Johan Santana changed Twins’ story

MINNEAPOLIS – Johan Santana still remembers the day he arrived in Florida for his first training sessions with the Minnesota Twins. He will never forget that Terry Ryan and Bill Smith – the general manager and assistant general manager of his new team, respectively – came to meet him personally at Southwest Florida International Airport.

The 20-year-old left the building with only one suitcase – and no extra bags with his baseball gear – because his agent had taken care of getting everything in advance to the clubhouse. Santana still remembers that his new bosses were a bit confused when they saw him and still joke when they talk about that beginning of his career with the Twins.

“All I had were my shoes and my glove in the suitcase,” Santana recalled with a laugh. “Everything else should already be in the clubhouse. I remember that, because whenever we see each other we mention it, [ellos diciendo], ‘My God, what have we gotten ourselves into?’ “

In fact, what began that day was the start of one of the most impactful careers in the Twins’ history, although at that time no one could have imagined such a thing.

That journey began exactly 22 years ago, on December 13, 1999, when Santana was claimed by Minnesota in the Rule 5 Draft.

“I didn’t even know what that was,” Santana acknowledged about the aforementioned process.

Today, the Draft of Rule 5 marks the official closure of the Winter Meetings that take place each year, with tables full of managers from each team surrounded by swarms of journalists, other executives and coaches and managers with their suitcases already packed, all saying goodbye before getting on the planes that will take them back to their homes. Meanwhile, players who were not included in the rosters of 40 (and minor league reserve rosters) are announced at a frantic rate.

After finishing the 1999 season with the worst record in the majors, 63-97, the Twins had the first pick of that draft. The Florida Marlins would pick second and were determined to select right-hander Jared Camp, who had posted a 2.81 ERA among three levels of Cleveland’s organization.

But on the Minnesota board, a pair of scouts from the Midwest League had identified a young southpaw pitching in Class-A with the Astros organization and believed the boy could become a major league starter.

“I always remember (the Puerto Rican) José Marzán and Billy Milos, who were the ones who took the risk in the end and said, ‘Look, this boy is very good. We should consider selecting him, ‘”Ryan said. “And they were right.”

Not knowing all of that, the Marlins were concerned, thinking the Twins might also be targeting Camp, and contacted Ryan to offer him a job change at draft time to make sure they got the right. Thus, the Twins chose Camp with the first pick and the Marlins Santana at No. 2. Then, they traded them one for another, with the Marlins also sending $ 50,000 to Minnesota. Thus, both teams ended up with the prospect they had always wanted.

Meanwhile, Santana was in Venezuela playing with the Magallanes Navigators under manager Phil Regan, who had told him there was a chance that he would spend the following season in the Major Leagues… with the Minnesota Twins. Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, called the young man first to tell him that he had been drafted by the Marlins, but to keep an eye out, because a trade to the Twins was apparently in the works.

“What I said was, ‘Phil was right when he told me he was going to play in the majors with Minnesota,'” Santana said. “That for me was a dream; I could not believe it. So it all happened. Thirty minutes later, Peter called me and said, ‘Johan, congratulations again. Now it’s official, you’re going to be a Minnesota Twin next year. “

According to Ryan, the move that brought Santana to Minnesota was a prime example of a successful evaluation process by Marzán and Milos. The Astros hadn’t protected Santana, unlike other prospects like Roy Oswalt and Tim Redding, after the Venezuelan had a 4.66 Class-A ERA. That decision generated strong protests from his own scout, Andrés Reiner, who had originally signed Santana in Venezuela.

“They wouldn’t believe everything I fought to get put on the roster,” Reiner told the New York Times in 2008, before his death in 2016. “But I was one voice among many others.”

“He told the Astros they were making a big mistake by letting me go,” Santana continued to recall. “I wanted him to go back to the Astros. Even after I got to Minnesota, when I got here to Fort Myers, he would call me to ask how I was doing. He always made sure I was okay and told me that they would do whatever they could to bring me back. But that never happened. “

Although making the jump from Class-A to the Big Top in a new organization might seem intimidating, Santana was happy to see that his dream of making it to the majors was coming true. He knew he wanted to stay in Minnesota and make it big in the Twin Cities.

It was extremely helpful that two of his new Twins teammates, LaTroy Hawkins and Doug Mientkiewicz, had played with him that year at Magallanes. They quickly became close friends and Hawkins was always there supporting Santana every step of the way, as a mentor and friend.

“The most important question you have is, ‘Are they going to welcome me or not?’” Confessed Santana. “With Dougie and LaTroy there, the whole team, they made me feel welcome from day one. LaTroy was waiting for me and then you meet people like (the Dominicans) David Ortiz and Cristian Guzmán, who also make you feel at home at the same time ”.

Typically, Santana would have been a risky pick, for a 20-year-old from Class-A. Any player chosen in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on the big team roster for the entire season or be offered back to their original club.

But for those Twins, immediate results weren’t the main concern. And quickly during practice, it became clear to Ryan and manager Tom Kelly that they had a world-class athlete in their hands and an important piece of the team’s future. They were the right circumstances. There was no way they would let him go.

“It wasn’t very difficult (to keep him in the majors), because I think all of us, once we got organized and saw him enough, agreed that he had a chance to become a great pitcher,” Ryan explained. “We could make that work and get him to complete that first year… It wasn’t very difficult. We knew he was someone we wanted on the team. “

The Twins saw Santana hit a 6.49 ERA coming from the bullpen in 2000. They used him as a long reliever and occasional starter for parts of two seasons and sent him to Triple-A for a stretch in 2002 to work on his. famous change and could put his arm in tune to be a starter. Upon returning, he quickly became Minnesota’s unquestionable ace and one of the best pitchers in the majors.

Santana, of course, won the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006, also taking the Triple Crown for pitching that second year. The Meridian and the core that surrounded him gave Minnesota four division titles in five seasons: 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. It will be remembered not only as the best decision the Twins have made in the Rule 5 Draft, but a of the best selections in history.

“I always advise young guys this: ‘Whatever you do, do the best you can, because you don’t know who may be watching,’” Santana said.

Is right. A couple of Twins scouts had been following him closely, and it changed the history of baseball in Minnesota.

“All the organization and the group of players that we had, we were not only able to win those divisions, but to keep the Twins in Minnesota,” Santana said. “You remember that you were talking about taking out a couple of teams, moving them, and we were one of them.

“Back then, we were praying that something good would happen for the organization,” Ryan said. “If you know the story, it was the time when they were talking about shrinkage. He was one of the pieces that helped turn the organization around, a very big piece. Every baseball club looks for a number one starter. He was a number one starter. “