John Harper hits it on the head when he says had the Yankees (or the Red Sox) really wanted Satana he would be heading to one of those places.  The Red Sox didn’t really need him, but were willing to drive the price up for the Yankees.  Brian Cashman made a decision that wins my respect, but is much gutsier then any move in the past.  What’s always happened before is he has been over-ruled by the money man, usually George, with the big contract guy coming and with Cashman having to build a team that would support them.  Then, he has to prove to ownership that it wasn’t the guys he brought that faltered, but the guys they brought, not always a hard case.  Cashman is now on a level playing field with the other teams’ GM’s.  Not in terms of money, but in terms of decision making power and the weight of those decisions.  If you know you can win by outspending, wouldn’t you really rather win by building a team from scratch? ARod and Jeter hardly count as scratch, but at least one of them came from their farm system. This is going to be a great year for baseball in New York.  Thats not to say there are any guarantees about who will be in the play-offs as the Mets showed last year, but the strength of both teams, and the New York media itself will create some crazy story lines I predict.

As for the Mets, no question they gave up some talent, but its doubtful its anyone who come back to hurt them later.  Even if Mulvey, or the super young guy, Guerra, turns out to have serviceable careers, its doubtful this will ever be thought of as Kazmir for Zambrano.  I like Gomez, but there are other outfielders who are fast and and can be more valuable to a line-up.  And no one needed Santana more then the Mets, who know have 5 starters with ERA’s under 4.  Thats something for a Mets fan to be hopeful about.  Just can’t wait for spring training.