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Steinbrenner: Santana deal 'probably off' »
December 4, 2007
After a day of inactivity on the trade front, the night got pretty interesting for the Red Sox.
Both ESPN.com's Jayson Stark and Foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal report the Twins approached the Sox late last night about reviving the Johan Santana trade talks, apparently after the Yankees made good on their threat to walk away from the negotiations if a decision wasn't made regarding their offer for Santana by Monday. According to Stark, the Sox' brass was watching the Patriots-Ravens game when Minnesota GM Bill Smith called, asking to see Jon Lester's medical records.
The Red Sox reportedly had an offer of Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and a minor-league pitcher -- believed to be Justin Masterson -- on the table late last week, an offer the Yankees were thought to have trumped when they agreed to include Phil Hughes in their proposed package for Santana. The Red Sox responded by offering outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, whom the Twins covet, in their next proposal, but pulling back Crisp and Lester. The Twins, wanting major league-ready pitching in any trade for Santana, were lukewarm.
That appeared to put the Yankees back in the drivers' seat, but Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner declared the Twins had until midnight Monday to accept their offer or they were pulling it off the table. According to various reports, Minnesota pressed New York to put pitcher Ian Kennedy into a package that included Hughes and outfielder Melky Cabrera. The Yanks refused.
With that, the Twins turned back to the Sox. According to the Newark Star-Ledger's Ed Price, the Red Sox have changed their offer to Lester, Crisp, Ellsbury and Lowrie, even though they had said all along they would not part with more than one of the troika of Lester, Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz. That particular deal seems unlikely, as it would leave the Red Sox with no center fielder, although several -- Andruw Jones, Aaron Rowand -- are available via free agency. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports the Twins asked for Ellsbury, Lester and Lowrie.
SI.com's Jon Heyman has more on the night's doings. Yahoo! Sports.com's Tim Brown quotes a Red Sox official as saying the team is ''cautiously optimistic'' that a deal for Santana can be finalized.
Stay tuned. We'll have the news as soon as it happens.
Posted by Art Martone 
at 8:03 AM | Permalink
