Charley Walters: Boston Red Sox still in lead for Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana

Article Last Updated: 12/19/2007 12:42:40 AM CST

SHOOTER CHARLEY WALTERS

The Boston Red Sox remain the favorite to acquire Johan Santana from the Twins, insiders say.

Boston remains firm, though, as initially reported by the Pioneer Press, in offering just Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson. The Red Sox are adamantly opposed to substituting Jacoby Ellsbury for Crisp, and that's the current holdup.

Regardless, there's buzz that the Santana trade could be made within days.

Boston has a larger pool of players who interest Minnesota and can contribute to the Twins immediately, whereas many of the New York Yankees' top prospects are at least a season or two away from succeeding in the major leagues. The Yankees remain firmly opposed to trading pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy together for Santana, and they certainly won't trade Joba Chamberlain.

The dark horse for Santana remains the Angels, who have enough young players to appease the Twins, but they have been quiet, much the same as they were before popping out of the weeds with a $90 million, five-year free-agent offer for Torii Hunter.

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News source：http://www.twincities.com/walters/ci_7755433?nclick_check=1

講來講去，還是一堆廢話，反正就是紅襪堅持不丟Jacoby Ellsbury，洋基堅持不同時丟出 Phil Hughes和Ian Kennedy。真不知道這篇文章的作者從何判斷出紅襪佔優勢　=.=||　看來這齣戲還要演很久，看的都讓人覺得厭煩了。