http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/01/2

- Buzz: Santana, Extension, Major-League Talent

http://www.startribune.com/sports/14296781.html

...posted by Matthew Cerrone...

In the Star-Tribune, columnist Sid Hartman writes that, while the Yankees and Mets have ruled out signing Johan Santana to a seven-year deal if he’s traded, there is still hope that the Twins could work out an extension of their own.

However, in a different report for the Star-Tribune, citing a ‘Twins official,’ La Velle E Neal III writes that there have been no recent contract talks between the Twins and Santana.

Neal explains that the Twins are hesitant to trade Santana for what they perceive to be 20 cents on the dollar, adding…

“Peter Greenberg, Santana’s agent, admitted during a telephone conversation this week that he will need to discuss strategy with Santana soon on how to handle things if he is forced to report to camp with the Twins…What Greenberg wouldn’t address is if Santana will refuse to waive his no-trade clause once he reports, but that possibility surely exists. It’s unclear if the Twins have been told that yet - but it appears that they have stepped up their efforts to make a deal happen before camp begins.”

Neal breaks down what Minnesota can expect to get from the Red Sox and Yankees, while noting how the Mets and Twins have talked about adding another player to the deal, “such as pitcher Aaron Heilman.”

In yesterday’s Boston Herald, citing ‘indications,’ Michael Silverman wrote that Ryan Church could be included in a potential deal as well.

By the way, according to Hartman, “The Mets never have given a player more than a five-year contract, and they would be averse to changing that policy.”

…ummm, the Mets signed Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza to a seven-year deals, plus signed a six-year pact with David Wright…i’m guessing that hartman meant to peg that to only pitchers…which is correct…as i have said, the sense i get is that the Mets are against giving more than a five-year deal to any pitcher, as are the Yankees, mostly because of insurance issues…the thing is, when santana says seven years, what are we talking about…i mean, he’s under contract next season, if he’s guaranteed five and an option, that’s seven years from today…i wonder if that is good enough…

Santana's agent is finding out Twins' offer is pretty decent

http://www.startribune.com/sports/14296781.html

The Mets and Yankees have ruled out signing the lefthander to a seven-year contract if he's traded. So maybe there's hope Minnesota still can work something out.

By SID HARTMAN, Star Tribune


The Mets and Yankees have made it clear they will not meet the demands of Johan Santana's agents and sign the Twins' star lefthander to a seven-year contract calling for upwards of $140 million if they acquired Santana in a trade.

George Steinbrenner's son, Hank, who currently has the final say in Yankees matters, told me the other day they would not give any pitcher a contract for that many years.

The Mets never have given a player more than a five-year contract, and they would be averse to changing that policy.

The Red Sox have not made any comments about length of contract for the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

However, the Red Sox surely are aware of Santana's career record in Fenway Park. He was 1-3 with a 6.89 ERA through 2006, and he didn't pitch there at all last year. Fenway Park never has been kind to southpaws.

So maybe the Twins' offer is a pretty good one. Santana will be paid $13.25 million in 2008 and the Twins offered him a four-year deal at $20 million or a total $80 million guaranteed. The Giants signed pitcher Barry Zito to a seven-year contract for $126 million last year, and the result was the former Oakland lefthander had an ordinary record of 11-13. The experience the Giants had might dissuade clubs from giving that type of contract to Santana.

No doubt the Twins have to be concerned about the huge multiyear contracts it will take to sign first baseman Justin Morneau and right fielder Michael Cuddyer and the big money they are paying catcher Joe Mauer. Then they have a big decision whether to sign the best relief pitcher in baseball -- Joe Nathan -- who will be a free agent after earning $6 million this year.

There currently is a lot of negativity when it comes to interest in the Twins, now that center fielder Torii Hunter has moved on to the Angels.

The Pohlad family could revive that interest overnight by finding a way to keep Santana. There will be a lot of unhappy fans if Santana is traded to the Mets for a bunch of prospects.

Owner Carl Pohlad found ways to keep Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett in Minnesota.

