Minnesota is faced with the dilemma of dealing Johan Santana of their starting rotation. Two-time Cy Young Award winning player can become a free agent following the 2008 season. Minnesota is not ready to fork over the kind of cash the player is going to command. In this edition of Major League Baseball Fastball, Neil Borenstein examines Johan Santana’s situation, including who will be the top suitors and when is the right time to trade the player away
A-Rod is happy to be back to the New York Yankees, where he believes he belongs. The player has discovered happiness with the Yankees this year, and all along has a desire to stay, despite the specter of free agency. The power-hitting 3B said Saturday that his wife and he finally feel like they are New Yorkers. The club seemed prepared to move on, until Alex Rodriguez contacted them recently about a new contract that turned out to be worth about $275 million over ten years.
The Indianapolis Colts have lost their defensive end Dwight Freeney till the end of the season. He injured his left foot during the matchup against the San Diego Chargers on last Sunday. The team were two points behind the Charges, and Freeney, while making a spin motion, badly hurt his foot, which caused its dislocation and get him out of the games for quite a long period. Actually it was the midfoot, which will take time to heal. For this period the Colts want to replace Freeny with a defensive end from the Denver Broncos, because he is likely to be sacked by them.
Jacque Jones, 32, is a .294 hitter against right-handed pitchers, who averaged 25 home runs and 78 RBIs a season from 2004-2006 before hitting just five homers this year to go with 66 RBIs and a .285 batting average. Having been Tigers’ opponent some time ago, he is now one of the Tigers! Jones was traded by the Cubs, and feels that this deal will be successful for him; according to his words, he is moving from one good team to another good team and to the very good manager. By pulling off the one-for-one swap, the Tigers filled their need for a left-handed bat to add some semblance of balance to a predominantly right-handed lineup. As president/general manager Dave Dombrowski says, Jones is a proven left-handed hitter that can play left field. Therefore the team gained a lot by acquiring him, and we can hope for new and better results.
The brightest fact of the season is that the Red Sox took over first place in the American League East for good on April 18, and kicked the Angels off in the AL Division Series. Unfortunately, this stripe of luck ended, when the Sox dug themselves a 3-1 hole against the Indians. After that, the Boston Red Sox stayed in the moment and showed an amazing comeback by winning the series in seven games (!) In the World Series, the team beat Colorado and became the first team to win two championships at once in the new millennium.
The Sox has the perfect mix of youngsters, core players in their prime and grizzled veterans, which, most probably, contributed to their success this season. For example, Josh Beckett, 27, who advanced in his playing very much, Jonathan Papelbon, 26, as well as David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who once again proved why they are such a feared 3-4 combo.
No matter what will happen next, the 2007 squad will be definitely put down in the books as World Series champions!
