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.
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?
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.
“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.”
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.