After months of discussion about whether or not the Minnesota Twins would trade the highly sought after ace, Johan Santana, and if so, where would he land, the New York Mets landed the south paw. The Mets and Twins agreed to swap Santana for outfielder Carlos Gomez and minor-league pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. Gomez, who batted .232 for the Mets in 58 games in his debut season, will look to replace Torii Hunter in center field for the Twins. Humber, who seems to have the most promise of the new Twins, was selected as the 3rd overall pick by the Mets in the 2004 amateur draft. Santana, who currently stands to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2008 season, and the Mets need to agree to a contract extension within a 72-hour window to complete the deal.
This deal slides the Mets into the driver seat in the National League East. This trade should put last year’s catastrophic collapse to lose the NL East Title to the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Brave’s previous stranglehold atop the division in the past for Met’s fans. A potential 1-2 punch of Johan Santana and Pedro Martinez (barring injuries) could propel even a poor offensive team to many victories. Though with a strong lineup including Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado, Willie Randolph should pilot the Mets to an easy first place finish and compete for a World Series.