FanHouse CharleyWalters

As a White Sox fan I'm generally not in the business of helping out the Minnesota Twins seeing as how they're the White Sox's biggest rival, but, due to some new developments, I feel I have to step forward. Over the last month and a half as I've scoured the internets reading rumors on free agents and the teams interested in them, I've seen a tidbit over and over again.

When I first saw it, I thought that the Twins would come to their senses and realize the mistake behind their idea, but every few days there's another mention of it in a Minneapolis newspaper or on a Twins blog, and I feel it's time to put an end to it. The latest person to broach the subject is the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters.

The Minnesota Twins are preparing to play the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field tonight, and it's a pretty big game for both teams. The winner takes the AL Central crown and moves on to Tampa to face the Rays in the playoffs, and the loser goes home to an entire list of chores the wife wants him to do around the house.

Of course, if that player has over $100 million in his bank account, he can just hire somebody to do all those chores for him. Though it should be pointed out that nobody on either the Twins or White Sox have a $100 million contract, at least, not yet. There are rumors coming out of Minnesota that Joe Mauer could have one soon.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer's $33 million, four-year contract provides no bonus for winning a batting title. It will be interesting whether the Twins try to lock up Mauer this winter with a five-year extension, which would be expected to exceed $100 million.

Now I have no idea whether Charley Walters is just saying he thinks it could happen, or if he's heard from sources that it is going to happen, but either way that's a lot of money. Still, you'd have to think Mauer is worth it. Justin Morneau is getting all the MVP talk for the Twins, but I'm not so sure Mauer isn't the Twins MVP. He's only just won his second batting title this season, plays good defense, and has handled a young pitching staff all year.

He is the face of the franchise now, so it would only make sense that he was the first Twin to cash in on the expected revenue boost Target Field will provide in 2010.

Fellow FanHouse blogger Josh Alper recently posed the question of how Twins GM Bill Smith could trade Johan Santana to the Mets without getting Fernando Martinez in return. It's a very good question, and one I was asking myself when I found out about the trade on Tuesday.

Well, it turns out that Smith may not have had a choice. According to the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters, who told us recently that Santana would be traded within 10 days, Johan forced the Twins to make the deal.

Johan Santana forced his trade to the New York Mets.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner told the Twins that unless they traded him by Tuesday, he would not waive his no-trade contract clause, he would go to spring training and play this season with the Twins, then become a free agent at season's end. That would mean the Twins' only compensation for him would be two draft picks.

As I've said before, Walters is somebody whose word I trust, and I don't doubt for a second that he's telling what he believes is the truth here. At the same time, it's entirely possible that Walters' source for this is someone within the Twins organization that's trying to spin the deal. After all, if I were a Twins fan I wouldn't be happy at all with what the team got in return for the greatest pitcher in organization history, and finding this out may turn the focus of my anger from the team to Santana.

I think we've all waited long enough to see what the Twins are finally going to do with Johan Santana, and I think most of us are probably sick of waiting for something to happen. It reminds me of a time back in high school where a disagreement between two of my bigger, angrier classmates finally came to a head after weeks of waiting.

The two were finally going to throw down in a locker room one day after gym class, where me and a small crowd of others were waiting. When the two finally got there, all they did was stand there staring at each other. There were a lot of things being said, but other than that, nothing was happening. Finally, after a few minutes of standing there I just yelled out "Somebody hit somebody, already! I have a chemistry test to get to!"

The fight then commenced, and was very disappointing. I did still manage to get an "A" on that test though.

Anyway, that's how I feel about all this Santana business. Somebody hit somebody, already. For weeks we've been waiting, and now according to the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters, Santana will be traded within the next ten days.