Johan Santana Traded to the New York Mets

The New York Mets suffered a historic collapse in the 2007 regular season. They may now be the favorite to win the National League in 2008.

Reports around the country indicate that the Minnesota Twins have traded ace pitcher and two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to the New York Mets for four prospects. ESPN.com and several other websites state that the Twins will receive outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitching prospects Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. Completion of the deal is pending Santana passing a team physical as well as the Mets signing Santana to a contract extension. ESPN.com reports that the deadline for the Mets and Santana to agree upon a deal is 5 p.m. on Friday. It is believed that Santana is seeking a six or seven year deal worth anywhere between $140 and $150 million.

Just as important as acquiring Santana for the Mets is the fact that the team did not have to add 19-year old prospect Fernando Martinez in the deal. Baseball America named Martinez the number one prospect in the Mets' farm system in 2007.

The addition of Johan Santana gives the Mets arguably the best pitching rotation in the National League and without question one of the best in all of Major League Baseball. New York now could have a stating pitching rotation of Santana, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey, Orlando Hernandez or a possible free agent pickup. This rotation along with an above average bullpen and one of the best offenses in the National League make the 2008 New York Mets once again the favorite to win the National League East.

Santana, who will turn 29 before Opening Day, had somewhat of a down year in 2007. He finished with a record of 15-13 and an ERA of 3.33. 2007 was the first time Santana finished with an ERA over three since the 2003 season. Nevertheless, Santana still had a WHIP of 1.07 and struck out 235 batters last season. He struck out an average of over nine and a half (9.66) batters per nine innings and opposing hitters had a batting average of .225 against the dominant southpaw.

The New York Mets were searching for an upgrade such as this after the disappointment that was the 2007 regular season. The Mets were picked by many to win the NL East with ease and the team held a seven game lead in the division with only 17 games to play. However, the Mets were swept twice by the Philadelphia Phillies in the last month of the regular season and eventually relinquished the division lead to the Phillies. Philadelphia went on to win the division and the Mets failed to make the playoffs.

Sources: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3220894
http://www.metsblog.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Mart%C3%ADnez_%28baseball_player%29
Stats courtesy of ESPN.com