Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Just a Reminder: Bob Sansevere Was Really Wrong About Santana

Back in 2007, St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Bob Sansevere wrote such a stupid piece that it got national blog coverage, much of it focusing on how stupid it was that a guy writing about the Twins could lose track of who was a tradeable commodity, and who wasn't.  You can read about that here.


One of the things about that article that annoyed me at the time was that Bob seemed to suggest that the Twins, by not giving a 29 year old pitcher a six-year/$120 million dollar deal were being "cheap".  That, amongst other factors, led me to call Bob Sansevere "aggressively stupid".  


Seeing as Santana is now halfway through his six-year, $137 million contract, that will pay him $22.5 million next year, it seems fair to look back and see if the Twins were right or just working for "a cheapskate owner."


In his last two years, Santana hasn't reached 15 wins.   He hasn't struck out more than 150 batters in his last two years with the Mets.  He did that every year he was with the Twins, going back to 2003, when he was only a part-time starter.  


Part of the reason of Santana's statistical drop is his real world drop--he simply hasn't played as much as he used to--he hasn't pitched 200 innings since 2008.  But back in 2007, Bob Sansevere wasn't worried about what Santana might be in 3 or 4 or 5 years--he was a good pitcher that the Twins were shopping.  And he was a dick about it.  And he was wrong.  Just sayin'.

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