Johan Santana: #1 Douchebag!

Hines Ward yesterday...Johan Santana today...I seem to be along the proverbial warpath. I know that continuing to point out every time an athlete is greedy/whiny would eventually take up every second of my time and wind up killing me, but it's a slow news day, so whatever.

Today's target is Johan Santana. Now I've always been a fan of Mr. Santana. I've never had any reason to not like him. He seems to be a pretty stand up guy and I don't think he's ever badmouthed any of his teammates, at least not that I can remember.

With the Johan Santana Derby upon us, rumor has it that the Mets are in the lead, with the Red Sox and Yankees indifferently behind. But in one last ditch effort, apparently the Twins have offered Santana a contract for 5 years worth $100 million.

Santana rejected it.

Now this may be the Twins' fault. After all, in the past, Santana has told the Twins that the earlier they approach him about a new contract, the more lenient he may be to give them a hometown discount. The Twins then proceeded to putz around until the last minute to do this. But then again, maybe the Twins weren't sure about their finances until now. You just never know.

Either way, there are only 2 things Santana should take into consideration when debating whether or not to sign with the Twins:

1. Am I getting a fair offer?
2. Is this team going to be competitive for the length of the contract?

There's no debate that Santana is getting a fair offer. Making $20 million per year for 5 years would make Santana one of the highest paid players in baseball history, pitcher or not. And seriously, what are you going to do with $100 million? That's way more money than anyone would ever need. Regardless of whether he could stretch another team to 7 years and $140 million or not, the 5 years, $100 million offer is more than fair. Add to that the fact that this is the Twins and the Twins don't make a ton of money, and this becomes a very generous reward.

And as far as the Twins being a good team for those 5 years, nothing is certain. But the future does look good. Known in the past for being cheap, the Twins' front office has been opening their pocketbooks as of late, locking up Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer to multi-year deals. Joe Mauer is still around. Delmon Young is going to be there a while. And don't forget about that Liriano character either. Add Scott Baker to the mix, and the Twins have a core of young players that most teams would kill for. And the difference between the Devil Rays and the Twins is that the Twins' young players are ready to win now.

So Santana has a fair offer of more money than most people will ever see in their lives. He'd get to play for a talented young team in a new stadium in front of fans that truly care about the team.

And he said no because he wants $40 million more dollars.

That is why Johan Santana is today's #1 Douchebag! Congrats!