The state of Santana

Johan Santana’s name was mentioned again last week in a possible deal with New York. The New York Mets that is.

The Mets reportedly rekindled discussions with the Twins. A month ago, the Twins insisted Jose Reyes be included in any deal, but Mets’ GM Omar Minaya balked at that.

A story in the New York Post says that the price for Santana is currently too rich for the Mets wallet. A deal could still be struck by the Mets for the ace lefty but the present talk of five-for-one deals limits the Mets’ interest. Current Met names being bandied about include pitcher Deolis Guerra, outfielder Carolos Gomez and pitchers Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber. The Twins apparently also want outfield prospect Fernando Martinez in any deal.

That other New York team seems to be hedging on such a move. Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said that nothing has been decided and that there are differing opinions in the organization. “I’m still leaning towards doing it. There’s others leaning not to do it,” he said. Steinbrenner says he’s changed his opinion a couple of times.

As for the Red Sox hopes of landing Santana, ESPN’s Peter Gammons provided his opinion during an on-line chat.

“The more I’ve thought about the Santana deal, the more I’m convinced it’s not a great idea,” he stated. “Whether it’s the Jacoby Ellsbury deal or the Jon Lester deal, the Sox would still be giving up three young players and I don’t discount the importance that Jed Lowrie will play in the next couple of years. Theo has rebuilt the Red Sox farm system in a very short time and changed the culture. And I think that culture is really important.”

He said he believes that there are days that the brass from both the Yankees and Red Sox wake up and hope somehow the Mets have found a handful of prospects to make the deal.

Crisp trade winds

Gammons also says that he thinks Coco Crisp could wind up in Texas or Oakland. That is, if he is not part of a deal with Minnesota for Santana.

” I could see Billy Beane trading for Crisp and then turning around and trading him before the season starts,” said Gammons. “The A’s think he’s the best defensive center fielder in the game right now.”

McNamee speaks

Sports Illustrated had an exclusive interview with Brian McNamee last week. Despite, Roger Clemens’ protests that he did not take steriods, his former trainer sticks by his story that was part of the Mitchell Report. McNamee claims he injected Clemens with steroids, but says that Clemens was not a habitual user.

“And Roger was in no way an abuser of steroids,” McNamee said. “He never took them through our tough winter workouts. And he never took them in spring training, when the days are longest. He took them in late July, August, and never for more than four to six weeks max … it wasn’t that frequent.”

Manny Being Manny?

There are reports that say Manny Ramirez has been so diligent in his offseason workouts that he’s in the best shape he’s been in years. There has also been little to no trade talk or trade requests involving Ramirez, meaning Manny may actually finally be content in Boston.