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Right now the buzz in baseball is the Minnesota Twins trade of Johan Santana to the New York Mets. Every fan of Major League Baseball seems to be following closely the trade details and looking for additional information about it.

In case you haven’t read about the trade Johan Santana will be shipped to the Mets for the four following prospects:

Carlos Gomez  - Outfielder
Deolis Guerra - Pitcher (Righthander)
Phil Humber - Pitcher (Righthander, had Tommy John surgery in 2005)
Kevin Mulvey - Pitcher (Righthander)

With this trade the Mets starting rotation consists of the following five pitchers: 

Johan Santana - 3.33 ERA (Left)
Pedro Martinez - 2.57 ERA (Right)
Oliver Perez - 3.56 ERA (Left)
John Maine - 3.91 ERA (Right)
Orlando Hernandez - 3.72 ERA (Right)

Initially judging the trade everyone who follows baseball agrees that the Mets came out in way better shape. The prospects the Mets gave up are just that, prospects. Santana is a proven winner and the Mets can start winning now, while the Twins will have to wait a few years to see if any of these prospects becomes a solid baseball player.

Right now it is difficult to say if any of the four guys the Twins received in exchage would have made the Mets roster in April or any other part of the 2008 season. Of the four probably only Carlos Gomez is anywhere close to being ready at the Major League level.

Santana is a proven commodity, 29, and durable. You can get six more years out of him easily while Gomez is a good player that needs to develop his hitting skills.

Humber pitched a few times last year for the Mets and he was okay, but he needs maturity and most likely he will never become a Santana.

For the Mets General Manager Omar Minaya this was a great move because he didn’t give up any established players. The organization kept Jose Reyes, top outfield prospect Fernando Martinez, top young pitcher Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman, a young righ-handed pitcher who is considered to be an integral piece of the Mets future.

Now the Mets will have to negotiate a contract extension with Santana. The two-time Cy Young Award winner   is owed $13.25 million this year and likely will seek an extension of five-to-seven years worth at least $20 million annually.

The Twins probably would have made a better trade with the Boston Red sox or  New York Yankees. Boston’s prospects have already won a ring and if any general manager in the league knows, expierence in the big games is key.

 The problem is that the Yankees withdrew their bid, which included pitcher Phil Hughes and outfielder Melky Cabrera; while the Red Sox refused to improve their offer, which would have sent pitcher Jon Lester or outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to the Twins along with other young players.

Furthermore what made things worse for the Twins was that Santana would become a free agent after this year’s World Series, and he had already turned down an $80 million, four-year extension offer that Minnesota made early in the offseason.

So maybe the Twins fans should be grateful because in all honesty this might just be a slightly better package than to get two compensatory draft picks had Santana walked next year.