The Final Score

I used to think passed ball vs. wild pitch was baseball's eternal debate. Now I know it's "should the Yankees have traded for Johan Santana."

I had this debate again today at Shea in most spirited fashion with Newsday's highly capable baseball columnist, Ken Davidoff.

My position has always been that the Yankees should have traded Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and two other prospects for Santana. Quickly, the argument is Hughes -- who I think very highly of -- will, if everything breaks right, one day be as good as Santana is right now. So why not just get Santana?

Ken's argument, as I understand it, is it's stupid to pay $137.5 million to any pitcher, even an elite one. Just grow your own if you can. That's not his only point, but I think it's the main one.

Ken's argument is also butressed by Santana's performance as a Met so far. He's 7-7, he abilis more than Ike, he throws his teammates under the bus, and his stuff is declining. He may one day be a true ace pitcher for the Mets, but in his short time here he hasn't proven to be an ace person with his teammates.

Here's Ken's column from Sunday's paper on Santana.

And here's his Sunday notes column.

And here's his Wednesday Web-only notes column.

Dude's had a mad-busy week.

We both stood our ground. It made for an interesting pre-game, as did Jerry Manuel's comment that the Mets are the No. 2 team in town -- yes, it's true, but does the Mets manager have to say it? -- and the fact that I misplaced my tape recorder for about an hour.

What do you think, Final Score nation? Am I right or is Ken wrong? It's not like there's another choice.

And how about wild pitch vs. passed ball?