Mets Ace Deal For Santana

Posted Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Multiple media outlets as well as baseball sources are now confirming that the Mets have reached an agreement with the Twins for starting pitcher Johan Santana, but the trade is contingent on the Mets reaching a contract deal with the lefty ace.

The Mets will send Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Carlos Gomez and Deolis Guerra to the Twins if a final deal can be reached with Santana and his agent Peter Greenberg. Santana is said to be seeking a six-year deal at a minimum at $20 million per year, while the Mets want to limit the deal to five years, but will be willing to increase the yearly money. The Mets have a 72-hour window to complete the negotiations.

Update: a National League source tells FU that a deal is likely to be completely fairly quickly between the Mets and Santana and that the team may offer option years — as they have in other contract deals — to go beyond the five-year limit they claim to have on any contract offer. The options would be likely to based on innings pitched in the final three years of the original five, and the team is said to be willing to go above the $20 million per year mark Santana is said to be asking for.

Humber is a former first-round pick of the Mets, while Mulvey was a 2006 second round pick out of Villanova. Gomez, who made his Major League debut with the Mets in 2007, is a supreme athlete but scouts have questioned his baseball instincts. Guerra may end up being the best talent in the deal, as he was expected to break into AA at age 19 this season. Many observers felt that the mets would have to include Fernando Martinez — another star outfield prospect seen by many scouts as better than Gomez — but now the young outfielder seems destined to start 2008 at AAA New Orleans and could be in the Mets' outfield as soon as mid-season.

Flushing University will report details as they emerge during the negotiations. In the interim, stop by the message board and share your thoughts on the pending deal.

Johan Santana appears poised to join the Mets.