As I mentioned yesterday, I was out of the baseball loop for a few days and when I finally had time (after what seemed like an endless 72 hours of a total lack of ESPN!) to scope out the scene, there were several stories out there that made my little Yankees Chick brain extremely eager to hop on the blog and pretend that people care about my opinions! GOOD TIMES!

What's on my mind today is more Santanamania. To be perfectly honest I'm sick to death of all of this idle chatter and flip-floppin' and wish someone would just trade for the beast and we can all move on to the inevitable subsequent Danny Haren trade talks. Until then, though, we must persevere and obsess over the battle for the 2-time Cy Young winner.

With their boatloads of cash and tradeable youngsters at the ready, The Yanks and BoSox essentially managed to push any other interested teams out of the running a few weeks back, but as of just a couple days ago, the Mets might as well be considered potential buyers/traders themselves. Now that it is (at least) a 3-team race, let's break down the top seekers and how likely they are to land Santanamania.

Yankees:
Key players on the block: Melky and Hughsie
Roadblock: Twins want more - like I-Ken - and the Steinbrothers refuse to give up more than Hughsie, Melky, and a lower-level prospect. It seems extremely unlikely that the Yanks would agree to add other players to their side of the trade, because it was difficult enough just for HankStein to offer up those two.
Status: Stalled. The Steins don't want to wait forever and the Twins brass doesn't seem keen enough on their offer to make the move. The Yanks insist they aren't completely out of the running, though.

Sox:
Key players on the block: Ellsbury or Lester
Roadblock: The Twins want Ellsbury and Lester, not one or the other.
Status: Stalled. It was looking close for a while there, but the Twins are holding out for more and the Sox are not showing any signs of buckling under the pressure.

Mets:
Key player on the block: Prospects (like Carlos Gomez), Humber, and Pelfry.
Roadblock: Is a group of prospects, middle-tier young pitchers, and no big name players going to do the trick? The Twins probs want Reyes (who wouldn't?), but the Mets don't want to let him go.
Status: Unknown at the moment. Seem to be a dark horse compared to the Yanks or Sox, but there doesn't appear to be all that much info on how the Twins feel about the Mets' interest just yet.


So what's the verdict? It seems like everyone is stalled, but the Twins have every reason to trade Santana and little reason to keep him. Unless they sign him to a huge extension - which Santana doesn't even seem to really want and the Twins probably don't have the cash to make happen - they lose him after 2008 anyway, and with the loss of Torii and the Tigers beefing up their team, their shot at taking the division isn't all the great compared to the last couple of years. If they trade Santana they will wind up with a great group of youngsters at bargain-basement salaries and can create a much better team in just a couple short years. The roadblock there, though: Santana still has to approve any trade!