Mets baseball blog

Mets confident they'll be able to sign Santana

The Mets convened with Johan Santana's representatives yesterday, and the club remains optimistic that it will be able to agree to terms on a contract extension with the two-time Cy Young Award winner by tomorrow's 5 p.m. deadline.

General manager Omar Minaya told industry friends he is at peace with the reality that Santana will request a salary well over $20 million per season. The years on the contract figure to be trickier - Santana would like a seven-year deal, matching what the Giants gave Barry Zito in December 2006 - but the Mets have a history of getting deals done with Santana's agent, Peter Greenberg, who also represents Jose Reyes and Endy Chavez. A group believed to include Minaya, COO Jeff Wilpon and assistant general manager John Ricco met with Greenberg in Manhattan. Continue

Johan Santana: From humble beginnings to baseball's biggest stage

High in the Andes mountains, on a primitive baseball diamond scattered with stones, Johan Santana learned how to throw a baseball. The Cy Young winner hails from rural Tovar, Venezuela, where soccer was king, poverty was a birthright and the tallest building stood just three stories. Now the All-Star pitcher known as "El Gocho" - the hillbilly - will work on one of baseball's biggest stages as the Mets' newest star.

For Santana, who turns 29 on March 13, the anticipated trade from the Minnesota Twins caps an unlikely journey from the far-flung mountains of South America to the Great White Way. The hard-throwing hurler, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, showed no hint of untapped promise in his first few games on a Tovar field - but he had an excuse. The now-dominant lefty began his career as a right-handed shortstop. Santana was the fourth of five children, raised in a working-class section of town. His father was a semi-pro shortstop; an older brother was considered the family baseball prospect. That changed when Santana became a full-time left-hander. Few noticed the switch, but one who did was a baseball scout with a keen eye and a reliable car. Continue

Mets pass Yankees as New York's most likely World Series winner

The Mets are rated almost twice as likely to win the World Series today as they were yesterday, after gaining negotiation rights for two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Johan Santana, Las Vegas bookmakers say. With the Minnesota Twins' agreement to trade Santana if he can reach a contract extension with the Mets by Feb. 1, the National League team passed the crosstown rival Yankees among the favorites to claim Major League Baseball's championship this season.

The odds on the Mets winning the World Series are 5-1, an improvement from the 8-1 odds they had just after Boston won the title in October, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on betting lines. That places Santana's likely new team as the second choice to the Red Sox, who are 9-2, and ahead of the Yankees, who are third at 11-2. "It certainly is a huge thing to put Santana in the front of your rotation, especially when in the Mets' situation, they really didn't have a No. 1 or 2 starter," Tony Sinisi, Las Vegas Sports Consultant's director, said in a telephone interview. Continue

Mets acquire Johan Santana from Twins

The Mets have acquired lefthanded ace Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins for prospects Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey, Newsday has confirmed. The deal, first reported on USA Today.com, depends on the Mets and Santana reaching an agreement on a six- or seven-year contract extension within the next three days. Santana presumably would waive his no-trade clause to allow the deal to go through once an agreement on a new contract had been reached.

Although the Mets sacrificed four key members of their farm system in the deal, they also managed to make the trade without giving up prized prospect Fernando Martinez.Rather than Martinez, who had been widely reported to be the key cog in any deal for Santana, the Mets included Gomez, 22, who played 58 games as a rookie with the Mets last year and batted .232. Continue

Mets the front-runner? Sources say N.Y. has best Santana offer

Baseball officials involved in the Johan Santana trade talks say the Mets have the best offer on the table, as the Twins looked to honor the pitcher's request to resolve the situation. If Minnesota opts to trade the two-time Cy Young Award winner rather than keep him and he works out a new contract extension, Santana could fill the hole at the front of the Mets' rotation.

The Red Sox also made offers, while the Yankees appeared to be out of the Santana talks altogether. But in the middle of the day Tuesday, Mets officials were hopeful they were the front-runners for the All-Star lefty, with an offer that included center fielder Carlos Gomez, pitcher Phil Humber and two other minor leaguers. It is not known yet whether the Mets have fashioned any offers around their best prospect, Fernando Martinez. Continue

Mets could get Santana within 10 days

The Johan Santana trade discussions finally might be entering their final lap, and the Mets still appear to be the favorites to land the two-time Cy Young Award winner. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Sunday that a trade of Santana, a Minnesota Twin since 2000, "is expected to occur within 10 days." That matches a widely held industry belief that the Twins have every intention of moving Santana before the start of spring training.

The Yankees don't want to include Phil Hughes in a trade for Santana, as general manager Brian Cashman made clear Friday night in an event at William Paterson College in New Jersey. The Red Sox always seemed more interested in keeping the price high for the Yankees than actually acquiring Santana for themselves. Continue

Mets have done nothing to improve since collapse

The football season is down to one final game. The groundhog will be out of his hole a week from tomorrow. Pitchers and catchers report in three weeks. Is it still too early to critique the Mets' offseason? In a stunning development, the team that in 2007 brought you the most ignominious collapse in the history of baseball apparently has decided to stand pat for 2008.

New York's Stealth Franchise, the one that flies so deftly below the radar that it could land at LaGuardia without being noticed, has conducted its offseason the way Rudy Giuliani is running his presidential campaign: hoping to win by doing nothing. Continue

Wright would love for Mets to get Santana

David Wright believes that the Mets will be formidable with or without Johan Santana. Wright, who visited the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island yesterday in New Hyde Park for the rededication of its Mets "clubhouse," said: "With Johan, or without Johan, I'm going to be very confident in this Mets team." Wright emphasized that he has no inside knowledge about negotiations between the Mets and Twins. He's been following the rumor mill like any other fan this offseason. Continue

Endy Chavez, Mets agree on two-year, $3.85 million deal

The Mets, who have not gone to an arbitration hearing with one of their players since 1992, eliminated another candidate Tuesday when Endy Chavez agreed to a two-year contract worth $3.85 million.

Chavez, 29, will make $1.8 million in 2008 and $2.05 million in 2009. He can make $250,000 more this year and $375,000 more next year in bonuses based on games played and plate appearances, according to figures obtained by the Associated Press. Last season, Chavez strained his left hamstring and played in only 71 games, batting .287 with 20 runs, one homer and 17 RBI. He hurt his right hamstring and right ankle in a play at the plate during a winter league game in Venezuela but is expected to be ready for spring training. The Mets have four more players who have exchanged arbitration figures with the club - Oliver Perez, Pedro Feliciano, Ryan Church and Jorge Sosa. (Daily News)

Mets avoid arbitration with Heilman

More gadgets and toys probably will find their way into the Mets' clubhouse this year. Aaron Heilman, the electronics-obsessive pitcher called "Wall Street" by some of Mets teammates, has considerably more expendable income now. He agreed Friday to a one-year contract for $1.2 million and thereby avoided a salary arbitration confrontation with the club.

Heilman, who earned $453,000 last year, was one of six Mets players in position to exchange arbitration figures with the club Friday. He is the only one who agreed to a contract. Continue