[EmpireWF]

Although the Winter Meetings are over, the New York Mets are still looking for an ace pitcher. The New York Post reports the Mets are still (somewhat) active in pursuing Twins ace Johan Santana. "There was a sense among rival executives that the Mets had made themselves viable. "

“There is a sense that Omar [Minaya] will do something crazy to solve his biggest problem," one AL executive said.

"So for the Mets, there must be strengths in numbers. One executive said he thinks Aaron Heilman could be an important piece in a package. He noted the Twins drafted Heilman in the first round in 2000 (Heilman decided to stay in school), and Minnesota plans to follow up any Santana trade with one involving Joe Nathan, who like Santana due to be a free agent after the season. Heilman could be a possible closer replacement for Nathan."

What it seems it will come down to is whether the Mets will put a large package of their top guys together. The Mets don't want to deal Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez in the same package. The other players include RHP Mike Pelfrey, RHP Phil Humber and RHP Ken Mulvey. Of course, they may be trying to put together a three-team trade.

So for Mets fans, you have to hope the Twins MUST trade Johan before the season and Boston refuses to up their offer. I still doubt the Mets have any real shot at landing the ace.

[EmpireWF]

Very interesting post from Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog about the Mets and Twins.

Buzz: Santana Wants to Be On the Mets | MetsBlog.com

Through talking with a variety of people inside baseball (ranging from team officials, player reps, media), he believes Santana prefers to go to the Mets. Also, knowing they can't (at least not yet) get more than one top prospect from Boston, the Twins are interested in a large package of Mets prospects. Of course the breaking point could be any contract talks with Santana depending on how long he wants a deal.

But he warns, "...in other words, from what i can tell, if santana doesn’t end up on the Mets, it most likely means that either a) he and the Mets could not agree to the terms of a contract extension, b) the Twins simply chose to keep him for one more opening day, or c) the Twins had no choice but to skip over the Mets to accept a much-better offer that they couldn’t refuse.…i still do not have my hopes up, but i do have hope…"

[Lefty Noob]

Very interesting. With all the comments there referring to "Freddy Coupons" (I kind of like that name for Wilpon) being notoriously cheap, do you think he'll pony up the big money for Santana? And if the deal is done, which Mets prospects are the Twins reportedly targeting?

[EmpireWF]

There were "reports" or "opinions" in the local papers last week that the Mets would balk at offering Santana a huge contract. You could imagine the fan backlash if it's learned the Twins were willing to trade him and Santana was willing to waive the no-trade clause, but the Mets wouldn't pony up the money.

The players routinely talked about include Aaron Heilman, Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber and Ken Mulvey. Don't know if any others are being considered (I'd assume so). The Mets don't want to trade both Gomez and FMart in the same deal so I could see a potential offer as something like Heilman, Gomez, Pelfrey and a couple of other players.

Quantity may win out. There's no doubt Red Sox has the best player (Ellsbury or Lester) but they're not willing to build a big package.

Of course a team like the Angels or Dodgers could get involved and blow any other team out of the water with their prospects.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

I think the better question is does Santana alone guarentee the pennant...if yes, then its dumb not to go after him...if no, then what do they have left by way of players and cash to put the other pieces in place.