Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

[ryanm1058123]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

It's funny how after a hot 2 months Ellsbury is considered an untouchable when last year you couldn't find a person who considered him once. The guy isn't a bad player, he's a good CFer, but he's nothing great. He's not gonna hit .400 his whole career.

[ehh]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

It's funny how after a hot 2 months Ellsbury is considered an untouchable when last year you couldn't find a person who considered him once. The guy isn't a bad player, he's a good CFer, but he's nothing great. He's not gonna hit .400 his whole career.

In all fairness, Joba took the exact same path as Ellsbury. Joba wasn't on any of our top prospect reports last year winter. He had three great months as a reliever but still hasn't started a single MLB game.

[dust247]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

According to the ESPN update on ESPN Radio, Jayson Stark said the Twins were never really interested in Boston's much-discussed 4-man trade offer and it is very unlikely Santana will end up in Boston unless a new trade is proposed.

I wouldn't doubt that for one second. I believe Bill Smith and company are buying time, so other teams can make offers (Ex. Mets, Mariners, Angels, etc). I won't be surprised if the Twins head back to the Twinkie Dome with Santana still on the roster following these winter meetings.

[ryanm1058123]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

In all fairness, Joba took the exact same path as Ellsbury. Joba wasn't on any of our top prospect reports last year winter. He had three great months as a reliever but still hasn't started a single MLB game.

what? not even close. joba was considered a legit ace type the moment he was drafted. the worries were his weight and his health. he has lost weight and he hasn't had injuries so far. to make that statement shows lack of knowledge of prospects.

[Beantown]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

what? not even close. joba was considered a legit ace type the moment he was drafted. the worries were his weight and his health. he has lost weight and he hasn't had injuries so far. to make that statement shows lack of knowledge of prospects.

And from the moment he was drafted, Ellsbury had been compared to Johnny Damon who was was pretty damn good CFer, and still is a good player.

[ryanm1058123]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

Yes but he's never been in the same category as Joba. An ace pitcher has never been in the same category as a decent CFer. People who say they never heard of Joba before this year obviously don't know all that much about prospects.

[ehh]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

Yes but he's never been in the same category as Joba. An ace pitcher has never been in the same category as a decent CFer. People who say they never heard of Joba before this year obviously don't know all that much about prospects.

I'm not saying people had never heard of him, but Joba was no where near an untouchable prospect last winter.

Before the 2007 season, Baseball America ranked Chamberlain as the 4th-best prospect in the pitching-rich Yankee organization, and the 75th-best prospect in Major League Baseball, and ranked his fastball as the best in the Yankee farm system.

[SPTO]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

I think one reason why Boston doesn't want to part with Ellsbury is that they see him as the future at OF. I think he'll be a regular OF (probably RF IMO) for the next decade in Bean Town. He's also a virtual lock as Rookie of the Year. It could be a situation where you give away a bona fide star.

[snepp]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

Are you 12 years old? I say good one paco. But really, he would. Why are you even complaining?

Oh, you were being serious when you said he'd fit right in? I thought you were being facetious.

[Dispatch]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

I think one reason why Boston doesn't want to part with Ellsbury is that they see him as the future at OF. I think he'll be a regular OF (probably RF IMO) for the next decade in Bean Town. He's also a virtual lock as Rookie of the Year. It could be a situation where you give away a bona fide star.

Ellsbury isn't going to play RF I can tell you that. If Coco and Ellsbury both stay in Boston then Coco is getting traded somewhere to make room for Ellsbury.

Its not like Ellsbury just busted out this year. He was one of our top prospects coming into this season. He did start out this season on fire hitting .452 in 73 at bats in AA before getting promoted.

[ehh]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

All the Boston (and national) media kept saying last year was that Ellsbury is going to be the second coming of Johnny Damon. I think you'd want to hang on to that, especially if he can stay healthier than Damon throughout his career.

[ryanm1058123]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

Not that Johnny Damon hits for a ton of power, but I don't ever think Ellsbury will ever hit for as much power as him. That shows how little power Ellsbury will have.

And Joba was as untouchable as guys just out of college as you could get. Once he got his first pro experience (Hawaii) and dominated there, he shot up to about #2 or #3 on the Yankees list and was instantly untouchable.

[CMH]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

ehh isn't saying that Joba wasn't special to the Yankees. All he's saying is that no one was talking about the guy the way they talk about him now. And he's right.

Everyone knew Joba was a special pitcher. He did great in Nebraska and rose through the minor league system posting a 13.79 K/9 with a 1.01 WHIP in 88.1 IP. That's as good as it gets in your first professional season. And he did more of that in the majors, obviously.

But it wasn't until he quickly ran the gamet at in the minors that Yankee people realized that the guy was untouchable. Prior to that, it was mostly wait and see. Prior to that, it was only Hughes that everyone even mentioned when it came to the Yankee pitching prospect future. Now Kennedy and Joba throw their names in there because they absolutely dominated the minors.


As for Ellsbury...he is much better than Cabrera. The only advantage Melky has is a stronger arm and 10-15 homerun power. Ellsbury is a better hitter, more patient at the plate (which will lead to more strikeouts. Nature of the beast...though he did only strike out 15 times in 116 at-bats. Melky struck out 68 times over the full season. So I'd say that's a push), and much more gifted on the basepaths.

Not to mention he's already known to play a very good centerfield. Melky has improved every season but he's not the defender that Ellsbury is or will be.

[Sandman42]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

I know this is just a rumor, but this would be a huge blockbuster.

Just got an incredible rumor from a trusted New York sportswriter. Stay with me, because this one's crazy. But rest assured that if the source wasn't good, I wouldn't post it.

Minnesota has initiated talks for a three-way blockbuster with the Twins and A's. Here's how it would go down:

Mets send Jose Reyes, Kevin Mulvey, and Hector Pellot to A's
A's send Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson to Mets
A's send Dan Haren to Twins
Twins send Johan Santana to Mets

Mets get Johan Santana, Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson
A's get Jose Reyes and Kevin Mulvey
Twins get Dan Haren and Hector Pellot

The source says Haren is exactly the type of player the Twins want for Santana, a cheap frontline starter. It's known the Mets would hate to deal Reyes but they would get some value beyond Santana. Billy Beane is happy because he gets Reyes for one more year than he had Haren plus longtime favorite Mulvey. And, he's out of Crosby's contract.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/1...areyeshar.html

[ryanm1058123]

Re: Don't be surprised if Johan Santana is a Yankee before the season gets underway.

Umm you do realize that most prospects aside from Josh Beckett or Mark Prior are not hyped right when they come out of HS/college.. right?

Hughes wasn't rated really high when he first got out of HS.. its not that big of a deal. I can tell you that the Yankees were really really really high on Joba which is why they took him in the supp round even though there were huge concerns about his injuries and his weight.