Santana deal is cure for Mets' choke job of '07

The New York Who just became the biggest story in sports on Tuesday, if only for a few hours, until we get deep into February?

The New York ... Giants?

Nope.

With Johan Santana, the Mets' late meltdown of 2007 can be forgotten in a New York Minute. (Getty Images)

Leave it to general manager Omar Minaya and his New York Mets to steal, or at least borrow, a wee bit of spotlight time while the rest of the sports world considers whether to bet the color of Eli Manning's shoes Sunday.

In trading for Minnesota ace Johan Santana, the ultra-aggressive Minaya, who had been suspiciously silent for far too long, essentially administered a shot of mouthwash to help clear the nasty aftertaste of the Collapse of 2007, and he re-positioned the Mets as serious players (again) in the NL pennant chase in 2008.

All in the one final, flourishing phone call it took to close this trade.

For the Mets, and for baseball fans located nearly everywhere other than Minnesota and certain NL East cities, this is the kind of trade that makes the opening of spring camps appear that much closer.

For the Twins, the deal is essentially akin to invoking a non-compete clause for the division title in 2008. From the AL Central, Cleveland came within a few outs of playing in the World Series last fall. Detroit is loaded. The Twins clearly are retooling.

For the Tigers, Indians and Los Angeles Angels, the deal is fantastic news. Because it not only keeps Santana away from everyone's Public Enemy Nos. 1 and 2 -- the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox -- it moves him completely out of the AL.

This still could all fall apart over the next 72 hours, of course, if the Mets and Santana cannot agree on a long-term contract extension. But there's as much chance of that happening as there is of the Super Bowl being canceled this week. The Mets have both an overpowering need for a staff ace as well as overwhelming resources at their disposal. They didn't complete the parameters of this deal only to watch it unravel. Plus, Santana told the Twins early on his preference was to go to an East Coast club, all the closer to his native Venezuela.

Santana is the piece the Mets lacked in each of the past two summers. With him in '07 -- or with one of the rare other pitchers in his class -- the Mets don't choke away a seven-game lead in the season's final 17 days. With him in '06, they don't allow a thoroughly mediocre St. Louis team to steal the NL pennant in Game 7 at Shea Stadium.

Acquiring Santana is like signing a vintage Pedro Martinez as a free agent -- something the Mets didn't do, by the way, before the 2005 season. What they signed then was a just-past peak Martinez, who went 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA over 31 starts before becoming threadbare and breaking down in '06.

Martinez, who created heightened expectations at Shea with his arrival in '05, was 33 then. Santana is 29, and coming off Cy Young seasons in 2004 and 2006. Pedro was five seasons removed from his last Cy Young -- with Boston, in 2000 -- upon joining the Mets.