Earlier today, ESPN.com senior baseball analyst Keith Law sat down to chat with fans. 

From 2002-2006 Law worked for the Blue Jays organization, reaching the position of Special Assistant to the GM before resigning. Since then, he has written for ESPN.

Law took the time to answer many Mets related questions, most notably saying:

-People vastly underrate the Mets’ prospects, and the notion that the Mets will not have the ammunition to trade for Johan Santana or somebody of that nature is absurd.

-In terms of skill as well as contract, Erik Bedard is the best value because even though he has one year less than Dan Haren on his current contract, he is a much better pitcher.

-Despite rumors, Law believes there is no chance the Mets will trade Jose Reyes for anybody, including Johan Santana.

-Law says he is fairly certain Lastings Milledge will be traded this offseason, because the Mets need more starting pitching, relief pitching and are still in the market for another catcher.

-Law also answers a question regarding what the Mets might do with their top picks in the draft this year.

I’ve always liked Law, he answers questions well and has good insight.  Definitely worth checking out.

As it has been widely reported, the Twins and the Rays agreed to a trade swapping young phenoms.

While I could spend a while here breaking down the trade in favor of the Twins or Rays, I won’t. However, this trade could be tipping Minnesota’s hand in regards to what they plan to do with our everyday rumor, Johan Santana.

Despite the trade, I still expect the Twins to trade Johan, however what they’re looking for in a deal where they trade Johan might drastically change. Ever since the departure of Torii Hunter, taking $90 million to go play for the Angels, the Twins were in the market for outfield help. Even with the star power of Hunter roaming CF, the Twins outfield was suspect.

Hunter logged the most innings of any Twins’ OF with 1315.2 innings in CF. Michael Cuddyer came in 2nd with 1224.1 innings in RF. Jason Kubel played the most innings of any Twins’ ball player in LF, logging 700.1 innings. Also recieving significant playing time in LF was former Mets’ 1st round pick Jason Tyner, who played 300.1 innings in LF, while also playing 144.1 in RF and 85.0 in CF.

So even with Hunger patrolling CF, left field and right field would be a concern to any team. The Twins’ immediate need to replace Hunter made the Mets a more likely trade partner. Without Delmon Young, the Twins would need to be actively pursing an OF replacement, and the Mets certainly can supply a few of those. Many reports have suggested that the Twins are enamored with Carlos Gomez as their CF of the future, even though many regard Lastings Milledge as a greater talent.

In addition to Young, the Twins also acquired OF Jason Pridie. A 2nd round pick of the Rays in 2002, Pridie was caught in the shuffle of Rays’ OF prospects which included Josh Hamilton, Delmon Young, Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Joey Gathright, Jonny Gomes and Pridie. The Twins selected Pridie in the Rule V draft, but decided not to keep him on their 25 man roster, so by rule he was returned to the Rays.

So adding not only Young, but Pridie as well, to the Twins’ OF makes the Mets’ and their stock of young outfield talent (Milledge, Gomez, Fernando Martinez) a less suitable trade partner. While the Mets do have other young talent to offer such as Mike Pelfrey, Phillip Humber and Kevin Mulvey, other teams such as the Yankees have more in terms of pitching prospects (Ian Kennedy, Phillip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain to name just a few) as well as position players such as Robinson Cano.

I still think the Twins will try and trade Mr. Santana just as actively as they are now. Just as a result of the deal, the Mets may seem like a less appealing option compared to teams with more pitching talent. By no means am I ruling the Mets out of the Johan sweepstakes, because you never know what Omar can pull out of his hat. However, this move makes me think that in a trade involving Johan Santana, the Twins will be focusing on pitching talent, something that doesn’t play into the Mets’ strengths.

At Yahoo, Tim Brown writes a thorough article discussing potential trade opportunities coming up at the winter meetings.

For each player, he lists the player’s contract, realistic trade partners, upside and downside to the player, the cost to get him and who he predicts as the favorite to land the player.

Brown writes that the Mets would make sense as trade partners for Johan Santana, Dan Haren, Dontrelle Willis, Erik Bedard and Joe Blanton.

He lists the Mets as the favorites for Haren, Willis and Blanton. Brown lists the Yankees as the favorite for Bedard and the Diamondbacks as the favorite for Bedard.

Well, its nice to hear that we are favorites for getting Haren, Blanton and Willis, especially Haren. He’d really be great at the top of the rotation for years to come, not that Blanton and Willis wouldn’t be good fits.

According to St. Petersburg Times blog, The Heater, the deal trading trading OF Delmon Young to the Twins in exchange for RHP Matt Garza has become official.

Here’s how the trade breaks down (age in parenthesis)

Rays Get:

RHP Matt Garza (23)
SS Jason Bartlett (28)
RHP Eduardo Morlan (21)

Twins Get:

OF Delmon Young (22)
IF Brendan Harris (27)
OF Jason Pridie (24)

Analysis to come tomorrow

According to the Associated Press, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pleaded guilty to DUI today. This is happening eight months after he was caught asleep by the wheel by police smelling like alcohol.

According to the report, La Russa will have to pay a fine of $678.50, face six months of probation, attend DUI school and complete 50 hours of community service.

Nice going