Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press is reporting that Johan Santana could finally be traded within the next 10 days. The reason for the holdup is not the Twins or any of the three teams involved but rather Santana’s contract demands.

The Mets, who dearly want Santana, have told at least one free-agent pitcher hoping to sign with them to wait until they find out whether they can acquire the two-time Cy Young Award winner. The Twins, as they should, continue to insist that slugging young outfielder Fernando Martinez, the Mets’ top minor league prospect, be included in any deal.

“Martinez will show how badly the Mets want Santana,” one insider said.

The Red Sox haven’t moved much from their initial offer for Santana. But one minor leaguer who some would consider a throw-in by Boston – left-handed hitting outfielder Ryan Kalish – could become an important part of a deal. Francisco Liriano, remember, was considered a throw-in when the San Francisco Giants included him in the Twins’ trade for Joe Nathan.

That free agent pitcher the Mets are considering signing if the Santana deal doesn’t happen with the Mets is Livan Hernandez.

Buster Olney is also reporting that the Red Sox have taken Jon Lester off the table. This means the Twins are focused on the deal that centered around Jacoby Ellsbury.

I am not a big fan of the Sox trading Ellsbury at all. And as time has gone by with this whole saga, I am not so sure the Red Sox need the added payroll of Santana. Yes they will need to replace Curt Schilling and most likely Tim Wakefield after the 2008 season but with the amount of pitching they have in the minors plus Lester and Clay Buchholz, the Sox should be just fine. The crop of free agent pitchers after the 2008 season isn’t the greatest but I think the Sox would be better served in the long run by not acquiring Santana.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be great to see a rotation of Josh Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Buchholz and Lester would be great. But at the cost to the Red Sox, I just don’t feel it’s worth it especially losing a player with Ellsbury’s talents.

Also don’t forget one thing. Even if the teams agree to the pieces of puzzle, Santana and his agent need to workout an extension on his contract to finish off the deal.

Hopefully this rumor proves true and this whole saga is over in the next 10 days or so, especially with spring training just under 18 days away.

Most of the news that’s been coming out of the Johan Santana sweepstakes has been mostly hogwash. The Yanks aren’t in, the Yanks are in, blah blah blah blah. What we do know is that there are three teams involved with the Minnesota Twins in the talks. They are the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and New York Yankees.

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald examines the players that those three teams are offering the Twinkees.

Red Sox

Package: Pitcher Jon Lester, outfielder Coco Crisp, minor league infielder Jed Lowrie, minor league pitcher Justin Masterson

OR

Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Masterson, Lowrie, possible fourth prospect

What Twins want added: Pitcher Clay Buchholz; or Lester with Ellsbury

Skinny: Lester is a solid middle-of-the-rotation bet while Ellsbury has All-Star potential. There’s a question of how much the Twins believe in Lowrie. Also, Twins question the lack of a majors-caliber pitcher in the Ellsbury deal.

Yankees:

Package: Pitcher Phil Hughes, outfielder Melky Cabrera, pitcher Jeff Marquez

What Twins want added: Pitcher Ian Kennedy

Skinny: Hughes is the top talent of any deal out there, but without (and maybe even with) Kennedy, the package is lightweight. Cabrera is nothing special.

Mets

Package: Minor league outfielder Carlos Gomez, and minor league pitchers Kevin Mulvey, Phil Humber and Deolis Guerra.

What Twins want added: Minor league outfielder Fernando Martinez

Skinny: Risky package, filled with blue-chippers, but way younger than the Yanks’ and Red Sox’ deals. Martinez might become an offensive stud, but he’s not a sure bet.

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Now you will understand why I gave the whole Johan Santana trade talks a soap opera name because it’s turning into one.

Earlier this morning, there was a report that the Yankees had withdrawn their offer for Santana.

For the second time this offseason, the Yankees have pulled their Phil Hughes-centered trade offer for Johan Santana off the table. The Yankees, then, will not restart trade talks with the Twins unless Hank Steinbrenner has another change of heart, a baseball official with knowledge of the talks told 1050 ESPN Radio’s Andrew Marchand.

The Yankees’ desire Monday to turn their attention away from the two-time Cy Young winner leaves Boston and the New York Mets as Minnesota’s trade partners, the official told Marchand.

Then Hank Steinbrenner opened his mouth again tonight outside of Legends Field in Tampa.

“It’s still in the deciding process. We’re still discussing it. There’s still a little talk back and forth.”

“There wasn’t an official offer anyway. You can’t withdraw something that wasn’t there,” Steinbrenner said. “There was no official offer on the table at this time.

The Mets and Red Sox still have interest in acquiring the left-hander as well.

All I can say is that Minnesota needs to decide if they are going to trade him or keep him. This shi* is getting ridiculous.

In our last episode of As The Santana Turns here at SOX & Dawgs, we looked at some statements from Yankees loudmouth Hank Steinbrenner and how he wasn’t willing to go past a 5 year deal in the extension talks with Johan Santana. So as we press forward here, let’s take a look at the latest news.

I should start out by saying that while none of the news is directly Red Sox related, it does affect the Red Sox because there’s been no word that they are out of the Santana sweepstakes.

Our first news report comes from Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Wednesday afternoon who thinks the Mets might be the best fit for the Twins in a trade of Santana.

