SI.com’s Jon Heyman checks in with some inside info from the What Might’ve Been file. He says the Rangers and Twins were close to an agreement on the players involved in a trade that would’ve sent Johan Santana to Texas. The Twins pulled the plug when Santana was noncommital about whether he’d approve a trade to the Rangers. They felt that this would’ve decreased his market value (instead the Twins ended up overplaying their hand and accepting the second or third-best offer).
Heyman speculates that the Rangers could’ve offered Eric Hurley and/or Edinson Volquez, for starters. A Taylor Teagarden and various high-ceiling types could’ve been in there too, I imagine. Would’ve been interesting to see Minnesota get Teagarden and shift Joe Mauer to third base in ’09.
The Rangers hoped to pair Johan with Torii Hunter, but Hunter couldn’t pass on the Angels’ offer. Five years, $90MM is the kind of offer he had to pounce on.
