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Sox, Twins on hold -- for the moment -- but deal for Santana getting closer »
December 4, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Hank Steinbrenner's deadline for a Johan Santana trade with Minnesota passed without an agreement.
Minnesota came off its demand that the Yankees include pitcher Ian Kennedy along with pitcher Phil Hughes and center fielder Melky Cabrera, but the Twins still were asking for more than the Yankees were willing to offer.
"It's still something that we can't do," Steinbrenner said Tuesday morning. "As far as I'm concerned, it's probably off."
Steinbrenner, a senior vice president and son of owner George Steinbrenner, planned to speak with general manager Brian Cashman later Tuesday to assess the team's stance.
New Twins general manager Bill Smith didn't seem concerned about the deadline. Of course, baseball teams let deadlines pass all the time only to resume talks later.
"We've got good players. We have players that maybe other clubs would like to acquire," he said. "We've had a lot of years where we keep going over and picking up the phone receiver to make sure the dial tone was still (there). We couldn't get the phone to ring."
Boston is thought to have offered Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz or Jacoby Ellsbury - but only one of them - as part of a deal.
Santana's agent, Peter Greenberg, said his client was angered by a report that he has told the Twins to only trade him to the Yankees or Red Sox. Santana has made no such request, Greenberg said, and also hasn't ruled out returning to the Twins next season.
"He was very adamant about that. He wanted to make sure we clarified that. That upset him," Greenberg said. "He's been very clear all along that he wants Bill to make the best deal possible."
Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein didn't express any time pressure. He said there was no expiration date on any of his trade talks.
"I think we've only done that when we thought it was in our best interest," Epstein said. "We don't have current discussions ongoing for which I think that would be in our best interest. We're pretty content with where we are and we don't think anything major is getting held up."
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 9:23 AM | Permalink
