Friday, February 1, 2008

Santana Talks

Jayson Stark reports on the Santana negotiations:
Sources familiar with those discussions said Thursday that while the talks may not go right to Friday's 5 p.m. ET deadline, the two sides were still far enough apart that it was unlikely any deal could be reached before Friday morning at the earliest. The sources also left open the possibility that the talks could collapse without an agreement, though the odds of that appear remote.
Remote indeed. I mean, given how little they had to give up for him, and how ecstatic their fan base was to hear about the deal, if the Mets don't sign Santana during the window they may as well just close up shop. The negotiation should go like this:

Mets: What do you want?
Santana: Forty-gajillion dollars over eleventeen years.
Mets: Would you take any less?
Santana: No.
Mets: OK, done.

Anything longer than that means the Mets have no idea what they're doing. Sure, they're going to overpay, but that's what you do in moves like this. If Santana helps bring a World Series to Flushing, he was worth whatever they paid. If he's a bust, the public will blame him, not Mets' management for it.

1 comment:

Eric Toms said...

The Mets are about to enter the same stratosphere revenue wise as the Evil Empires. They launched their own RSN ( although YES trounces them ) and the new stadium next season...

The diminishing # of FA's - especially quality ones - the past few years is a result of clubs basically handing blank cheques to the elite players. Pitchers like Zambrano & Buehrle for instance.

Meanwhile, the % of revenues being paid out in salaries is the lowest it's been in years.

All that to say, $140, $150, $160 million, 6 or 7 years...all just minor details. The Mets and Santana ( can't remember who is agent is ) both know that he'll get whatever he wants.