Negotiations Hit Snag

From the “You Knew It Couldn’t Be This Easy” department, ESPN’s Jayson Stark is reporting that negotiations between the Mets and the Johan Santana camp have hit a snag, with the length of contract being the sticking point.

Apparently the Mets only want to guarantee five years, beyond his current one-year deal, while Santana’s reps are looking for six more years on top of an increased salary in 2008. As I wrote Tuesday when this story broke, the Mets can afford the money and cannot afford to let it get in the way of this deal. The only thing worse than the epic collapse last season would be an unprecedented collapse of this deal.

The debate over years is a valid concern for most free-agent pitchers, but this is a special case. Santana is being brought in as the proverbial mouthwash for devastated Mets fans, as well as a crucial piece for a win-now team. If the Mets are able to take a World Series in the next few years, the Mets shouldn’t be worried about what they’ll be paying Santana in 2014. And if it gets Mets fans to forget the final month of the 2007 season and accept the increased ticket prices, the team certainly shouldn’t worry about it now.

But more than anything, the general consensus is the Mets stole Santana. That’s overstated because the Mets did give up some high-end prospects and three hard-to-come-by young arms, but still, this was a very favorable deal for the Amazin’s. You don’t get a second chance at a deal with like this.

And I’m sure the Mets realize that.

Breaking News: Mets, Twins agree

Updated at 7:21 p.m. Tuesday

The Mets just couldn’t let us concentrate solely on the Super Bowl, could they?

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale is reporting that the Mets and Twins have agreed to a deal for ace pitcher Johan Santana.

The deal is for four prospects and only four prospects, but they are good ones. Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Bishop Ahr High School product and Parlin resident Kevin Mulvey will head to Minnesota in the deal.

According to Nightengale:

“The deal is pending the Mets and Santana reaching agreement on a six- or seven-year contract extension and that Santana passes a physical; they have been granted a 48 to-72-hour window to do so. Santana has a no-trade clause that he will waive if agreement is reached on a contract extension.”

I don’t see this being a problem. With Citi Field coming down the pike and a year of near-sellouts on tap for Shea’s final season, even the fiscally conservative Fred Wilpon can find the money it will take to extend Santana. And besides, everyone including myself wondered aloud how the Mets could raise ticket prices after an epic collapse last season. The idea that they could potentially bring in a big-name, front-line starter probably factored into that decision.

As for the deal itself, it is a lot of good young prospects, but a deal the Mets had to make. With aging players like Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and Carlos Delgado, this is a team that is essentially built for now. They have to make a run at it. And amazingly, the Mets were able to stick to their guns on the Fernando Martinez issue and keep him out of the deal. That’s especially impressive on Omar Minaya’s part because after trading away Lastings Milledge in the poorly-received Brian Schneider/Ryan Church deal, the Mets were on the verge of going from potentially three outfielders of the future to none. That could also make the Santana deal more feasible in the future since if Martinez makes it, that’s one less expensive free-agent outfielder the Mets will need to sign.

The bottom line is everyone was calling for the Mets to wipe away the bad taste of the epic collapse. Today, they took a huge step in that direction. In the next 72 hours, they could seal it.

UPDATE (6:17 p.m.) — For those wondering what this will cost the Amazin’s, Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman breaks down the negotiations as such:

“People familiar with the Mets’ thinking say they’d like to keep it to a five-year contract, while Santana is believed to be seeking a deal for six or seven years at more than $20 million per year.”

However, Heyman believes a potential compromise could be the Mets upping the dollars per year while keeping the years at five. For example, a five-year extension at $24 million per on top of his existing one-year $13 million contract would give him a six-year deal at $133 million or more than Barry Zito’s deal with the Giants. That could get it done. And like I wrote earlier, the Mets have a ton of additional revenue coming in for the next few seasons, so they can afford it.

UPDATE (7:21 p.m.) — Obviously, we know what the Mets get in this deal — a front-line starter for years to come who will also benefit from moving out of the American League into the lighter-hitting NL. But what about what is being sent to the Twins?

The only position player is Gomez, who hit .232 last season in an unexpected heavy workload thanks to Alou’s extended time off. While that might not seem impressive, anyone who saw Gomez play day in and day out saw a player who had good baseball instincts and blinding speed. The ability to pair Jose Reyes and Gomez on the basepaths would have given NL East catchers migraines for years to come. But with the ability to hold on to Martinez, Gomez became expendable.

The highest-level pitcher was Humber. The former No. 1 pick got a start with the Mets last season when the team needed a win and he was given a big early lead, but he was unable to hold it and the Mets went on to lose the game. Not a great first start, but the 25-year-old righty did win 11 games at Triple-A New Orleans last season and is still thought to have a high ceiling.

Most people considered Guerra to be the Mets’ best pitching prospect, but the 18-year old is still a long way away. He went 2-6 with a 4.01 ERA at Single-A St. Lucie and could turn into something fantastic. But that’s years from now and the Mets are a team that needed pitching help now.

Finally, the player the Mets might miss most is the local boy Mulvey who skyrocketed through the Mets minor-league system last season, even making a Triple-A start by season’s end. The 22-year-old New Jersey native compiled a 3.20 ERA in 26 starts (mostly at Double-A Binghamton.) He might have been able to help the Mets later this season or definitely by the inaugural season in Citi Field. But still, you have to give up talent to get talent and that’s certainly what the Mets received in Santana.

Now they just have to sign him.

Rice Robbed… Again

Congrats to Goose Gossage who was named to the Hall of Fame today. He’s a deserving choice who waited long enough. I’ll let T.J. celebrate over in the Yankee blog because I think the bigger story is what happened to Jim Rice.

