Things have been relatively quiet on As The Santana Turns lately but there is some news this morning regarding the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.
This comes via the Pioneer Press:
The Boston Red Sox remain the favorite to acquire Johan Santana from the Twins, insiders say.
Boston remains firm, though, as initially reported by the Pioneer Press, in offering just Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson. The Red Sox are adamantly opposed to substituting Jacoby Ellsbury for Crisp, and that’s the current holdup.
Regardless, there’s buzz that the Santana trade could be made within days.
Boston has a larger pool of players who interest Minnesota and can contribute to the Twins immediately, whereas many of the New York Yankees’ top prospects are at least a season or two away from succeeding in the major leagues. The Yankees remain firmly opposed to trading pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy together for Santana, and they certainly won’t trade Joba Chamberlain.
The dark horse for Santana remains the Angels, who have enough young players to appease the Twins, but they have been quiet, much the same as they were before popping out of the weeds with a $90 million, five-year free-agent offer for Torii Hunter.
Could the Red Sox get an early Christmas gift in Santana? Personally, I think the other trades for big named players, Miguel Cabrera and Dan Haren, has shown the Twins they can get more for Santana than what the teams are offering. Unfortunately for them, neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees are budging on their original offers.
Stay tuned folks.
