Santana decision due any minute. Or not.

UPDATE #2: Looks like the 4 prospects sent by the Mets were their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th best prospects, according to Baseball America. Seems like Bill Smith overplayed his hand a bit, doesn't it? From Ellsbury/Buchholz or Hughes as a headliner, he's got Gomez. Quite a miss.

UPDATE #1 (courtesy of MLBTradeRumors.com):

Johan Santana Traded To Mets

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 3:15pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today says an agreement to trade Santana to the Mets has been reached. They'll send Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey to the Twins. The Mets still have to work out a six or seven year extension for Santana, according to Nightengale. If this baby reaches its true conclusion we'll sit down and analyze.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 2:55pm: More from Olney. His sources say the Mets have the best offer, the Red Sox also made offers, and the Yanks are out. Santana apparently asked the Twins to make a decision, wrap this thing up. Wrap it up! Olney is not sure whether F-Mart is part of the Mets' offer.

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According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the Twins have asked for "final offers" for Johan Santana. Supposedly a decision could come today. Or not. Just like everything else surrounding this gigantic rumor.

Have the Yanks withdrawn Hughes? Have the Sox done the same with Lester and/or Ellsbury? Have the Mets given their two best blue-chip prospects in a moment of desperation? Has Hank opted to overrule his brother and Cashman? Has Theo caved to fears of seeing Johan in pinstripes for 6 more years (thinking shades of Pedro way back when he joined the Sox)?

From the Sox side:

The Red Sox have talked in the past about deals built around either pitcher Jon Lester or center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Two sources involved in the discussions say the Red Sox have indicated they won't trade Lester, and another highly placed source says Lester remains on the table. A fourth says the Red Sox are willing to deal Lester only in a package with little window dressing -- in other words, Lester and Coco Crisp and little else.

And, from the Yanks side:

The Yankees appear to be not presently engaged whatsoever in the Santana talks.

Joel Sherman, from the NY Post, has this a two-team race involving the Mets and Sox.

Teams involved in the Johan Santana sweepstakes confirm the Twins have intensified their efforts in the past 48 hours to generate the best offers from the main suitors - and indications are, this has come down to the New York Mets and the Red Sox for arguably the majors' best starter.

The New York Yankees have been kept apprised by Minnesota officials of where matters stand but continue to indicate they are following the wishes of Hal Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman to protect their prospects and shun this deal.

Maybe it's just me, but I won't believe the Yanks are truly out of it until Santana's wearing another uniform than the Twins. I think Hank's just gunslinger enough to try to make it happen, in some way. I still think GM Bill Smith might hang onto Santana thru the July trade deadline since the furor about this trade has seemingly cooled dramatically.


For the latest, check out these guys:

• Pride of the Yankees
• MLBTradeRumors
• ESPN's Rumor Central (Insider access only)

Updates to come as soon as I hear/read more.