BOSTON'S MARKET：BOSOX STILL LEAD IN JOHAN RACE

December 28, 2007 -- JOHAN Santana remains available. The New York teams remain interested. Yet, according to multiple executives spoken to yesterday, the Red Sox remain the strong favorite to obtain the star lefty if - and probably more likely, when - he is traded in the new year.

The Yankees, if anything, have become more entrenched in their unwillingness to pay the price both in prospects (notably Phil Hughes) and dollars (an extension in the six-year, $130 million range). Since the Winter Meetings concluded, the Yanks have not seriously discussed players with the Twins.

Hank Steinbrenner has continued to suggest the Yanks are in play for Santana, and a sense has percolated of a tug-of-war between Steinbrenner's willingness to surrender top youngsters and GM Brian Cashman's reluctance. But multiple sources say the media has focused on the wrong son of George Steinbrenner. These sources say Hal Steinbrenner is most responsible for dictating financial policy and does not want to spend the dollars in salary and luxury tax (nearly $30 million annually) necessary for Santana.

Unless that sentiment changes, the Yanks are unlikely to relent to a four-player package that would be fronted by Hughes and Melky Cabrera.

For the Mets to land Santana, the Twins would have to change the strategy they have been employing. Minnesota has requested at least two players who would be ready to play in the majors now. They would get that from the Yanks in Hughes and Cabrera. In the Red Sox's most commonly cited offer, Jon Lester and Coco Crisp would play now, and Minnesota even believes prospect Jed Lowrie potentially could start at second base to begin the 2008 campaign.

However, by removing Jose Reyes from the conversation, the Mets lack such certifiable players, which is why Minnesota has considered the Mets behind in these negotiations. The Twins like Carlos Gomez and Mike Pelfrey, but are uncertain if they are ready for the majors and have more doubts in the duo's overall likelihood to become stars than they do in Hughes or Lester.

There has been some speculation that Arizona's deal of six prospects for ace Dan Haren could serve as a roadmap for the Mets in pursuing Santana, that they could win the bidding by offering quantity. But there are some major differences in the Santana talks. Oakland's haul for Haren does not include an obvious, major league-ready player, and Minnesota has yet to show it would accept a number of prospects in lieu of players ready for the majors.

And Arizona has among the majors' deepest farm systems and a major league roster heavy in young, inexpensive cornerstones. Therefore, the Diamondbacks could more comfortably surrender such a voluminous package. If the Mets were forced to deal most of their best close-to-major league-ready crop from among Pelfrey, Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Phil Humber and Kevin Mulvey, their safety net for the rest of the season and the near future would be devastated, especially since their roster is built around so many thirtysomethings.

Thus, for the Mets to land Santana, they would probably need these stars to align: a) The Twins feel they must deal their ace before spring training and, thus, take the best package available some time in the next six weeks; b) The Mets assemble a package that severely depletes their system, the Twins decide to accept volume as the key to the deal and neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees alter their offers.

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The Yanks made official their one-year, $3.75 million signing of set-up man LaTroy Hawkins.

News source：http://www.nypost.com/seven/12282007/sports/bostons_market_780521.htm