On a side note, would you take this package, minus Humber or Mulvey, for Sabathia?

What does everyone think of their haul from this deal? I feel like Humber's stock has fallen a bit, but I know Gomez was pretty highly though of. I thought they were really trying to get Martinez thrown in too, weren't they?

So, would this mean that the Yankees actually did "leave the table", so to speak?

I think the perceived value of Johan Santana was considerably higher among fans than in actuality. Granted, this stance requires one to believe that the "other" packages were either false or taken off the table once Cashman and Epstein understood Santana's demands.

That last part is the key one for me. Trying to be clear: I think the team acquiring Sanatana was essentially purchasing, with prospects, the right to negotiate an incredibly, incredibly expensive deal with him.

So, right off the bat this reduces the market to 3, maybe 5 teams in MLB. While it's counterintuitive to say that Santana might've had more value had he been available as a rental, I think it might be accurate. If Santana did not demand an extension to go with his trade, then the Twins might've been able to get additional teams into the race and drive the price up. I'm thinking of a team like the Rockies or Diamondbacks or something; teams that don't want to extend Santana but think they have a window of opportunity for next year.

So, if you believe that Santana could only go to a max of 5 teams, then I don't think it's a huge leap of faith that the Twins went to each of those teams, had some preliminary talks (where we got leaks of Hughes/Cabrera+), and in the course of those talks, the extent of Johan's contract demands came out. Those teams decided that the price in prospects+cash was much too rich and either reduced their packages or pulled out of the race.

This is my round-about theory about how what the Mets paid was, in fact, market value for Santana. I am creating this argument largely because I find it impossible to believe that Minyana bullied the Twins around. That seems inconceivable.

I guess what I need as evidence is for Santana to sign a 7/155 deal, something so rich that I can even see Boston and NYY walking away.

In an odd way, I see it as a parallel for the Matsuzaka posting, except that the posting fee is lower because they know no reasonable contract will be agreed upon.

My other two theories are thus:

1-The Twins scouting staff is still in place and they believed these were the best pitchers available. That sounds insane, but this staff found Santana, found Liriano, found Nathan. If they really wanted these pitchers, I'm inclined to think they're right. If this is the case, I think Deolis is the key to the deal. He's the only one raw enough that I'm prepared to say scouts could have a totally different and correct read on him.

2-If Bill Smith is an idiot, maybe he drew a line in the sand and said "I will not keep Santana in the AL." It makes sense in some weird way, if you think "My team wants to win the WS, any NYY or BOS team with Santana will be better, therefore I cannot trade him within the AL since no one else can pay the price to sign him."

3-The Steinbrenner boys decided to show off and refuse to play. If that happened, I can see how this package is seen as better than Boston's. I don't really like Lester or Ellsbury. I'd still take them over this group I think but I can see it.

But, if he did that, then I think he essentially reduced the bidders to the Mets and maybe a half-hearted Dodgers. So, he had to try to get Minyana to bid against himself.

Or, maybe the other packages just aren't as good as I think and I've lost my mind as an observer. But it seems insane to me to leave any package with Hughes alone and take this one. Hell, I might take just Hughes instead of this one. I'd think about it.