The Star Tribune spoke to several baseball insiders about the Johan Santana trade to attempt to figure out what happened. The overall consensus..."The common theme that emerged from those inside baseball is that Smith did the best he could with the little leverage he had. In the final four weeks before the deal, the Mets were the only team seriously trying to complete a trade after the Yankees and Red Sox virtually dropped out. Seattle and Texas had early interest, but Santana would not consider a trade to those teams."
The Santana trade: Lacking leverage, and timing
Of course they could have acquired Elsbury or Hughes if they pulled the trigger months ago...but they didn't.