Santana to Mets' Sox, Yankees Pull out and Let Queens Reap the Benefits

Santana to Mets? Sox, Yankees Pull Out and Let Queens Reap the Benefits

Dan Lifshatz 890 ESPN

AP-------Boston, MA

2/28/08 Finished @ 1:38

How did the Twins end up with a pitcher like Johan Santana? The Rule 5 draft. A draft in which players who have major league contracts but are not on the 40-man roster when the draft comes around, are eligible to be picked by other teams. Santana was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in 1995, but in 1999 after a somewhat unsuccessful minor league career, was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft with the #1 overall pick, but the very next pick, was sent to Houston for minor leaguer Jared Camp from the Twins, and with that, the Twins might have acquired the best pitcher in their teams history though a trade in which no one would thought would’ve mattered.

His rookie year, Santana put up the type of numbers you expect from a career journeyman. A 6.49 ERA in 86 innings pitched. Not the #’s you want from someone in your rotation or bullpen. After another average year in 2001, Santana was sent to the minors in 2002 for a couple months to work exclusively on his changeup. After 10 starts in the minors, he came back up to the majors with a filthy changeup to complement his tailing fastball. In 2003, Santana went from the bullpen to the rotation, becoming a Twins star overnight after being a bullpen pitcher for 4 months. For the end of the season, he won his last 8 starts and pitched the opening game of the 2003 ALDS vs. the Yankees, and lost, but became known around the league all of the sudden.

In 2004, Santana experienced one of the best 2nd halves a pitcher has ever had in his career. After winning only 7 games in the 1st half of the season, Santana came back for the 2nd half. Allowing 4 or fewer hits in 10 straight starts, the first pitcher to do that since 1961 when Rick Sutcliffe did it, and along with it, going 13-0 with a 1.21 ERA. Santana finished 20-6, and lead the AL in K’s (265), ERA (2.61), Strikeouts per 9 innings (10.46), and WHIP (0.92) and easily won the AL Cy Young with all 28 first place votes over SP Curt Schilling for the Red Sox who had won 21 games that year, proving just how dominating Santana’s stuff was, and from 2005 till last year, 2007, Santana has been an all-star, finishing at least 3rd in voting for the Cy Young since 2005, and winning again in 2006.

So, when the Twins put their star starting pitcher on the open market because they could no longer afford to keep him, the Red Sox and Yankees quickly made it apparent that they wanted Santana. The Sox has 2 different offers on the table, 1 consisting of SP Jon Lester, minor-league SP Justin Masterson, SS Jed Lowrie, CF Coco Crisp and another prospect, most likely SP Daniel Bard or SP Michael Bowden, and 1 consisting of Star CF Jacoby Ellsbury, Masteron, Lowrie and Michael Bowden. The Yankees had offers consisting of their young star players. SP Phil Hughes, SP Ian Kennedy, OF Jose Tabata, 1B Austin Jackson, and some more seasoned vets like OF Hideki Matsui and SP Kei