And you will remember him by the trail of the dead
Who are the biggest winners in the trade that sent Johan Santana to New York?
Not the Mets. Nor the Twins. Not even the White Sox.
The ones with the most to gain from this deal: White Sox
fans. Santana will not make a single start against the White Sox in 2008, and thus the people who pay to watch them will be spared the laudatory quotes from the Pale Hose to their left-handed overlord.
We know the Sox couldn't hit Santana in a 16-inch softball league, but it bears repeating.
South Side Baseball and
The Bard's Room are a couple outlets that have written about Santana's success against the Sox, but his career line -- 13-6, 3.24 ERA, better than a strikeout an inning -- doesn't tell the whole story.
Before the middle of 2004, the Sox never had much of a problem with Santana, because the heart of the order destroyed him. You had:
Frank Thomas, who
is 10-for-21 with five homers against Santana in his career. The Big Hurt also took Santana deep twice as an Oakland A in the 2006 ALDS.
Magglio Ordonez, who owns a line of
.391/.455/.870 against Santana.
Carlos Lee, 8-for-23 with three homers when he was with the White Sox.
The last time all three were in the lineup with the Sox against Santana, they
thrashed him for seven runs in three innings. Here's how the Sox have fared before that date -- May 23, 2004, to be exact -- and after:
| |
G/GS |
W-L |
ERA |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
K |
WHIP |
| Before |
11/5 |
1-3 |
7.94 |
34 |
44 |
9 |
30 |
14 |
35 |
1.71 |
| After |
17/17 |
12-3 |
1.95 |
124.1 |
81 |
15 |
27 |
23 |
137 |
0.84 |
I don't know what's more embarrassing:
No. 1: That they scored more runs against Santana in the first 34 innings than they did in the last 124 1/3.
No. 2: That line includes
Santana's last start against the Sox, in which they roughed him up for six runs in seven innings, including two homers by Josh Fields. Before that, his ERA against the Sox post Thomas-Ordonez-Lee was
1.61.
Take your pick -- either way, it's a scathing indictment of how the Sox raised the white flag before he even took the mound.
Normally, saying a team gave up, especially before the game even started, would be hyperbole, but to channel Troy Aikman,
I'm not so sure we're exaggerating anything here. Just look at how Ozzie Guillen fired up his troops:
August 20, 2006: "He should pay our ass for winning the Cy Young. He should send us the [expletive] trophy. I'm gonna be mad at Santana because of that? No. He shoves it up our ass, that's the way it is."
April 8, 2007: "I'm going to call my mom in Venezuela to come here and cook for him.
It will poison him. If Santana ate my mom's cooking, he will be in
trouble pitching the next day."
May 9, 2007: ''I might kiss Gardy. They aren't pitching Santana? Why? What happened? Is
he in jail or something? Gardy, I love you. I better keep it quiet and make sure [Santana's] not going.''
May 27, 2007: In response to Darin Erstad preferring to face Santana instead of Scott Kazmir: "So would I. You get a real comfortable 0-for-4 against him."
And he's backed up by the front office, too, as
Kenny Williams joked that he would offer something for the Twins to trade Santana to a National League team this offseason.
Healthy respect is all well and good, but it doesn't seem like quality leadership when you accept a loss so willingly, and
in advance. Hell, Santana wasn't even in top form last year:
- He went 1-8 against the Indians and Tigers.
- He gave up a career-high 33 homers.
- He had a 4.04 ERA in the second half.
While he's the best pitcher in the league, he wasn't 1968 Bob Gibson or 1999 Pedro Martinez out there. He was a great pitcher who turned in a season that was merely very good. That didn't stop the Sox from feting him at every possible turn.
That's why I'm a little sad to see Santana go, in a way -- I wanted to see if somebody besides Ozzie would take charge when Santana started. Maybe Fields could've been that guy. He had two homers and a walk in his first seven plate appearances against the two-time AL Cy Young winner, which isn't a bad way to start. Jerry Owens (3-for-8) wasn't afraid of him, either.
Instead, the Sox get to take the easy way out. We'll continue to hear about how great Santana was, and how happy they are to not face him in 2008, even though they did nothing to earn such a reprieve. In an environment that's supposed to be competitive, that doesn't seem quite right.
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By the numbers: Sox hitters most victimized by SantanaNo. 5: Joe Crede. Normally a decent contact hitter (one
strikeout every 7.37 plate appearances), Crede struck out 12 times in
48 at-bats, with only eight hits to his credit.
No. 4: Paul Konerko. The Sox captain led the way with only eight hits in 56 at-bats against Santana, although three left the yard. He walked eight times, struck out 18 times.
No. 3: Juan Uribe. In typical Uribe fashion, he struck out 17 times in 53 at-bats against Santana without walking once. He did go ¡Profundo! once -- it resulted in his only RBI.
No. 2: A.J. Pierzynski. Two singles in 20 at-bats. No walks, five strikeouts. At least .100/.100/.100. is an easy line to add.
No. 1: Danny Richar. I planned to make an allowance for small sample size, but this is too remarkable to pass up: Six plate appearances, six strikeouts on 24 pitches.