Santana: "I guess the best thing for them was to make this deal."

The Strib recaps the Santana negotations and it sounds like Johan is both happy to move on to New York ($137.5 million later, who wouldn't be happy?) and regretful that he couldn't stay with the Twins.

One aside: my Spanish is lousy, but I've never understood the pronunciation of Santana's first name. He's from Venezuela, so I would think Spanish pronunciation would be correct. My understanding of Spanish pronunciation would mean his name is pronounced "Ho-an." But I've only ever heard him referred to as "Yo-han." So what is correct? Have we Midwesterners just been mangling his name for nearly a decade? That's my assumption, but if someone can clear that up, I'd appreciate it.

More On the Newest Members of the Twins

The Strib has a quick write-up of the 4 players expected to become Twins once the Mets work out a $150 million deal with Johan Santana. One thing that stands out about these guys -- they're big. All at least 6'4" tall, they range in weight from 195 to 224 lbs. (and the 224-pounder is the 18 year-old kid, Deolis Guerra, who's 6'5").

I know "measurables" aren't as widely used a criterion in baseball as they are in football, but these guys all seem to have the right bodies to be major-leaguers. Now let's see if they can make us forget Sin Johan No Hay Paraiso.

Santana to Mets for 4 Prospects

USA Today is reporting that the New York Mets have reached a tentative deal with the Twins to acquire Johan Santana for 4 players, believed to be outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. Unlike the signings of Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer, which were roundly lauded by Twins fans, this deal is getting mixed reviews in the comments on the Twins Insider blog. Unfortunately, there is no immediate help in the deal for the Twins; the prospects are not likely to meaningfully contribute until 2009 at the earliest.

Well, that was a quicker resolution to Sin Johan No Hay Paraiso than I expected.

Twins: Crucial Week in the Santana Saga?

La Velle E. Neal III reports that this could be the crucial week in the Johan Santana soap opera (hereafter known as Sin Johan No Hay Paraiso). Will Johan be traded to El Mets, El Yanquis, El Calcetines Rojas? Or will he stay with the Twins? If so, for how long? Will the Twins give him the 6 years, $120-150 million he is looking for? Can they afford it? Can they afford not to? Tune in to Neal's Twins Insider blog to keep up with the action.

(This is WAY more baseball news than I would ever have envisioned putting on the blog. It just goes to show ... something.)

Twins Spending Like Drunken Sailors

I only intermittently follow baseball, having become a non-fan after the last baseball strike and never really gotten back to following (or enjoying) the sport. But I know there are rabid Twins fans out there, and perhaps one (or more) of them can explain to me the two huge deals the Twins are apparently going to announce. La Velle E. Neal III is reporting in the Strib that the Twins will sign Justin Morneau to a 6 year, $80 million deal, and Michael Cuddyer to a 3 year, $23 million deal.

This after Morneau and the Twins agreed to a one year, $7.4 million deal, and after the Twins offered $4.7 million to Cuddyer (who was looking for $6.2 million in arbitration after making $3.5 million in 2007).

Here's what I don't understand: Morneau is signed for $7.4 million for 2008, and then you give him a deal that is worth $13.33 million per season for 6 years? And Cuddyer is asking for a 77% increase in his salary year over year (from $3.5 million to $6.2 million), so you give him a deal that averages $7.7 million per season for 3 years?

You've now tied up an average of $21 million per season for the next three years on 2 guys? Neither of whom is named Santana? Obviously I don't have enough of an understanding of baseball economics, because the comments on La Velle's blog are mostly positive about the deals.

So I'll just end by saying congratulations to the two new multimillionaires (not that they weren't fabulously rich already), and hopefully this will lead to postseason success for the Twinkies.