The stove has gotten a lot hotter this afternoon in the Johan Santana sweepstakes.
This is the latest from Peter Gammons:
3:28 p.m., from Peter Gammons
• The Twins and Red Sox appear to be getting closer to finalizing a Johan Santana deal. Boston has sweetened its offer by adding a fifth player to the trade proposal — outfield prospect Ryan Kalish, a ninth-round draft pick in 2006 out of Red Bank Catholic High School (Shrewsbury, N.J.).
Then there is this from Rob Bradford over at the Boston Herald:
According to a source familiar with the negotiations the Twins have told they want to complete the Johan Santana deal by the end of today.
From what I can gather about what Gammons is reporting is that the Twins were leaning towards the 4 for 1 deal. That deal was Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson for Santana. It’s also shocking to see the Twins impose a deadline now as the Red Sox have said they weren’t going to set a deadline. However, I fully expect this to speed things along for both squads as they both have other needs to take care of.
Last year in Lowell, the Red Sox short-season affiliate, Kalish hit .368 with 3 home runs and 13 RBIs in just 23 games. He also stole 18 bases. Kalish did suffer a season-ending wrist injury but is expected to be 100% for 2008.
If this is the deal the Sox have indeed offered the Twins, I sure hope they pull the trigger so the Sox can start negotiations with Santana’s agent.
