When the best pitcher in baseball gets traded from the other league into your league–in this case, Johan Santana going from the American League’s Twins to the National League’s Mets–most teams in the new league, in this case the NL, would start to moan and groan. But this deal may actually help the Brewers.
You see, the Brewers face the Twins for six games in interleague play in 2008…which is exactly the same number of times that they face the Mets. In other words, the addition of Santana to the Mets will result in almost every other NL team having to face Santana this season now…something they would not have had to do had the trade not been done.
Of course, Brewers’ fans want to see Santana win 20 games this season–especially if it includes 3-4 wins over the Cubs, and another 2-3 over the Astros, Reds, and Cards.
Now, astute fans will note that the Rockies, Nationals, Diamondbacks, and Padres will also face the Twins in ’08, and might have seen Santana. But these four teams only face the Twins for three games, half as many as the Brewers. The Nationals, of course, will see the Mets (and probably Santana) a whole lot more now because of the trade. Even the three NL West teams will see the Mets for at least twice as many times as they face the Twins, thus doubling their chances of seeing Santana.
The Brewers play in Shea April 11-13, and will likely see Santana on that Friday, barring rainouts, if the Mets pitch Santana every five days. But even this is not bad for the Brewers–over the past three seasons, Santana was 0-1, 6.00 over two starts against the Brewers…including that June 25, 2005 game at Miller Park where Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks each recorded their first career MLB homers.
The best part: Brewers’ fans will get to remind all those Twins’ fans that are brave enough to venture to Milwaukee that Santana has bolted for greener pastures (they have grass on Long Island, right?).
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