On January 30th, 2008 the Twins sent Santana to the Mets for pitching prospects Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra, along with center field prospect Carlos Gomez. At the time it was suppose to be the best deal offered to the Twins for Santana, but I feel that they refused to trade him to an American League team so that they would not have to face him until the World Series and that has cost them dearly. Before I talk about the rumored players other teams were offering, I will break down the players we actually received first.
The first piece that no one remembers is pitcher Kevin Mulvey. He was a second round pick and was highly thought of coming out of college. Thought was he could be a top of the rotation guy and be on our staff for years to come. He never made a start for the Twins. He came up in 2009 and made 2 relief appearances and got shelled for 4 runs in 1 and 1/3 innings and that was it. He was later claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks and it gave the Twins relief pitcher Jon Rauch who was solid for the end of 09 and for the 2010 season for us.
The next piece is still with the Twins, but his future is now uncertain. Deolis Guerra was once thought to have the potential to be a closer when this trade happened in 2008 and now is thought to just be a middle reliever and has yet to make a major league appearance. His career ERA in the minors of 4.87 is nothing to make us think he will be much of anything if he does ever make it to the majors. He also was diagnosed with a blood clot in his throwing shoulder this Spring and now not only is this year in question but maybe even his career. Blood clots are nothing to mess with. We could end up never seeing the last piece of the Johan trade.
Another piece who was suppose to be atop the rotation with Mulvey was Phillip Humber. He was really the key pitching piece of this deal, he was drafted 3rd overall in the 2004 draft. He was suppose to eventually be the ace of our staff and make Twins fans forget about Santana and people hardly even know he was a Twin. He never started with the Twins but came up in 2008 and 2009 and made some relief appearances and posted a 6.10 ERA in those appearances. The Twins cut bait after the 09 season where he signed with the Royals. He made a couple of very good starts for them at the end of the 2010 season and signed with the White Sox. Played there in 2011 and did well and last season was very good in the first half of the season. He of course is most remembered for his perfect game last season against the Mariners. He had a horrible second half though and wasn't resigned by the Sox after the season. He signed with Houston this offseason and has had a solid start to this season.
The final piece of the trade was center fielder Carlos Gomez. He was a solid player while he was here but never really lived up to his potential until last season with the Brewers. He hit 19 homeruns and drove in 51 RBI to go along with 37 stolen bases. This is what the Twins were looking for when they traded for him and unfortunately they got rid of him before they could see him do these things on the baseball field in a Twins uniform. While the Twins did have tons of outfielders in their system and still do that allowed them to move him, had he stayed and panned out the Twins could have moved those players for more pitching and would not be as thin in pitching as they are now.
The one ripple effect of this trade as well was when the Twins moved Gomez to the Brewers for shortstop JJ Hardy. The Twins thought they were getting the shortstop of the next decade when making the trade and I was surprised that after his injury plagued 2010 season that the Twins gave up so quickly. He has 52 homeruns since leaving and part of that is his ballpark, but also the fact that he has been healthy. In all his seasons where he has had at least 500 at bats he has hit at least 22 homeruns and won his first gold glove last year, but has been very good defensively his entire career. The Twins have set to solve the shortstop position since Christian Guzman left after the 2004 season.
Before the Twins moved Santana to the Mets the rumor was that the Yankees and Red Sox were in a bidding war for Santana and some very good pro players were rumored in the possible deals that the Twins missed out on.
The Red Sox were reportedly willing to move a package of prospects including either Jacoby Ellsbury or Jon Lester. Lester was arguably one of the best pitchers int he game from 2008-2011 while having a down year last season and seems to be back to his self this season. He could have stepped right in and taken over that ace spot and it would have been like we never lost an ace lefty in our rotation. Ellsbury has been a bit injury prone since coming to the majors but has been a very good center fielder and has shown he can hit for both power and average and can bat leadoff for a very good major league team.
The Yankees were reportedly offering a package of shortstop Eduardo Nunez, and pitching prospects Ivan Nova and Phillip Hughes. While Hughes and Nova have had some very good seasons they have been mediocre starting pitchers, but let's be honest that's better than what we have had here the past few seasons. Nunez has yet to be proven at the major league level because he has just been an utility player in his few seasons in the majors. He has shown he is a solid defender and has some power and could have helped the Twins from day one at shortstop. Now, not sure how much truth there is to this but at the time Robinson Cano was once reportedly part of a lesser deal offered to the Twins for Santana and if he was how bad would the Twins feel had they not pulled the trigger on that deal instead of trying to use it for leverage. He has put up numbers we have never seen from second base and also is one of the best defenders in the league at the position. Imagine the damage the Twins lineup could have done and still could do with him in their lineup everyday at second base. He's the kind of player you should get when you trade the best pitcher in the game, the guy who is always in the MVP race and can carry his team offensively and defensively.
The Twins have had tons of holes that could have been filled if they would have moved Santana for the best baseball trade instead of not wanting to trade him in the American League and just using other teams' offers as a way to try and jack up the price. The Twins have had holes in the middle of the infield since the days of Guzman and Rivas in the early 2000s and could have filled either shortstop or second base had they not given up on Hardy after one season or added either Cano or Nunez from the Yankees.
The Twins are lacking pitching in the worst way and had they taken one of the other deals mentioned they would be in much better shape. Or had Gomez actually panned out in Minnesota the Twins could have moved the other outfield prospects that have come up earlier obtain more pitching that could be helping us now.
The Twins at this point are also lacking a leadoff hitter, while Aaron Hicks may eventually be that guy they could have added Ellsbury who can leadoff with the best of them. I'm not including the fact that they could have kept Span or Revere to fill the leadoff spot because they were traded this offseason and had the Twins gotten Ellsbury or had Gomez panned out they may not have been with us as long and been traded for pitching earlier in their career.
All in all, where the Twins biggest holes are not only on the major league level, but at all levels in the minors as well can be directly correlated with the horrible return the Twins got for the best pitcher in the game at the time of the trade. The Twins have begun rebuilding the system and the future finally looks bright again, but even 5 years later this trade is causing our major league team to be at the bottom of our division for a 3rd straight year. Thank you Bill Smith.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987