I don’t have a vote, but if I did, he would have been my No. 1 pick. Gossage would have gotten a vote. As would have Jack Morris. As would have Bert Blyleven. And brace yourself, as would have Mark McGwire. But if I only could pick one, I have chosen Rice.

You’re talking about one of the dominant offensive forces for more than a decade, stretching from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. Growing up a Mets fan in the early-80s, he didn’t face my favorite team that often, but when he did, I feared him. And for good reason, he hit .333 against the Mets in the ‘86 World Series, scoring six runs and walking another six times for a .455 on-base.

And when you checked the back of his baseball card, there was an awful lot of bold numbers. He led the league in slugging twice, OPS once, at-bats twice, hits once, total bases four times, triples once, homers three times, RBI twice and extra-base hits once. He was an eight-time All-Star and MVP in 1978. He also finished in the top five of MVP voting six times over a period of 11 years.

Here’s the most telling stat about Rice: According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, “… in his 12 seasons of domination from 1975 to ‘86, he led everyone in his league in homers, RBIs, runs, slugging and extra-base hits.” That’s a Hall of Famer.

But here’s something else to consider. I understand that 382 home runs and just under 1,500 RBI doesn’t sound like a lot these days. But at the same time, McGwire is being punished for the sins of the Steroid Era, netting just 23.6 percent of the vote this year. If we are going to disown the Steroid Era, shouldn’t we embrace the era that came before it.

Because Rice owned that era.

Tell Me What You Want Me To Do

Imagine you’re having a conversation with someone who has told some terrible lies about you. There might be yelling. There might be shouting. There might even be some obscenities. And surely there would be a demand for an explanation.

Do you have a good mental image of this fictional conversation yet?

Yes?

Good, now throw it completely out and forget every preconceived notion you might have about this conversation because it will be completely useless when trying to analyze the conversation between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee.

The Rocket held his long-awaited press conference Monday to coincide with his appearance on “60 Minutes” on Sunday. It’s been a day of surprises as first Clemens’ camp announced a defamation lawsuit against McNamee filed late Sunday. Then during the press conference they played an audio recording of the rumored Friday night phone conversation allegedly between Clemens and McNamee. In a surreal 15-minute recording, Clemens repeatedly states that he would tell the truth at his press conference and wonders why McNamee would tell anyone that the Rocket used steroids (Important distinction: He did not ask McNamee why he would lie. He asked why he would say it. There’s a world of difference there.), while a distraught McNamee repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly… like 21 times) asks Clemens to tell him what to do. It’s almost as if the two are having a conversation — just not with one another.

The obvious question is why didn’t Clemens simply answer one of McNamee’s many pleas for guidance by telling him to tell the truth? The other obvious question is why didn’t McNamee simply tell Clemens that he told investigators what he did because it was the truth?

Sure, there are explanations that can be given. Clemens’ lawyer claims he was leery of coercing a federal witness, even if said coercing meant telling him to do what he was sworn to do anyway. In a normal conversation, this wouldn’t even be an issue. But this was no normal conversation.

There was so much in this 15 minutes to dissect. The health problems of McNamee’s son. His claim that he tried to warn the Clemens camp of Radomski. McNamee’s pledge that he would go to jail for Clemens. We’ve heard from Clemens. We need to hear from McNamee. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman just posted an exclusive interview with him from during the “60 Minutes” broadcast in which he takes issue with Clemens’ assertions about the B-12 and lidocaine. But that was conducted before today’s press conference. Now all the questions have changed.

And we still don’t have answers to some of our previous questions. Like why Brian McNamee would tell the truth about Andy Pettitte but lie about Clemens? Or will Clemens deny taking steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs while under oath in front of Congress? (On “60 Minutes” he said he would talk about Vioxx. In his press conference he said he would talk about himself. Neither time did he answer the real question: Will you make the same passionate denials of steroid use while under oath?) Or why Clemens thinks people who illegally provided him with steroids would want to come forward, as he wondered aloud with Mike Wallace? And does Clemens really think people are concerned with his take on Vioxx?

The one thing that really struck me during the “60 Minutes” interview is the same thing that struck me during Sunday’s premiere of “American Gladiators” on NBC: That some people haven’t been paying attention the last few years. “American Gladiators” repeatedly boasted about its beefed-up, over-muscled Gladiators while 1980s steroid poster boy Hulk Hogan flexed his still-sizable arms for the camera. The producers clearly didn’t realize that our society has caught on to the steroid issue. Clemens didn’t seem to realize that either. He wondered why he didn’t have a third ear coming out of his forehead and why he would want to get tighter as a pitcher. Five years ago, that might’ve played well. But we’re — for better or worse — a whole lot more educated about steroids these days. We know they don’t cause strange extremities. And we certainly know an awful lot of pitchers seem to think they are beneficial. Those arguments may have worked for the 89-year-old Wallace. They probably won’t fly in front of Congress.

Still pundits, fans and columnists have taken a break from over-analyzing Clemens’ water intake and choice of shirt color and are already lining up on both sides of the aisle. Many seem swayed by today’s Clemens bombshell. Just check the comments section of Yankee blogs and message boards. Others seem to take his refusal to directly confront McNamee as further evidence of his guilt. Still others are more confused by the call.

Count me in that last group. If you want to question McNamee’s credibility at this point, I think that’s fair game. But there’s definitely no smoking gun here either.

And ultimately, Clemens can swear all he wants to the “60 Minutes” reporter. He can swear in a completely different fashion to a bunch of reporters. The only thing that really matters is if Clemens and McNamee will swear while under oath in front of Congress.

That’s the only thing that will start to answer some of our many, many questions.