Johan!

As someone who predominantly plays in an NL-Only Auction Baseball league, the arrival of Johan Santana to the Mets is fairly awesome news. As noted before, the National League is - sadly - miles behind the American League in talent level.

But Santana is immediately the best pitcher in the league. And in fantasy baseball, surely fellow Mets teammates Jose Reyes and David Wright are in the top ten or higher.

What I'm saying is...the Mets are going to be sick next year.

What's more, it seems like the Twins got a bit hosed in the deal. More below the fold.

I'm not a baseball junkie in the way I'd know anything about most minor league players, but here's the players received by the Twins, and Rotoworld's take on it:

USA Today believes the Mets have landed Johan Santana from the Twins for Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Philip Humber.

A contract extension would still have to be worked out, so even if it is officially agreed to, this will likely linger through Friday at least. It's a pretty disappointing day for Twins fans. Both packages being discussed by the Red Sox and Yankees during the winter meetings seemed more attractive to us. Gomez and Guerra are big-time talents, but Gomez lacks plate discipline and might not fit in the top half of the lineup and an awful lot could go wrong before Guerra even sniffs the majors. Mulvey and Humber are third starters at best and probably more like fourths. It's a whole lot better than losing Santana for draft picks next winter, but we'd have taken a Phil Hughes or Jacoby Ellsbury package over this.

Um, YEAH. If the Twins could have picked up either Hughes or Ellsbury, two of the more promising young players in baseball...on less proven talent? When you are dealing away THE BEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL you kind of want at least a player or two who has shown he can do it in the pros.

Forget about youngsters like Hughes and Ellsbury, who of course are no locks for stardom. When the Mets first got mentioned in trade talks, I remember that the Twins were asking for either Reyes or Wright back in the deal. To move from that (admittedly unlikely) stance to what they got is a serious, serious loss in negotiation for Twins management.

On the other hand, the Twins traded A.J. Piersynzski to the Giants for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser. That's an ace closer, a potential ace pitcher (coming back from injury), and an amusingly named guy who is going to be a key part of the starting rotation again in 2008.

Yes, I'm still bitter. But happy that Johan will be up for grabs in fantasy baseball.