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.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com is reporting that the Twins and Yankees were getting nowhere in discussions in their attempt to complete a deal for Johan Santana. The Yankees are contemplating pulling out of the race for the left-hander.

The report states that the Twins again asked the Yankees for Ian Kennedy as the third-player in the deal for Santana that also included Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera. The Yankees may look to the bay and a possible deal for Oakland ace Dan Haren.

The New York Daily News reports that the Yankees are willing to meet the Twins demand for Philip Hughes in a deal to bring Johan Santana to the Bronx. GM Brian Cashman, owner Hank Steinbrenner, and long time scout Gene Michaels discussed via conference call the decision to include Hughes and have reportedly decided to meet the Twins demand.

According to the club source, there was spirited internal debate in the organization via conference calls about whether to make Hughes available.

In any case, the club finally agreed to put Hughes in a package that includes center fielder Melky Cabrera and at least one other lesser pitching prospect still to be negotiated, as of Friday night. And by doing so they believe they are the front-runners to land Santana, the two-time Cy Young winner.

The Red Sox are unwilling to part with Clay Buchholz or Jacoby Ellsbury which puts them behind the Yankees at this point in the race to bag the biggest prize of this off season.

Jon Heyman on SI.com reveals the Twins demands for Johan Santana.

The Yankees have been offering a package leading with Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera, however the Twins are insisting that Philip Hughes be included.

The Twins have requested Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox. The Red Sox seem unwilling to deal either player.

The Twins asked the Dodgers for Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier but they refused.

Mark Feinsand on his blog for the New York Daily News writes how the Yankees would be foolish to trade Philip Hughes in a package for Johan Santana.

If I were the Yankees, I wouldn’t make the deal. I know it sounds crazy not to want to add a 28-year-old stud ace lefthander, but the price is simply too high. Dealing Hughes, who has been projected as a top of the rotation guy, is silly. Keep him, and use the $25 million a year to add pitching some other way.

Think of it this way – there aren’t many teams that can afford to sign Santana to the six-year, $150 million contract he wants. If he doesn’t get that, he’s going to become a free agent next year and then the Yankees can go sign him while retaining Hughes.

This is what I’ve been saying all along. You are essentially trading away valuable prospects under the fear that someone will trade and sign Santana. If the Yankees or any other team are confident that nobody will be willing to pay the price in both prospects and payroll, then you roll the dice on him getting to free agency next year.

The question remains, is there someone out there willing to pay that high price. There very well may be or the Twins may make concessions on the number or level of prospects and players they get in return in fear they may simply get nothing at all if they let him walk in 2008.

This, as we have said before, will be a very tricky and interesting game that will play out over the next few weeks, and possibly months if it drags out into the trade deadline.

According to Peter Gammons over at ESPN Insider, the Minnesota Twins want a three-player deal from the Yankees for Johan Santana. The Twins are asking for SP Phil Hughes, CF Melky Cabrera and CF Austin Jackson.

Over the weekend, it was reported that Johan Santana is likely seeking a six-year, $150 million deal.

Cabrera, 23, played centerfield in 131 games for the Yankees last season, hitting .273 with 8 home runs and 73 runs batted in. Cabrera managed to steal 13 bases and score 66 runs during the course of the 2007 season.

Hughes, 21, widely considered the best pitching prospect in baseball, went 5-3 with a 4.46 ERA last season in 13 starts. In just his second career start, Hughes took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, before tearing his hamstring with just 84 pitches thrown. In the playoffs against the Indians, Hughes relieved SP Roger Clemens after just 2.1 innings of work. He took over in the 3rd inning and recorded the next 11 outs while only giving up 2 hits and got the win for the team.

Jackson, 20, considered a top 10 prospect within the Yankees organization. He was named the No. 2 prospect in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League. An NL Scout on Baseball America had to say about Jackson. “Once he gets underway he’s a plus-plus runner. He’s the best athlete in this league. He doesn’t have that first-step explosion, but this guy is a real crowd pleaser on the bases.”

Considering the landscape of this free agent market, this year could be the biggest off-season of trades in quite some time.

Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Scott Rolen, and Miguel Tejada are among those who could be seeing a change in scenery this winter.

In terms of Santana, Jayson Stark on ESPN writes that the Mets might be the team most willing to give up the prospects needed to get him.

One NL executive says: Watch out for the Mets, given the pressure on GM Omar Minaya to win now.

“Omar seems determined to make a huge splash,” the exec says. “And I think that’s the guy they’ve had earmarked all along.”

The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, and Mets would appear to be the top teams in the running for Santana.

The Yankees don’t appear willing to deal Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, or Phillip Hughes, which would likely put they out of the running for Santana.

The Dodgers would need to make a choice on who to use their prospects on, Cabrera or Santana. Buster Olney on ESPN cites a NL source who said that the Dodgers and Marlins are ‘pretty far apart’ on Cabrera. Olney writes that ‘there is growing expectation around the game is that the Angels will land Cabrera’.

However Rosenthal believes the Angels no longer are the front-runners for Cabrera.

Rosenthal cites major-league sources who say, if the Dodgers are willing to part with outfielder Matt Kemp along with third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class AA left-hander Clayton Kershaw, they would likely be able to land the Marlins All-Star third baseman.

If the Dodgers fail to land Cabrera, they are rumored to have interest in Scott Rolen as well.

Jayson Stark believes it will take two young players to get Dontrelle Willis. The Mets, Mariners and Diamondbacks are believed to have interest.

The Orioles want to get rid of the $26 million left on Miguel Tejada’s contract which does not leave many suitors. The Dodgers and Angels may use Tejada as plan B if they lose out on Cabrera. The O’s are also rumored to be shopping Erik Bedard.

The Reds may make Ryan Freel or Scott Hamilton available due to the emergence of minor league player of the year Jay Bruce.

The Pirates could offer 26-year old Ian Snell who has more quality starts (22) than Santana or Roy Oswalt and a better strikeout rate (7.66 per 9 innings) than Carlos Zambrano or Ben Sheets.

The Phillies are looking at Randy Wolf, Matt Clement, Kris Benson, Mike Wood, and Japanese free agent Hiroki Kuroda.

Here’s a rundown of Hot Stove news this afternoon…