La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that both the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins have discussed adding another player to the reported Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey deal. While the Mets view 19-year old prospect Fernando Martinez as ‘practically untouchable’, the two sides have talked about adding Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith or Aaron Heilman to the deal for Johan Santana.

The Yankees and Twins have discussed adding a third or fourth player to their proposed deal of Philip Hughes and Melky Cabrera.

The Red Sox have discussed tweaking the back-end of their current offers to make the deal happen, but the Twins still would have to work with either a deal led by outfield prospect Jacoby Ellsbury or another led by pitcher Jon Lester, but not both in the same deal.

Update 1/26 - 7:12 p.m. - It appears that Neal updated the article and now it does not include pitchers Scott Schoeneweis or Joe Smith.

John Heyman, who we have to say is turning into the anti-Buster Olney, reports that the Mets appear to be having daily discussions with the Twins and believe they have a legitimate shot to bring the lefty to Queens, something we believed would happen all along.

Hot Foot noted a month ago that the media buzz surrounding the Sox and Yankees obtaining Johan Santana outweighed Twins GM Bill Smith’s desire to trade him to an AL rival. Indeed, now there seems to be one logical spot for Santana, since the Theo Epstein’s Sox and the Hankees don’t seem willing to outbid one another.

“Neither the Red Sox, who have seemed consistently lukewarm in this derby, nor the Yankees, who have run hot and cold, has been as aggressive as one might expect considering their longstanding fight over players big and small. At this point, it appears either might simply be happy not to see Santana go to the other. “

Granted this news gets us absolutely nowhere, but at least Heyman knows Omar’s number, which leads us to think something may be brewing here and the Mets may be the only real option for Smith and the Twins. But then again, by using our own common sense, we’ve known that all along.

Simply put, why on earth would Smith trade Santana to an AL East team when his team is positioned to add pieces that can make them playoff contenders. So the Twins get Ian Kennedy or a Jon Lester and win the Wild Card. What happens when they face the Yanks or Sox WITH Santana? Have they really gotten any better?

Read the entire article at SI.com.

Buster Olney on his ESPN blog writes of the matters that could complicate the trading of Johan Santana.

Among them is his no-trade clause, which he could use as leverage to block any deal where he doesn’t feel he will get his best return on a new deal.

On top of that, a team would need to part with a number of their best prospects, a proposition that could present another roadblock due to the fact that the Yankees are reluctant to give up Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, and Phillip Hughes, and the Red Sox may be unwilling to trade Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, and Jacoby Ellsbury on top of a $150 million contract extension.

The Mets seem more willing to deal their prospects, as Omar Minaya has stated that ‘nobody’s untouchable’ and he intends to upgrade his rotation this off season.

A package could include either Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, or more likely Lastings Milledge, who has the most major league experience of the three, as the Twins want players who are major league ready in return, along with and pitchers Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber and Joe Smith.

Hot Foot reported earlier this week that Jim Callis of Baseball America doesn’t believe the Mets could put a package together that the Twins would be willing to accept for Santana. Callis believes the Mets should set their sights on Dan Haren instead. Ken Davidoff seems to agree, and writes of a Haren deal with the Mets on Newsday.

“Trade Aaron Heilman, Lastings Milledge, Kevin Mulvey and a lower-level prospect to the A’s for Dan Haren.The beauty of a Haren trade is that the Mets would be acquiring an ace for the price of a back-of-the-rotation starter. They would retain the payroll flexibility to go out and get Santana on the free-agent market a year from now, if Santana is still available, or Erik Bedard in two years.”

Olney wonders if a package of Milledge, Humber and Pelfrey would be enough weighed against the backlash new Twins GM Billy Smith would receive from fans for trading Santana.

Smith, in his first year as Twins GM, will look to shape his legacy in his first season. He could find that he may endear himself better to fans, however unlikely, by holding onto Santana, hoping he leads the Twins back into the pennant race next season rather than hand him over to the Yankees or Red Sox.