The Mets are now looked at as the clear favorites in the Johan Santana sweepstakes by more than just a few credible sources. Yesterday alone Jon Heyman of SI.com and the Boston Globe hinted as much.
There is absolutely no escaping these rumors. Every morning I make my usual treks to my favorite Mets sites, starting with Matt’s MetsBlog and then I move onto ESPN Insider, AOL Fanhouse, and finally Fox Sports. Lately it’s always Santana, Santana, Santana…
My question is this though, is being the front runner a good thing? I am beginning to feel like the only reason why the Mets are now leading this fruitless marathon, is because we are the only organization foolish enough to still be willing to think about an offer that amounts to suicide for our minor league system.
The latest version of the rumor now has the Mets including newly acquired outfielder Ryan Church, and while I’m not in the least bit beholden to Church, I think it makes the deal even worse than when we were including both Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez.
Apparently, many Mets fans think the deal is much more palatable by replacing Fernando Martinez with Church. Martinez has yet to do anything at the major league level and is the most hyped Mets outfielder since Alex Ochoa. At least we know Church can fill a need as a corner outfielder for the Mets right now. Martinez and even Carlos Gomez will not be major league ready for at least two more years.
How is the inclusion of Church more palatable? Didn’t we give up Lastings Milledge for this guy?
Two questions that have fallen through the cracks yet further illustrates the sheer madness of the entire situation. Just last week, Willie Randolph himself cringed at the suggestion of five of the Mets best prospects for Johan Santana. So now we are going to hand over four prospects plus a a young proven major leaguer?
Preposterous!
If this deal does go through, and I’m quite sure that it wont… All I can say is…
Omar! You are the weakest link, good bye.
