How about Ken Davidoff this winter? The Newsday reporter has been digging up some great hot stove rumors so far. Today, he has some new info about Johan Santana.
While Santana isn’t up for bidding quite yet, he should be soon after the Twins make their token offer. The Yankees will certainly be in on him. Davidoff says a package of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and a prospect wouldn’t cut it, even though those players are very valuable. The Twins are one of few teams that actually feel good about their pitching, so the focus is on acquiring a star position player. With that in mind, they’d demand Robinson Cano from the Yankees. Cano is more expensive than a Hughes or Cabrera, but the Twins would free up $13MM by dealing Santana. Plus you have to think Cano would be better for public relations/damage control.
Random speculation on players the Twins might covet for Santana: Josh Hamilton, Chris Young of Arizona, Jacoby Ellsbury, Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, or Garrett Atkins.
In contrast to all of this, Ken Rosenthal speculates that the Twins would want "elite pitching" in return for Santana.
