Joe Christensen breaks down Santana talks, Steinbrenner

Christensen is the national baseball reporter for The Star-Tribune, in his blog he goes over the very public moves by Steinbrenner and breaks down the trade scenarios between the Twins and the Red Sox/Yankees.

"Privately, the Twins keep saying they like the potential match with Boston better. The Twins love Jacoby Ellsbury, and if they can get the Red Sox to add one of their two star pitching prospects -- Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz -- that might be enough. But the Red Sox insist they won't trade more than one of those three young pups, and they might not part with Buchholz in any offer.

Personally, I don't think the Red Sox want to close this deal. I think they are merely trying to keep the price high for the Yankees. If the Twins really were that in love with Ellsbury and settled on a deal with Boston, I don't think the Red Sox would give Santana the six-year extension. Their current deal with Josh Beckett (signed in July 2006) is only a three-year, $30 million deal with a $12 million option for 2010.

So they're going to give up two premier prospects for Santana and then pay him five times as much as Beckett? I don't think so.

At that point, the whole thing would become a giant mess.

I agree with Hank Steinbrenner that the Yankees have the best offer on the table. From what I've gathered, the Angels, Dodgers and Mariners are barely in this thing. We haven't heard much from the Mets, who don't have the pitching prospects to replace Santana (and Matt Garza)."

On Jacoby vs. Melky,

"I spoke with an NL scout yesterday, who compared Melky Cabrera very favorably to Ellsbury. His team grades players on an 80-scale, and he said Cabrera is a 55-60, projecting him as a slightly above average every day center fielder, while Ellsbury is a 60-65.

Ellsbury's stock is way high right now because he thrived for the Red Sox in the World Series. He is a good contact hitter, an on-base specialist, who will line balls into the gaps and race around the bases.

But Cabrera is no slouch. He is a switch-hitter who will generate more power. He doesn't run like Ellsbury, but he has a cannon arm. The scout projected Cabrera to hit .280-.300 with about 15 homers per year, and while Ellsbury might hit better, he'll probably average 5-6 home runs per year."

Personally, I think the Twins need to push hard for a deal including Ellsbury. He fills two gaps in the Twins needs, a center fielder and a lead off hitter. Cabrera only fits one of those holes. I like Hughes, but it still leaves a huge question mark on the Twins' line-up card with Cabrera in the deal.