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February 2, 2008 07-08 Offseason Joe Janish

Deal Is Done

In case you missed it, Johan Santana signed a six-year, $137.5M contract extension with the New York Mets. The contract includes an $18.5M club option that could keep Johan in the orange and blue through 2014.

Santana will take a physical today (Saturday) to officially complete the deal.

Braves catcher Brian McCann responded to the Santana acquisition thusly:

“I just know he’s 29 years old and he’s got two Cy Young Awards. I know he’s elite,” Braves catcher Brian McCann said. “We’ve got guys who are elite, too. You’re going to have to go out and play it out. It’s going to be fun.”

I agree with McCann — it IS going to be fun, and Santana IS elite. Not sure about that middle sentence.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten February 2, 2008 at 1:05 pm
    I’d say that Smoltzy is, or was, elite. (Same with Glavine, before he got to us.) Maybe McCann is thinking of past glory.

    John Maine and Ollie Perez are a lot closer to being elite on the upswing than, say, Mike Hampton is. Jair Jurrjens? He’s got a few years yet.

    One thing that I am a tad concerned about is this: Three lefties in the Braves rotation . . . wait a sec. I’m assuming that Hampton is going to stay healthy the whole year. The odds of that happening are about 50-50. Well, then . . . assuming that there’s three healthy lefties in the Braves rotation, they should do well. Well enough to contend. The Phillthies? Two lefties, Hole Camels and Moyer. Has Moyer had any injury issues in his incredibly long career?

  2. isuzudude February 2, 2008 at 2:52 pm
    I know a lot of things are still up in the air at this point, but if everything pans out the way it’s *supposed* to, shouldn’t this trade pretty much make Minaya the GM of the Mets until he no longer wants the job? Think about it. He just got us the best pitcher in baseball without having to give up A) our #1 prospect (F-Mart), B) our best positional player (Wright or Reyes), or C) any of our young and inexpensive pitchers (Maine, Perez, Heilman). Perhaps much about this trade had to do with timing and luck, but whatever it was, Omar knows how to use it to his advantage. And on top of the Perez, Maine, El Duque, Nady, Sanchez, Mota, Delgado, and Lo Duca trades, Omar is looking more and more like a genious every day. If nothing else, I hope the Johan deal will at least buy Omar the benefit of the doubt in any negotiations and trade rumors we hear about in the future. He’s obviously doing an A+ job constructing this team, so for anyone to question his motives in the future is really going to sound quite unintelligent.
  3. fafhrd316 February 2, 2008 at 3:52 pm
    McCann’s probably hoping that Johan doesn’t pan out for the Mets. Realistically, the Braves should think about the Wild Card, because I don’t see their lineup getting that much better this year. It could also be really spotty, and not give great run production for their pitchers. Smoltz and Hudson are definitely good, but they don’t have the pitching depth that the Mets have. They also have a poor bullpen.

    I think the Braves- barring a renaissance year of Glavine and awesome production from Kelly Johnson and Mark Kotsay- will finish with a 85-77 record at the best. It’s a wild card team, at the most.

  4. joe February 2, 2008 at 4:07 pm
    The Braves potentially have a strong offense, but there are a few “IFs” … particularly, will Kotsay readjust to the NL and stay healthy; is Yunel Escobar the real deal or a flash in the pan; and can Matt Diaz hit like he did last year.
  5. sincekindergarten February 3, 2008 at 7:23 am
    Joe, one more “if” . . .

    “If” Tom Glavine can revert to anything near his former self, and not the pitcher we saw in September of ’07. Let’s remember that Turner Field is more of a hitter’s park than Shea is. Will Glavine’s ERA head north as a result? Also, the Nats aren’t playing in RFK anymore, and no one really knows how their new park is going to play, as in, will it be a hitter’s park, or a pitcher’s? Hey–that’s 3, maybe 4 starts a year that Glavine’s going to have in a potential pinball machine that isn’t called “Citizens’ Bank Park.”

  6. joe February 3, 2008 at 11:19 am
    The Braves’ pitching is a whole ‘nuther can of “ifs” … but with a little luck they could have a very strong team. In any case it should be an exciting season.
  7. skibolton February 3, 2008 at 11:27 am
    I know it’s early, but I look at the braves and see a downgraded bulpen from last year. The only guy right now that I really don’t like to see facing us is soriano, and he’s far from elite. Peter Moylan as a setup guy doesn’t really strike fear into me. I also don’t really see their lineup being quite as good as last year, renteria and andruw are still large shoes to fill, and escobar was replacing chipper for a good bit of the season. Having him start at short sure weakens the bench when chipper inevitably gets hurt. I like their rotation this year better than last, but unless they really eat innings or have some young kids devlop into stoppers in the pen, I really don’t think atlanta is a well put together team this year. That bullpen is just sooo bad as it stands right now, that I can’t even see them as a wild card contender.
  8. joe February 3, 2008 at 1:29 pm
    On paper, the Braves bullpen does look bad. However, I think that picking up Glavine and his almost guaranteed 200 IP was part of the plan to improve their late-inning pitching — in other words, keep a few innings away from the ‘pen. Chuck James looks like he could take a big step forward — last year he was somewhere ahead of Mike Pelfrey, and not far from the 2006 version of John Maine. He might be able to go from a 5-inning pitcher to a 6-inning pitcher, which would help the Braves immensely.

    Further, I believe their bullpen will be better than it looks — mainly because the Braves seem to always pick up “no names” that turn out to be effective performers. For example, their pickup of Will Ohman was a ho-hum acquisition, but he will be valuable as a sixth and seventh inning guy. And though their other lefty pickup Jeff Ridgway has a 189.00 ERA in MLB, he did strike out 132 batters in 120 IP in his last two minor league seasons. I also like their under the radar waiver claim of Chris Resop, a converted outfielder with a big arm who is coming off minor elbow surgery. The Braves scouting staff is the backbone of the organization, and the main reason they won all those division titles. I’m not saying these three pitchers are going to be lights out, but at least one or two will help improve the bullpen. Though, they still need either a closer or a setup man to take over for Soriano.