He could have been a Yankee

The move that was supposed to put the Mets over the top came in January of 2008, when they acquired Johan Santana from the Twins in a five-player deal. It didn’t quite work out that way, with the Mets stumbling at the end of ’08 and then falling flat in 2009. But Santana has been one of the lone bright spots for the Mets.

Sunday, he beat the team many people thought might be his next employer: the Yankees. After a winter of speculation regarding the Yankees and Red Sox, the Mets swooped in at the end of the offseason, when the Twins were growing desperate and the Mets’ budget package of prospects suddenly didn’t look so meager.

Santana, though, very easily could have been a Yankee. And he knows it.

“Past is past,” he said. “I was always open to come here to New York to either team. In the end, Minnesota had everything in their hands. I don’t even know what happened between those two teams, but reality is here with the New York Mets. I’m very happy to be here.”