Yesterday's trades of Dan Haren and Jose Valverde may have opened the floodgates. The Padres acquired CF Jim Edmonds from the Cardinals for a 3B prospect, David Freese. Freese was ranked 15th in the Padres system entering the 2007 season. After a California League line of 302/400/489 as a 24-year-old, he did not crack BA's Top 10 for 2008. However, his OBP should make him an an post-Rolen option at 3B in a very shallow Cardinals system.
With the floodgates opened, could new Johan Santana information be available? Yes!
Ed Price Says the Yankees spoke to the Twins this week about Johan Santana and got the defintion of what "deadline" meant when Hank Steinbrenner imposed one at the Winter Meetings. Mr. Steinbrenner said the deadline was only for the Winter Meetings. Ed Price also relays from a Twins source that the Yanks need to move Hideki Matsui's salary before getting back into the Santana talks.
Both the Star-Tribune and Pioneer Press report the same and hope yesterday's Haren trade will increase the Twins' leverage. That wouldn't surprise me as Hank Steinbrenner just gave the equivalent of depends-what-the-definition-of-"is"-is for "deadline". Given what the A's got for Dan Haren, one would expect the price to increase without such a statement.
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The San Francisco Chronicle follows-up the Dan Haren trade with news that 24-year-old closer, Huston Street, is considering part of the youth movement and will not likely be traded. Tha same was not said about SP Joe Blanton. Given the A's got four AA+ prospects and two high-ceiling, already-producing Hi A hitters for Haren, Blanton should fetch three more. This would effectively rocket the A's system from the bottom third in the league to top 10.