Minaya says Reyes is off-limits

After hearing whispers in the baseball world that in order for the Mets to land Santana they would need to include Reyes. Minaya has come out saying, "He (Reyes) is one of our core players." He went on to say that he wouldn't be involved, it "wouldn't make sense" for the organization.

I can see where he is coming from, but when push comes to shove and the Red Sox and Yankees are close to landing the Twins ace, will he be willing to put him on the table? After the epic collapse from last year, he is under enormous pressure to put together a winning team, judging by his options of marquee starters I would say Santana needs to be his number one option. Haren is still very young, but does have fantastic stuff. Would he be able to perform down the stretch in a race involving the big guns of the NL East? I don't know if Minaya can afford to gamble on that sort of player after last season.

This really upsets me as a Twins fan because I was looking forward to seeing Reyes lead off and Mauer bring him in on a single or double in every first inning for 162 games... I just hope the Twins and Bill Smith don't go off and do something stupid like "settling" for a mediocre trade* for Santana's extremely high value.

From the way the trade offers have fallen into place, with Boston and New York being the number one and two contenders, but holding their stud players (Buchholz, Ellsbury, Cano, Chamberlain), and the Dodgers falling out of the sweepstakes, I wouldn't be surprised if Smith held onto Santana till the 31st of July at the latest. At least I hope that's what he does if the offers don't look any better.

Wait, weren't the Angels trying to get involved? Where is their projected offer?

*See Boston trade involving Coco Crisp, Lester, and two prospects. See any Yankee trade involving Melky Cabrera.