Santana? What did we give up for him?

Finally, it has happened. The Mets have acquired 2-time Cy Young Winner Johan Santana for Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, Phil Humber, and Deolis Guerra. The deal will not be finalized until the Mets and Santana's agent agree to a contract extension and all the players must pass physicals. The Mets have a 72 hour window to sign the best pitcher in baseball. I am so excited for spring training now. Before this trade, Billy Wagner thought that we were a 3rd place team. Now, we're already the favorite to go to the World Series.. and we still have Mike Pelfrey AND Fernando Martinez. Omar had to do this trade and by doing this, we have no need to sign Livan Hernandez or Kyle Lohse.

Back to the prospects... The Mets gave up 4 of their top ten prospects.. #'s 2,3,4, and #7 according to Baseball Americas post in November. Heres a little information on the prospects that were traded...

Kevin Mulvey: has the potential to be a #3-#4 starter on a good staff. Average stuff, great command. Was the first choice in the 06 draft for the Mets. Very close to being a MLB player.

Philip Humber: #3 pick in the 2004 draft, under went Tommy John Surgery in his first pro season. Came back last year and looked ok in AAA. Will need another year in the minors but should be ready in 2009. Humber once had the potential to be a #1 starter in the Majors, but he is projected to be a #3 starter at best, maybe even less.

Carlos Gomez: is what scouts like to call a five-tool player, a combination of offensive ability that includes power and speed as well as an above-average defensive game and a strong arm. He has worked to cut down a strikeout rate that was high during the early part of a minor league career that began in 2004 after the Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic. He made his major league debut last May and hit .232. (USA Today)

Deolis Guerra: a young super-prospect with #1 starter potential. Has a dominant change-up, and a fastball that keeps gaining velocity as he grows. Had an adequate season last year, but showed dominance at times. He was also one of the youngest players in his league last year. Could be a future #1 and Cy Young Candidate.

You may be thinking... "Why would you trade so much young talent?!" Well, we have three very good draft picks during the first and supplemental-first rounds of next June's draft.

• The18th overall pick from the Braves as compensation from the signing of Tom Glavine.
• The 22nd overall pick due to the performance of last years team.
• The 33rd overall pick in compensation from the signing of Tom Glavine.

Thats not all, The Mets signed 15 players internationally in the summer of 2007, more than any other organization, and has tried to use that market to find impact talent. Our lower levels of the minor leagues are stocked with talent, and our very good draft picks will help us get some better talent flowing through.

In the past few years, the Mets have had to surrender their 1st round picks because of free-agent signings and haven't tried to compensate by exceeding MLB's bonus guidelines with other picks. Minaya said that could change in the near future.

"We've adhered to the commissioner's slot recommendations," Minaya said. "We've been good citizens. But not all the teams have done that, and the competitive balance is not fair. We have to take that position under review as an organization." (Baseball America)

Don't worry, we now have an easy ride to the playoffs and hopefully more in 2008!

Someones take on our prospects in 2008...

I was just searching the web and came across a Mets web site that had an interesting article on how the Mets rush there prospects and where they should play in 2008. I clicked on the comments and I saw an interesting opinion that someone wrote in the comments section of the post... here it goes..

"I could not disagree with you more on Pelfrey being ready. All 3 SP, Pelfrey, Humber and Mulvey should start and finish the 2008 season in AAA. None are ready! Humber has not been hurt other then the Tommy John and he has only pitched a full year since then. Pelfrey is still working on his second and third pitch. Just the fastball will not cut it.
I do agree that the Mets have been rushing their pitching prospects. Milledge I agree was also rushed. But before we add Gomez to that list lets see where the Mets place him for this season. Should be in AAA as well."

So a AAA pitching rotation with Pelfrey, Humber, and Mulvey leading the way? I agree with Humber and Mulvey but not Pelfrey. He should be our #5 starting pitcher for the whole season. Next year when Pedro and Orlando Hernandez are likely gone.. we will have room in our rotation for either Kevin Mulvey or Phillip Humber. As for Carlos Gomez, he needs at least another season of AAA ball maybe even more. Don't rush them, let them develop and then our prospects will start to produce immediately when they reach the Majors for good.