Before I say anything, I just want to make it clear that the deal is still tentative. The Mets and Johan Santana will need to agree on a fat contract extension before Johan will waive his no-trade clause. It's pretty unlikely that they won't reach a deal, but we can still hope.

At the winter meetings in December the Twins reportedly had offers from the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yankees were willing to give Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a 2nd tier prospect while the Red Sox were offering 2 different options--one headlined by __Jacoby Ellsbury and the other by Jon Lester.

If those offers were real, the Twins got--by a long shot--the 3rd "best" deal of the bunch. From the start, my stance was that the Yankees' offer of Hughes/Cabrera was the best. Cabrera could've been an adequate CF and leadoff hitter for a couple years and Hughes could've instantly entered the Twins' rotation with the strong chance of being a legit #1 starter.

The tentative deal with the Mets is headlined by Carlos Gomez, a speedy 22 year-old outfielder. Gomez posted a .232/.288/.304 line in just 125 at-bats at the big-league level last season. In the minors he had a .275/.355/.392 line in 153 at-bats. He stole 31 bases between the two levels and hits for little power. He's known to lack plate discipline, which doesn't project him to be a great leadoff hitter. He could prove to be a quality big-league player, but he's not quite at the level you'd expect to get for the best pitcher in baseball.

The trade is rounded out by 3 pitching prospects including former 1st round draft pick Phil Humber, who underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2005. 19 year old hard throwing righty Deolis Guerra, who is still a ways away from the majors, and 22 year old Kevin Mulvey are also included in the package.

On one hand I don't want to fault rookie GM Bill Smith for how things played out. He was in a tough situation where he had to deal Santana and only had a few possible suitors. On the other hand, he has a lot of explaining to do as to how he ended up at this deal with possibly two far better options on the table.

At least with Santana in the NL, the Twins won't have to face him.