"If true, it isn't the worst outcome for the Red Sox," Sox chairman Tom Werner said. "We get to hold onto our deep farm system, and Santana ends up pitching in the other league."
Werner did not mention it specifically, but the Sox are not unhappy that Santana is not going to the Yankees, who may initially have made the best offer - top pitching prospect Phil Hughes and outfielder Melky Cabrera - but pulled that from the table by the end of the process, general manager Brian Cashman saying he was committed to the team's youth.
The Sox' offers did not differ dramatically from those they presented at the outset: One package featured pitcher Jon Lester, the other center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. The Sox refused to include both players in the deal, according to several officials with direct knowledge of the talks, and in the end felt their offers trumped that of the Mets, though one club official said yesterday he anticipated that the Twins would take New York's.
But there was considerable doubt within Red Sox executive offices that even if they'd struck a deal, they would have been able to sign Santana, who turned down a four-year, $80 million extension from the Twins and reportedly is seeking a six-year deal for as much as $25 million annually "I don't necessarily think it's a done deal for the Mets, either," one Sox official said yesterday, "if that's what Santana really wants."
But the Mets, who suffered a late September collapse last season, lost 300-game winner Tom Glavine in the offseason, and are moving into a new ballpark in 2009, had the greatest need for Santana, who turns 29 in March.
The Sox, who last winter gave Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka a six-year deal but cited unique circumstances for doing so, almost certainly would not have offered Santana as many years, or would have proposed a contract well short of $25 million in annual average value. Their strategy, according to sources familiar with their thinking, included a belief that Santana would have accepted less to pitch for a potential perennial World Series contender.
