Mets Get Santana... Finally

The Mets have un-officially traded for Johann Santana for Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. All that needs to be done is for the Mets to sign Santana to a long term deal within the next 72 hours.

This deal is an absolute steal. First off the Mets traded for one of the best pitchers in baseball without giving up any major league talent. They kept their current team the same and just added a star pitcher. Secondly, the Mets did not trade Fernando Martinez who is now the only big outfield prospect in the Mets system after the departures of Milledge and Gomez. Thirdly, the Mets gave up only 4 prospects when there were previous talks of 6 or 7.

Analysis of Prospects:
The Mets gave up two good prospects, Gomez/Guerra and two bad ones in Humber and Mulvey. Everyone knows Gomez is wicked fast and can play defense but his bat is the biggest question. He has trouble with the breaking balls and does not have much power. He will need to rely on his speed for a lot of his hits because of his inept bat.

Guerra was my favorite prospect. He is extremely young and has almost the same potential as F-Mart except Guerra is a pitcher. Guerra’s fastball was up to 94-95 mph in last year’s minor league camp, which is an increase of four-to-five miles an hour from where he was last season. He also worked hard on his curveball during the offseason, which lagged behind his fastball and changeup. I believe he is the best prospect in the deal, potential wise.

If you have read this blog before you know I strongly dislike Kevin Mulvey. He is regarded as a 4 pitch pitcher who is not afraid to throw any pitch in any given situation, but so can every other pitcher in the majors... His 4 pitches are extremely flat and when he misses up he gets rocked. He is projected to be a 3 or 4 starter but I could see him as a long reliever.

Humber had a lot of potential coming out of college but has been injury plagued his entire career. He has pitched ok in the minors but at age 25 he has just started 1 game in his major league career. I never see him living up to his potential and I believe he will continue to have injuries throughout the rest of his career. He has already had Tommy John surgery early in his career which is never a good sign.