I do not want Santana

There are many things to talk about but some find it easier just to focus on 1 free agent pitcher, Santana. Ubiquitous baseball awards voters with ties to Minnesota have long used his looming contract to sell whatever they're selling including knee-jerk hatred toward the Yankees--instead of perhaps directing their ire at the richest owner in baseball, Carl Pohlad. (I wonder if Pohlad's ever tripped over any of the divots on the field there Torii Hunter used to speak about fondly?) Also, I became sick of Santana because the YES Network adores him. I even wrote YES Network executives about excess footage shown of Santana when similar coverage of accomplished pitchers already on the Yankee payroll was lacking. (No response).

• The tone of this frenzy gets worse when every reporter, baseball genius, or schlub fan says emphatically:

• "The Yankees HAVE TO give up Cano." or

• "The Yankees HAVE TO give up Joba." They really do, they have to. or

• "The Yankees HAVE TO give up Phil Hughes, Melky, and Cano, at least. They HAVE to..."

I do not want to give up any of these people even for Babe Ruth. I'm not into collecting anymore stars for the time being if you don't mind. Furthermore:

• Santana would only be a 1-year rental--he's a free agent after the 2008 season.

• And if you did get him for 2009, he'll no doubt be pitching in the 2nd World Baseball scam for Venezuela as he did in 2006.

• He gave up quite a few home runs in 2007. Free agent pitchers are too risky--Yankee fans should know this better than anyone.

Keep the young Yankees we have. Forget the free agent pitcher being over-hyped.

• UPDATE: Monday 11/26, Mel Antonen on XM with Chuck Wilson is asked what he thinks about the Santana situation. Re: the Yankees, Antonen said they're in a difficult position right now, that they're definitely rebuilding. For the direction they've been going and what they'd have to give up, it might not help them to trade for Santana.
• Later Wilson interviews Kat O'Brien of Newsday. One of Wilson's questions to her: Do you think the Yankees would make such a long term contract for a pitcher? Kat replies Santana is a special case, but she comes up with the same potential trading chips. She doesn't draw any conclusion about the idea, but it leaves the team in the same situation I discussed. The addition of 1 winning pitcher along with the subtraction of a few key other players doesn't guarantee the future for which the Yankees have been building.

Update #2, 11/27/07, another pundit agrees it's not necessarily the best deal for the Yankees:

• "For that matter, who knows if Joba can be a starter, or, if he can, how long it will take him to develop into the kind of starter who can average six or seven innings per start (which is the only kind of starter the Yankees really need)?
• (As we go to press, the rumor is that Hughes may be involved in a deal for Twins pitcher Johan Santana. But if the price is Hughes and Melky Cabrera,
• it's a tossup as to whether the Yankees really come out ahead.)"

From Village Voice article by Allen Barra, "Runnin' Scared: Not That the Arod Signing Solves Anything," 11/27/07

• ***And from the NY Times, Jack Curry, 11/27/07, "TOP PROSPECTS ARE MERELY DOWN PAYMENT ON SANTANA":
• "Pitchers, even the superb ones, are the most fragile players on the field. Teams are usually reluctant to offer pitchers the long-term deals that position players get because of the injury factor."

(Curry's article mentions there aren't any pitchers' deals in this price range that have ever worked out for the team. Which doesn't even get into the loss of prime, young, inexpensive, home grown guys who've already proved they can play in New York). sm

• P.S. SHORT MEMORY DEPT.--THE 'LITTLE TIME SPENT INJURED' IS PITCHED IN THIS ARTICLE AS A PLUS FOR SANTANA AND SECONDED BY HANK. THAT WAS ALSO PITCHED BY DAMON'S AGENT AS A PLUS. IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS THAT THE OPPOSITE IS MORE LIKELY--SEE FOR EXAMPLE BJ RYAN. A PITCHER WHO'S A STRIKE OUT TYPE PITCHER WHO HASN'T HAD MAJOR SURGERY IS MORE LIKELY DUE FOR IT THAN NOT.

And this from 7/27/06 in a Bob Klapisch article:

• "But Minaya speaks for the rest of the baseball community when he says, "If this was a year or so ago, the Yankees would've traded one or two of their prospects for a guy who's about to become a free agent.

"The Yankees are doing things they've never done. They're going with their kids, and I praise Brian for that.""

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