Ultimately, the Mets might be the best fit.

They have the greatest need. They have the money to sign Santana. And they play in the National League, where he’s less likely to haunt the Twins.

According to people with knowledge of the discussions, the Mets have offered top pitching prospect Deolis Guerra, along with center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber.

The Twins like those players. They’ve told the Mets they’d have a done deal if New York would add prized outfield prospect Fernando Martinez

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This morning at City Hall in New Haven, I had the pleasure of seeing the Red Sox 2004 and 2007 World Series Trophies. As you can see by the picture above, there was quite a crowd of people gathered in foyer of City Hall. By my estimates, there was easily at least 500 people, maybe more. When I left, the line was back all the way to just inside the doors of City Hall.

There were no players present today but Larry Lucchino, Wally the Green Monster and other Red Sox executives were on hand for the festivities. I did have the pleasure of having my picture taken with both trophies but the person who took it didn’t focus too well with my camera so y’all won’t see that one. No matter what though, the 10 minute trip to New Haven was well worth it.

Two more photos after the jump

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There’s really nothing new about how the talks about a Johan Santana trade have progressed with either the Red Sox or the Yankees. But Yankees loudmouth Hank Steinbrenner did say that he wasn’t willing to give Johan more than a 5-year extension.

“The payroll would just be out of this world this year,” Steinbrenner said of potentially adding Santana, “but only for this year. When you’ve got to trade top young talent and pay a lot of money, it gets very risky.

“I wouldn’t do it if it were a six- or seven-year contract,” Steinbrenner said. “I wouldn’t go past five, on an extension.”

Could that be a deal breaker for Santana? Only time will tell.

Tomorrow afternoon, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown will announce the 2008 inductees and I hope at this time we will be writing about how former Red Sox great and current NESN analyst Jim Rice got into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Will this be the year for Rice, Rich “Goose” Gossage, Bert Blyleven and Andre Dawson? Will Mark McGwire get the necessary amount of votes this year or did his appearance in front of Congress back in 2005 kill those chances?

Only time will tell and tomorrow afternoon we will know the answers to those questions.

According to the AP, The House Oversight Committee has asked Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee to testify in front of them on January 16th.

Commissioner Bud Selig, union leader Donald Fehr and former Senate majority leader George Mitchell will be in front of the same panel on January 15th.

Things are getting good folks.

Update: Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski were also asked to testify with Clemens and McNamee.

It’s time for a weekly recap on “As The Santana Turns” here at SOX & Dawgs.

Nothing really new to report on the talks according to Nick Cafardo from the Boston Globe:

Peter Greenberg, Santana’s agent, reported “nothing going on that I know of” when asked if there was anything he was involved with.Greenberg will likely need to get involved as soon as any deal is agreed upon to determine whether Boston, the Yankees, Mets or another team can sign his client to a long-term deal. Greenberg has indicated it would take a starting bid of 7 years, $140 million to get a deal done for the two-time Cy Young award winner. It’s a price the Red Sox are apparently willing to pay. What they might not be willing to pay is the price of prospects. Their offers are still out there – the Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie, and Justin Masterson scenario would be preferable to the Jacoby Ellsbury, Masterson, Lowrie and another player scenario. Both sides also appear to be open to expanding the deal to include other players.

I would expect some sort of deal to take place in the near future as all the parties involved would like to get their rosters situated before heading to their respective spring training camps. The Sox start camp in Ft. Myers on February 14th when the pitchers and catchers will report.

And Hank Steinbrenner opened his mouth again, saying this time that the Yankees have the best offer on the table for Santana.

“I think the Twins realize our offer is the best one,” Steinbrenner said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I feel confident they’re not going to trade him before checking with us one last time and I think they think we’ve already made the best offer.”

Steinbrenner said the offer “does not include two of the three young pitchers” – Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, from a group that also includes untouchable Joba Chamberlain – “but it’s still the best one. And let’s face it, we’re the best able to handle the kind of contract (extension) Santana will be after.”

I am not sure the Yankees offer is the best offer out there but I can say that they do have the resources available to meet the contract demands.

First off, let me say that the I am happy the Winter Meetings are over because for the most part it’s been one big rumor mill.

Before getting to the Rule 5 draft results, let’s take a look at what else happened or didn’t happen on the final day in Nashville.

Former Astros GM Tim Purpura was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of MiLB.

The Washington Nationals signed free agent 1B/3B Aaron Boone to a 1-year $1 million deal and re-signed Wily Mo Peña and Ryan Langerhans to one year deals. Wily Mo’s contract is for $2 million plus an option while Langerhans will get $500,000.

Jay Marshall returns to the Oakland A’s after being claimed off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had claimed Marshall after the season but put him on waivers yesterday.

Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons received 15-day suspensions for violating MLB’s drug policy. They had allegedly bought HGH and were implicated in the on going investigation of Signature Pharamacy and a wellness center in Palm Beach, Florida. Gibbons did admit yesterday that he did take HGH.

The Yankees engaged the Giants in talks about Hideki Matsui.

The Red Sox left the winter meetings without Johan Santana on their roster. Theo Epstein said that they will still be talking with the Twins as they (Twins) decide what they want to do with him.

A look at how the Rule 5 draft works and the results after the jump.

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