Twins Woes: Bill Smith and the Art of Counterproductive Negotiation

I look at what the Twins could have gotten – either a franchise OF in Ellsbury coupled with a solid No. 3 lefty in Lester and two prospects from Boston, OR a solidified major-league OF only getting better in Melky Cabrera coupled with a future No. 1 in Phil Hughes and two prospects from New York- and I can’t help but feel that Bill Smith actually decreased his potential return for Johan Santana throughout the bargaining process. 

Minnesota didn’t get anyone with extensive major league experience, they didn’t get more than one game-changer, and they didn’t land enough major league-ready talent to  compliment their current composition of players and seriously compete within the division, or the league, during the next two years.

All of that for a the man who has averaged 240 strikeouts over the last three years. That is simply deplorable, especially considering the current state of the Mets: They are coming off the most despicable September collapse in recent baseball memory; they are getting older by the second with tons of high-paid veterans nearing the end of their productivity window (Pedro, Wagner, Beltran, Delgado, Alou etc.); they operate in a city that doesn’t accept failure; and their GM is under intense pressure to deliver something substantial given his payroll costs in recent years.

Advantage, Twins...at least one would think.

Bill Smith failed Executive Baseball Management 101 in my eyes. The Winter Meetings presented an environment under which Johan Santana’s value would never be higher. He had bidders offering substantially better packages than the way he ended up taking, and he balked.

I wrote a similar article a while back, condemning the Marlins for not getting more in return for 24 year-old stud Miguel Cabrera. Maybe I just expect GMs to land comparable talent in return for all-world players.

When Johan Santana gets dealt, I expect it to be for more than one, maybe two, potential difference makers.

The Cabrera article was more a critique on the Marlins philosophical and financial ineptitude as a franchise. This is a critique on GM Bill Smith’s bargaining and bartering skills throughout the Johan Santana sweepstakes and on the marginal, downgraded return one of the supposed smart guys in Major League Baseball got on the best left-hander in the game. 

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