On the Santana trade | naxself's random stuff

The Minnesota Twins have been one of my favorite teams since 1987. I remember the year because (a) they beat the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS after the Tigers cheated the Blue Jays out of the AL East title; and (b) Kirby Puckett, a short, round ball of energy, played out of his mind and instantly became one of my favorite players. He repeated the performance, and possibly exceeded it, in 1991 with his Game 6 heroics. To me, it was devastating when he announced his retirement due to glaucoma. I'm pretty sure I cried.

I'm older now so I'm not going to cry over the Johan Santana trade. I'm angry. I'm upset. I'm glad the Twins don't mean as much to me as they used to. This is, hands down, one of the worst trades in baseball history. I'm glad I'm not Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey or Deolis Guerra because if they don't combine for 2 or 3 MVPs and 2 or 3 Cy Youngs, this trade is an abject failure. You absolutely, positively, CANNOT trade the single best pitcher in the game for a bunch of prospects. You absolutely, positively, NEED to get at least 2 major leaguers back in a deal for the single best pitcher in the game. Failing that, you need to swallow hard and give Santana 6 years and $120 million. I realize that Carl Pohlad is a cheapskate. But he didn't get to be a billionaire by making bad business decisions. Not signing Santana ranks as a terrible business decision.

Twins GM Bill Smith has just staked his entire career on those four young men. For his sake, I hope his scouts are right.

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January 30, 2008 08:43 AM ET

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I was asuprised at the package myself?!?! I know this sounds odd but I am a Red Sox fan and did not want Santana in the AL East at all. I hoped first that the Twins might keep him because the fans deserve to keep their favorite players if at all possible, failing that, I wanted him in the NL as I agree that having so many superstars lined up on 3 or 4 teams is bad for the game. What does perplex me is why the Twins took the Mets deal over either NY or Boston as both those deals included very good major league players??