Having fun yet?

I get text messages and e-mails, asking that a lot lately. And no, this isn’t fun. Everyone knows a Johan Santana trade would be a very big deal, and the Twins have been in serious discussions about it, so that is a major story.

But that doesn’t mean a deal will happen. As the days and hours pass, it’s getting frustrating for our readers. I can tell from your comments. But I promise you, it’s more frustrating for the media.

La Velle might have told his blog readers it was safe to go to bed last night with no deal in sight at 9:42 p.m. But he didn’t see his bed until well after 1 a.m., when he spotted Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, somewhere in the Opryland Hotel jungle and figured that was a pretty good sign no trade was happening overnight.

La Velle was back on the case early today, with a text that said, “good morning!”

Yeah, sleep is overrated. I’ve been trying to help from back here in snowy Minnesota, but it’s been one-tenth the stress those reporters feel down there at the Opryland.

Anyway, you didn’t come here to listen to me blather about reporting nuances. You want real news. But folks, at this hour, there just isn’t any to share.

I’m really starting to think there will be no Santana trade in Nashville, after all. It could very well happen after the winter meetings, of course, but unless every team is just posturing, I don’t believe the Twins will find an offer good enough to justify a deal.

Imagine: all this hype for nothing.

I was going to write this last weekend, but did you know that in Terry Ryan’s 13 years as GM, the team never made a move at the winter meetings — a free agent signing or trade — that required a Ryan press conference?

For a good laugh, I went back and read the story La Velle wrote on Dec. 5, 2006, from last year’s winter meetings in Orlando:

There’s a media work room here at the Dolphin Resort, complete with a lectern and microphones to announce significant deals.

Twins General Manager Terry Ryan never has been in it.

“You may never see me in that media room,” Ryan said. “Where is it? Is there a media room here?”

Though Major League Baseball encourages deals to be made during the meetings, the Twins never have made a big splash here during Ryan’s tenure.

…

“We’re not going to pretend we’re somebody we are not,” he said. “Our philosophy has pretty much been in place for years, and it certainly has served us well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make big news.”

Yeah, unfortunately. Think I’ll go finish up that shoveling. I’ll have my cell phone handy in case the Twins lift this winter meetings curse once and for all.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 10:38 am and is filed under Around MLB, Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.