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When it does, the only player with a bigger smile on his face than Santana will be C.C. Sabathia.
The ones with the spinning pinwheels where their eyeballs once were, the ones hearing the mocking ''cuckooing'' of the cuckoo clock echoing in the canyons of their minds, the ones with the anvil of reality plunging at warp speed towards their collective noggin are the gentlemen occupying the biggest, plushest offices at Progressive Field.
Santana's new contract will essentially establish Sabathia's price tag, which Tribe officials are advised to digest while sitting down.
On the plus side, however, Santana is now not only out of the Indians' division, he's out of their LEAGUE.
Literally.
Fortuitously.
The Yankees didn't get him and neither did the Red Sox. Is this a great country, or what?
You thought the Indians didn't get any better this offseason? Well, they just did. They got better because the Twins just got worse. Way worse.
So worse that the Santana trade is their official white flag trade for 2008. It's their Bartolo Colon trade, a stud pitcher for a basket of prospects.
With the start of spring training still a few weeks away, the American League Central Division race in 2008 is now down to a two-horse race between the Indians and Tigers.
So the good news for the Indians is that the Twins not only gave up by trading Santana, they gave up and did the Indians the additional favor of trading Santana out of the American League.
The bad news for the Indians is that Santana is now poised to sign the mega-deal that will likely stamp Sabathia as officially, prohibitively out of the Tribe's price range.
I'm no NASCAR expert, but I am familiar with the principle in auto racing called ''drafting,'' in which a car sits behind the leader, benefiting by the lack of wind resistance.
That's Sabathia right now. He's drafting Santana. Both pitchers are eligible for free agency after this season.
Santana won't become one, however, because by giving up four of their top seven minor league prospects to get him, the Mets essentially told Santana to name his price.
Moreover, should they not sign Santana, the Mets could expect wild rabble-rousing, roving bands of their fans, torches in hand, marching on the team's offices with intentions of the most sinister kind.
Meanwhile, lounging comfortably on the sun-splashed deck of his northern California home, sipping from a tall cool tumbler of lemonade while listening to the birds chirping a sonata to the moneyed gentry, is gazillionaire-to-be Sabathia.
His soaring market price is about to be established by the Santana signing, and the best estimates now are that Santana's deal with the Mets will be in the neighborhood of six years, $130 million.
All together now: ''So long, C.C.!''
Whatever Santana gets, you can slot Sabathia's next contract just a few clicks below that. In fact, who's to say Sabathia isn't the more attractive commodity? He's the reigning Cy Young Award winner, has seven more career wins, one more career shutout, 10 more career complete games than Santana, and he's a year younger than Santana.
In some ways, the best case scenario for the Indians would have been for the Twins to do what the Indians will do with Sabathia: keep him for the entire 2008 season, even if he is un-re-signable. At least then, Santana's market value wouldn't be established until he became a free agent after the season.
Now, however, Santana's market value -- and, hence, Sabathia's -- is going to be established before the start of spring training. That can only hurt the Indians' attempts to re-sign their ace.
Given that, should the Indians re-think their position, and start shopping Sabathia? Absolutely not. Because nothing the Indians could get for Sabathia in a trade would help them get to the World Series more than having Sabathia starting for them every fifth day.
Contending teams don't make trades like the Twins made, or the Indians made with Colon in 2002. Those are rebuilding trades. The well-built Indians are locked and loaded for 2008. It's hard to see how trading Sabathia would improve their chances of getting to the World Series this year.
In fact, if the Twins want to continue their downsizing for 2008, and would care to discuss closer Joe Nathan, if I'm Mark Shapiro, I'm all ears.
Because, in all likelihood, the Indians are going to have one giant contract, and one giant left-hander, off their payroll next year.
JIngraham@news-herald.co