There has to be some way to keep Santana so he can anchor an extremely young pitching staff in 2008, especially because the Tigers, Indians, White Sox and even the Royals have improved their teams.

Some teams have used deferred contracts

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/2008/01/spagnuolo-could-still-be-in-sk.html
January 24, 2008
Spagnuolo could still be in Skins' sights

Those of you who would like to see the Giants retain defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo might not be out of the woods yet.

Various reports out of D.C. are suddenly saying that Jim Fassel is no longer the lock he appeared to be for the Redskins’ head coaching job. That could mean Spagnuolo could get into that mix if Dan Snyder is willing to wait until after the Super Bowl to interview him.

GIANTSFAN1.jpgI still think it’s much more likely Snyder will eventually settle on Fassel or just promote is former head-coach-in-waiting Gregg Williams. But apparently Spagnuolo and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels are going to get at least some consideration.

The truth is, you never really know what Snyder is going to do.

***

There was a lot of talk today about the Giants not doing any talking this week or next week in advance of the Super Bowl, though it was too late to help out Osi Umenyiora who, as you know, accused Patriots LT Matt Light of dirty play in an appearance on HBO.

Apparently Plaxico Burress didn’t get the memo either.

He was asked an admittedly loaded question by one of my out-of-town colleagues: Does he consider the Giants’ receivers to be on the same level as the Patriots’ receivers?

His answer: “We have guys that can go out and do things just as well or maybe better than some of those guys. That’s the way we look at it.”

The continual tugging on the cape of Superman (or Supermen) continues to amaze me. So far, Eli “We know how to beat them” Manning, Osi “Matt Light is dirty” Umenyiora, and Plaxico “We’re better than they are” Burress all have earned spots on the Patriots’ bulletin board.

What happened to talk is cheap; play the game?

***

Amani Toomer has spent some time this week telling teammates how horrible they’re going to feel if they lose this game, just like he felt when the Giants lost Super Bowl XXXV.

“It was a horrible experience last time,” he said. “It takes you a while to get over that. There’s no surprise why the team who goes to the Super Bowl and loses traditionally (has) a let-down year (the following year) where they are trying to regroup. It’s not only that you go there and you lose the big game, but your offseason is a lot shorter and there’s nothing really to show for it. You just went there to lose.”

Toomer, who said it took him “a couple years” to get over that loss, added “I think we’re a lot less happy about being in the Super Bowl than we were back in 2001.”

***

The crack Giants PR staff, which is doing a tremendous job keeping the media circus running during the playoffs, really doesn’t miss a trick. Tomorrow, their daily media schedule lists a 12:15 conference call with Peyton Manning.

And in case anyone wasn’t sure who Peyton Manning is, it says “Eli’s brother” in parenthesis next to his name.

***

And finally, remember all those blog entries I did before the NFC championship game about the wackos and nut-jobs coming out of the woodwork for the big game? Well, we officially have our first entrant in the Super Bowl “crazy” contest.

Congratulations to Joe Gannascoli, who played Vito on The Sopranos. He will appear tomorrow morning on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” (7-9 a.m.) with his wife, Diana.

Why? Because they dyed their poor dog blue.

The dye job is bad enough. Going on TV to get publicity for doing that is just plain weird.

The Patriots might be too good and too experienced to be drawn into such name-calling.

"There are plays that happen to me, to everybody out there, that if you wanted to spin it another way, you could say, 'Man, that was a dirty play,' " Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel said.

"But I mean, it's football, man. There's going to be some things that happen that aren't by design and maybe you didn't want to do but they happen. So if after the game guys say 'this guy's a dirty player,' then red flags go up. But that's a [media] problem, that's not our problem."

Rodney Harrison, who has a reputation for borderline play, got involved in the fray last week when he was quoted in a Milwaukee newspaper saying the Giants are a dirty team.

"Who cares? It's football," Harrison said yesterday. "You're going to have some late hits, you're going to have some penalties, you're going to have some guys on the offensive side of the ball trying to blow your knees out just as well as guys on the [defensive] line. That's part of football. We signed up for a dirty sport."