

If it’s not true, expect the Angels to jump right into the talks and grab Santana.  They were expecting a big bat but have reportedly offered Jared Weaver and prospect Brandon Wood to the Twins.  They can also throw in Kendrick or Adenhardt if they’d like.  This is getting intense.

Also, in some more direct Yankees news.  Joe Girardi met with the media today and let everyone know that the Yankees will not be using a 6-man rotation for next year.  I think It’d be a good idea and a way to keep all the young guys fresh and to let older guys like Mussina get some rest (but to each his own).

What a great day.  You come back from class and all this stuff is going on… You’ve got to love it.

Santana in Red Sox pt.3

It appears as though the Red Sox and the Twins are inching “closer to a deal” (take this lightly, no need to panic).  The Red Sox are offering a package of Lester, Crisp, Masterson and Lowrie.  They’re supposedly constructing an Ellsbury package as well, just in case. 

The Sox are real players in this thing after all?  Watch out Melky and Hughes.  Deadline or not, you could be traded today (I wonder who leaked this thing?).  Check out the last few lines.

There is no other team involved in these negotiations, it is believed. There remains a chance that the Yankees could jump back in by agreeing to include Kennedy but it remains to be seen if the Red Sox and Twins are too far down the road for the Yankees to come back. Right now, it appears so.

“Right now, it appears so” seems like Twin Talk for “give me Ian Kennedy or else.”

It Shall Continue

Hank Steinbrenner’s deadline has passed and here we sit, today, with no direct or distinct direction in relation to the Twins-Yankees trade talks.  Do I feel as though the Santana talk is over?  No, not really (close to over, but never really over).  We’ve seen the Yankees wait it out and pounce last minute, although I feel this is a different situation because the components being traded are of tremendous value to the longevity of the team.

Yesterday, it seemed likely that the Yankees realized they were playing a dangerous game by themselves.  The Red Sox had offered a package yet it was nowhere near the package they had offered and it also didn’t seem like a negotiable package either.  If the Yankees had a rotation of Santana and Wang, you can believe that the Red Sox would be worried, so presumably this was nothing more than an “up the ante” package to get the Yankees to spend and lose players in acquiring Santana, or let it blow up the way it sort of did.

The Yankees’ sense on Monday was that the Red Sox were not serious about acquiring Santana for themselves, offering just enough to force the Yankees to give more but not enough to truly appeal to the Twins.

This was reported in the Times today and it’s pretty much what a lot of us have been saying during the entire process.  I think the Yankees, at this point, have backed out and aren’t willing to negotiate about Hughes or Cabrera anymore, especially since the Twins made it clear that they wanted an Ian Kennedy type in the deal.

A lot of people disagree with me (see Mike Lupica) and that’s obviously an easy call to make given the recent A-Rod situation.  The talks, for all we know, could pick up again in day or two.  However, you just get the feeling that since no deal has been stated outwardly, even here, on Tuesday morning, then maybe Steinbrenner is sticking to his guns.  Here’s an excerpt from the NY Post today (George King).

As for Steinbrenner’s deadline, a big-league official believed The New Boss wasn’t kidding.

“I think it’s real unless they are very close to a deal and it comes down to [contract] language,” the official said.

Might be legit.  The deadline could be extended into today and this could certainly be the case if the Yankees and Twins are really ironing out the details but that doesn’t seem realistic.

If the sides cannot agree by Tuesday morning, the Yankees say they will back out of trade talks.

“If things don’t change drastically, it’ll probably be no,” the senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said.

Last time I checked, Tuesday morning is ending rather quickly and we’ve got nothing.  Basically, the Twins need to conform to the list provided by Brian Cashman regarding the third player in the package or they’ll have to go elsewhere.  We all know Steinbrenner is a big Santana hound, but, here, he states that he’d be happy to keep Hughes (and Cabrera).

“I’d be happy either way,” he said. “The young pitching is just going to take a little longer, as they do when they’re 21 or 22 years old. Santana didn’t really hit his stride until he was 24. But I think our guys are ready to do something this year. They’re certainly going to be — all of them — top-notch pitchers.”

So Phil Hughes and Melky are still Yankees.  Johan Santana is still a Twin.  The Red Sox haven’t reached a deal and are reportedly offering a lesser deal now that we’ve backed out of it, one that is led by the tandem of Coco Crisp and Jon Lester (so Ellsbury has been pulled behind the curtain and this would be a steal for the Sox).

Now the Yankees may make a move for Dan Haren.  Haren posted up great numbers this season yet he’s not really an ace, per say.  His season ERA is also a bit misleading since he posted most of his greater numbers in the first half of the season.  I could see Billy Beane asking for tons of talent in return, but Cashman is smart enough to know that Phil Hughes has the potential to be far greater than Dan Haren.  If anyone is traded for Haren, expect it to be more positional players than pitchers.  He warrants a lot in return simply because of the cheap nature of his contract.

I’m sure there’s more to come later.

Past Due

The deadline came and went with no official decision.  One could assume that the Yankees have bailed out of the talks, however, the open-ended “conclusion” leaves us to believe that anything could happen tomorrow.

The Yankees will look like a big joke if they don’t abide by their own self imposed deadline.

Random Reliever

 

The Yankees made a move today (to bolster their bullpen?) by trading Tyler Clippard to the Nationals.  I just saw this at the Lohud Blog.

The Washington Post is reporting that the Yankees have traded RHP Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for right-handed reliever Jonathan Albaladejo.

He’s a big (6-5, 250) guy who made his debut in September and had a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings. Albaladejo is 25.

PA is still trying to confirm.  The substance of this trade is yet to be determined but here are Albaladejo’s minor league numbers.  Hey, at least he’s young.