If Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a mid-level prospect aren’t enough to seduce the Twins into sending Johan Santana to The Bronx, the Yankees aren’t going any deeper into their talent vault. Even if it kills the deal and Santana lands in Boston.
The Red Sox view the Yankees offering Hughes as simply an effort to make the Yankees’ bid stronger, but it has done nothing to stagger the world champions’ belief they can acquire Santana.
“They included Hughes late Friday night and are willing to put Cabrera in the deal with a second-tier minor leaguer,” an MLB source said yesterday. “But if the Twins come back and ask for something stupid, the Yankees have told them they are out of it.”
The Twins harbor hopes of getting Ian Kennedy in addition to Hughes and Cabrera from the Yankees, who don’t want to include minor leaguers Jose Tabata and Alan Horne. If the Twins can’t land Hughes, Cabrera and Kennedy, and don’t like Boston’s counteroffer, Minnesota is comfortable starting the season with Santana fronting their rotation.
After being informed by the Yankees they were willing to include Hughes, Twins GM Bill Smith planned on talking to the Red Sox yesterday to see if they would alter their latest offer, which didn’t include pitcher Clay Buchholz or center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who the Twins desire more than Buchholz. The Red Sox may part with Ellsbury, but only if the deal was expanded to include more than Santana coming to Fenway Park.
According to a person familiar with the Twins’ wishes, the club wanted Buchholz or Ellsbury, lefty Jon Lester and prospects from the world champions. If the Bosox balked, the Twins weren’t going to accept a package that consisted of Coco Crisp, minor-league infielder Jed Lowrie, an undecided minor-league pitcher and Lester.
“If the Red Sox put Buchholz or Ellsbury in the deal, then it’s a coin flip between the Yankees and Red Sox,” a source said. “They are the only two teams who can afford him ,and he wants to pitch on the East Coast.”
However, whispers that the Dodgers were quietly in the picture traveled through baseball yesterday, with the belief they have made an offer for Santana.
Santana, a two-time AL Cy Young winner who will be 29 in March, has a complete no-trade clause. If the Twins agree to a swap – which isn’t a lock – the other team will have a 72-hour window to negotiate a long-term contract lucrative enough for Santana to waive the no-trade clause. As of yesterday afternoon, no team had approached agent Peter Greenberg to discuss an extension. That deal will likely be for six years and about $150 million. That would make Santana the highest-paid pitcher in baseball and second only to Alex Rodriguez‘s 10-year, $275 million deal he recently agreed to with the Yankees.
Yankees offered Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Luis Vizcaino salary arbitration yesterday, but not Doug Mientkiewicz.
With Rodriguez and Rivera, it was a formality since they have agreed to contracts and are awaiting the results of physicals. Pettitte will retire or pitch for the Yankees; likely for the $16 million player option he had before declaring for free agency. Vizcaino, like all players offered arbitration yesterday, has until Dec. 7 to accept. If a player accepts, he is a signed player. Even though Mientkiewicz wasn’t offered arbitration, the Yankees can continue to negotiate with him.
Additional reporting by Joel Sherman