British intellectual Thomas Paine published Common Sense with the help of Benjamin Rush advocating independence for the American Colonies from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776. The reaction from the public was the spark that essentially lit the fire that would be known as the American Revolution. Having had to endure yet another hot stove season of crappy, senseless rumors from major news outlets, it is my aim to urge fans, Met fans in particular, to use their common sense when sifting through the rumor receptacle.

Grab the torches people; it’s time to put this nonsense to an end.

Over the past few days, and thanks to Met blog pioneer Matthew Cerrone, there finally has been some light shed on a developing situation that seemed so destined from the start.

Let’s look at the Johan Santana situation logically.

Logic (as defined by Wikipedia) - is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.

For a team that is forced to constantly spin high-priced talent, despite being far from a low budget team, the Twins can still be very competitive next year if they do indeed move Santana. When you consider Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, the return of Francisco Liriano, the continued dominance of Joe Nathan and the recent acquisition of Delmon Young and Brendan Harris- on top of the major-league ready talent they will get back in exchange for Johan-there is no reason to think that the Twins cannot compete with the Tigers and Indians. If you agree with such logic, then why would the Twins be willing to ensure American League dominance by moving their prize lefty to either the Red Sox or Yankees?

All of the reports circulating around the winter meetings had Santana pegged for the Northeast, (with the Angels a distant 3rd) for two very simple reasons. 1) The Sox and the Yankees have the young talent to give and money to sign Johan to the contract extension he’s looking for and 2) They are the two biggest media outlets right now in the entire league.

I’m sorry, but could someone give me one quote from Twins GM Bill Smith saying he had any interest in trading Johan to the Sox or Yankees?

What suckers we must feel like constantly looking for information from, specifically the worldwide leader in sports, that was actually nothing more than empty babble. Even our favorite Peter Gammons seemed out of touch:

“They’ve [Sox and Twins] met again [today], the Twins should just say look, we’re either going to take the package for Jacoby Ellsbury, which is a 3-for-1, or we’ll take the package of a 4-for-1 involving John Lester, now the stories that they went to a 5-for-1, that’s not so. Now the only way the Angels pitch is better is if Jared Weaver’s in the deal, maybe Nick Adenhart, and Brandon Wood. They’re going to have to go to two big-time guys, I’m not sure they’re going to do that; it will be interesting to see how far it goes. It behooves the Twins to at least explore the Angels as they have so much talent in their organization.”

We don’t doubt there were discussions, but this speculation from a trusted Gammons combined with the “Twins and Sox are getting closer” headline equals a big bucket of monkey poo.

Or how about this “insight”, Rob Bradford on WEEI:

“The Twins have told the Red Sox that they do want to get this done today, one way or the other. Whether that happens or not, I don’t know, but that’s what they’ve told them. I think the Red Sox have put out the offer… they’re very close, the only wild card here guys is the Yankees, everyone’s saying they’re out of it, if they do decide to jump back in, and include Ian Kennedy..”

Again, paging Mr. Hanky. Uh, how can Bradford “think” the Sox have put out an offer, and admit he didn’t know, yet conclude they’re “very close” to making a deal? It just doesn’t make sense.

Nothing screams “headline” like Yanks/Sox, so this rush to get a deal done screams leak out of Boston outlets that the Sox were close and wanted the Yanks to give up another jewel in their system. To their credit Baby Stein wasn’t biting, and what resonates is another Yanks/Sox battle, only through the media.

My point is there was no reason to believe, whatsoever, that Smith had any intention to trade Johan to either team and that each organization played chicken with each other, with the media (most notably ESPN) adding fuel to the fire. Unless, of course, Smith could goat one team into surrendering a bevy of prospects. It appeared as if Smith was just sitting back and watching the two superpowers toggle over who was willing to give up more, and how much they really wanted Johan.

It turns out that the Yanks, were not giving up another young pitcher, and the Sox weren’t parting with Clay Buchholz and Ellsbury.

This brings us to the Mets, the place where Johan seems to fit perfectly. Santana has leverage here, and is an accomplished athlete, who would love to come to the ballpark and swing the lumber. Of course, logic would not dictate Santana’s demand to come to the National League lies on the fact that he wants to hit. No, but what makes the Mets a realistic option is GM Omar Minaya’s aggressiveness to make a deal, and the young prospects to make it happen.

Now, getting Santana won’t be easy for the Mets, they’ll have to give up a ton. But by thinking logically, Santana to the Mets makes plenty of sense, and the crap that’s been reported over the last few weeks appears to be more of a battle of Northeast media outlets than a chess match between organizations. But of course, we’ll wait for word from Smith himself before getting too excited about the idea of getting the front line starter this team desperately needs.

Kudos to Smith for not getting caught up in the circus, and for those fans who know better.

Tommy Dee is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on the pages of Maxim and Slam Magazines as well as numerous sports websites. An avid Met fan, Tommy was at Game 6 in 1986 and makes an annual mecca to Port St. Lucie in Marchto to witness the conception of the baseball season.

His favorite Met moment was randomly meeting his all-time favorite player, Mookie Wilson, in an airport in Phoenix, Arizona and talking to #1 for over 10 minutes before Wilson realized that he wasn't the limo driver assigned to transport him and his luggage to his hotel.