Clark Griffith helped run the Minnesota Twins before Carl Pohlad bought the franchise from Clark’s father, Calvin. He’s long been respected for both his baseball and business knowledge. Griffith was asked what the Twins should do about Johan Santana, arguably baseball’s best pitcher who becomes a free agent after next season.
“See what the options are,” said Griffith, a Minneapolis attorney. “You try to sign the player obviously. That’s option one. Option two is a trade of the player, and see what you can get. Sometimes with a player, even though you want to keep him very badly, other people will make offers to you that are so good that are better for the team long term than retaining the player. In that situation the player has got to be traded. It’s not a matter of the Twins going out to trade Santana, it’s that somebody will come and make an offer that they can’t refuse. For the best interests of the team long term then you have to make the deal.”
Should the Twins spend much more money during this off-season on players like Santana and outfielder Torii Hunter who is a free agent now? “No, they have a rule that they try to adhere to which is (spending) to 50 to 52 percent of revenues for players,” Griffith answered. “If you get over that, it’s a slippery slope, and you end up getting in a real problem, a real mess.”
What’s a real mess? “You start hemorrhaging cash, and that’s cumulative over the years,” Griffith said. “It’s very hard to pay it back.”
Santana didn’t produce key statistics last season like wins and ERA that equaled or surpassed his numbers as a two-time Cy Young winner. Still, he was second in strikeouts and seventh in ERA among American League pitchers. That was pitching for a team that won 17 fewer games than the year before, the most recent Cy Young season for Santana.
Santana will be 29 years old next season. With a history of extraordinary career numbers and a healthy arm, the Twins will hear, as Griffith said, from other organizations more willing or capable of paying extraordinary dollars. Santana, who earns $13 million per season now, according to espn.com, can make a case for exceeding the seven year contract of $127 million given to San Francisco’s Barry Zito last off-season.