NASHVILLE – According to Hank Steinbrenner, the Yankees are out of the Johan Santana Sweepstakes. And if the two-time Cy Young winner, considered the top pitcher in baseball, is dealt from Minnesota to Boston, so be it.
“Who says he is going to Boston?” Steinbrenner asked last night after declaring the Yankees are no longer interested in Santana. “But it doesn’t affect what our plan is and that’s what counts.”
While many people believed Steinbrenner was bluffing when he imposed a midnight Monday deadline on the Twins, Steinbrenner held to his offer of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and not wanting to include anything more than a mid-level prospect. When the Twins held out for Ian Kennedy or Alan Horne or Austin Jackson, Steinbrenner gave them a 120-minute extension. When that wasn’t enough, Steinbrenner slammed the door.
“I don’t think it comes as a surprise,” Steinbrenner said of the Yankees bowing out even with the knowledge that Santana could go to the Red Sox and reduce the Yankees’ chances of playing in the postseason for the next six years via the wild card. “The deadline was [Monday night] and I extended it a couple of hours. We are very happy with what we got. We got other things to work on. I am certainly not crying about having Hughes and Cabrera.”
What about other starters who may be shopped such as Dan Haren?
“It’s no secret that [Oakland GM] Billy Beane will be asking a lot for Haren,” said Steinbrenner, who listened to the baseball people’s pleas not to sweeten the pot. “He could want more than Minnesota wanted and that’s unacceptable.”
The A’s, who say they aren’t actively shopping Haren, talked to the Diamondbacks about a swap that included first baseman Dan Johnson joining Haren going to Arizona for Carlos Gonzalez and Connor Jackson.
With the Yankees out and the Angels, despite speculation to the contrary, saying they were never in the Santana hunt, the Red Sox had a wide open lane to add him to a rotation fronted by Josh Beckett without giving up on stud prospect Clay Buchholz.
GM Brian Cashman refused to discuss the Yankees dropping out of the Santana hunt.
“I can’t comment on a specific situation,” Cashman said. “If there is something to talk about, I will.”
Of course, the Yankees could be lying in the weeds waiting for the Twins to get the final Red Sox offer and then decide if putting Kennedy, who nobody predicts will be a top-of-the-rotation starter, is worth it to keep Santana, 29 in March and well on his way to Cooperstown, away from Fenway Park.
The Red Sox are willing to part with Coco Crisp, Jon Lester and prospects Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson. In order for the Red Sox to include outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Lester would have to be deleted.
Then, if the Red Sox, who were checking into free agent replacements for Crisp, and Twins agree on a package of players, they would have to negotiate a long-term extension – think seven years and $150 million – to get Santana to delete his no-trade clause.
Agent Peter Greenberg didn’t return calls about the Red Sox having reached the point of asking for permission to negotiate with his client.
Speaking to a group of reporters yesterday, manager Joe Girardi tried to dance around the Santana issue.
“It’s something Brian has talked about. Obviously it’s not something for me to share,” Girardi said. “But obviously [Santana] is one of the premier pitchers in the game.”
Naturally, Girardi downplayed the Red Sox landing Santana.
“I worry about our club, I can’t worry about what other clubs are doing,” Girardi said. “We worry about who is in our clubhouse.”
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Bean Stringfellow, the agent for reliever Luis Vizcaino, continues to have dialogue with the Yankees and four other clubs but isn’t close to cementing a deal.
“We are talking but we aren’t close with anyone,” Stringfellow said. “We are talking parameters.”
With the White Sox giving Scott Linebrink a four-year deal worth $19 million, it’s not out of the question that Vizcaino can command at least a three-year deal worth $15 to $17 million.