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.

Omar Minaya has expressed that with the likelyhood of Tom Glavine leaving, the Mets are willing to trade top prospect to get a top tier pitcher in return, reports MLB.com

“There’s no doubt, if you’re going to trade for pitching in this market — the way pitching is right now if you look at the free agents — you’re going to have to part with some premium guys,” Minaya said Wednesday.

“There’s no doubt that our premium prospects are very well-liked. The question is whether we’d trade them. We could be players in some of the pitching that might be traded.”

The Mets top prospects, in order of value to the team, are Minor League outfielders Fernando Martinez and Carlos Gomez, Mike Pelfrey and Minor League starter Kevin Mulvey, Lastings Milledge and Philip Humber.

A deal involving Martinez and Gomez is highly unlikely. The Mets might be more willing to deal them if the return was someone like Johan Santana.

via Tobys Minor Leauge Report

Pitcher Phil Humber has been named the Pitcher of the Week for the PCL. He had gone 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA for the week. In 13 IP he also recorded 7K.

Overall he’s now 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts. He’s given up 7 earned runs, 16 hits, and stuck out 17.

Well there’s no game in New York, and its storming in the vast majority of the state. So a perfect day to take a quick look around the minor league system.

Chan Ho Park gave up eight runs and ten hits in four innings in a Zephyrs loss yesterday. It was the teams second straight loss to the Nashville Sound, with a final score of 1-14. In Fridays loss, Fernando Tatis went 1-4 with a solo homerun, and Carlos Gomez went 2 for 4. In ten games, Gomez is batting .389 and 4 RBIs. He has stolen 6 bases, and been caught once. Anderson Hernendez continues his struggles at the plate, batting .200, with two doubles and two RBI’s. Since joining New Orleans, Lastings Milledge is 0-7 with 1 walk. He’s struck out four times. Ben Johnson is currently on the DL, after an injury diving for a catch in Thursday’s game.

On the pitching side, his rough outing ups Park (1-1) to a 7.2 ERA. He’s struck out nine, but given up three homeruns. Jorge Sosa (1-0) has yet to give up an earned run in 13 innings, while striking out nine and walking 3. Humber (1-1) leads in strikeouts with 10, and has given up five runs, all earned.

The Zephyrs are now 5-5.

Willie Randolph wasn't overly concerned about Phil Humber's performance in yesterday's game against the O's, the AP reports.

Humber, covering first base, collided with the runner when first baseman Mike Carp had trouble fielding the ball. David Newhan then decided to make a play at second when he would have had a better chance at the out going to first, and suddenly it was no outs with two on instead of two outs with none on. It was from there on that it appeared Humber's concentration had been shaken.

Steve Serby in the New York Post had a chance to sit down and do a Q&A with Humber where he reveals a secret that Tom Seaver shared with him.

Gotham Baseball takes a look at the talent in the Mets farm system, posting their list of top 10 Mets prospects along with those who are honorable mentions as well.

Gotham lists Phil Humber ahead of Mike Pelfrey citing his array of weapons in the form of three plus pitches as a slight advantage.

Fernando Martinez, Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber appear on SI.com's list of the top 100 prospects in baseball compiled by Bryan Smith.

21. Fernando Martinez, 18, of, New York Mets
2006 Stats (A-/A+): .279/.336/.457, 8 SB in 315 AB

When the Mets assigned Martinez to be the youngest prospect to attend
the Arizona Fall League, many were left skeptical of the Mets' chances
at maximizing their value with the phenom. After all, in his final 15
games in the Florida State League, Martinez had gone 9-for-57 with
three extra-base hits and 13 strikeouts. However, injuries had kept
Martinez inactive for much of his first full season, so the AFL
presented an opportunity for consistent playing time. Martinez
significantly responded, displaying huge power potential from the left
side. It appears the Mets know how to handle the teenager, who could
use some time in the weight room and some improvements against
southpaws to take the next step in 2007.

27. Mike Pelfrey, 23, SP, New York Mets

2006 Stats (A+/AA/AAA): 2.43 ERA, 81H/96.1IP, 109K/33BB

If Pelfrey pans out, people will point to him as an example of why a
pitching prospect needs the backbone of a plus-fastball to succeed. If
he fails and falls short of expectations, pundits will analyze his
secondary stuff as his inevitable downfall. Since starring at Wichita
State, Pelfrey has been able to succeed with the velocity, control and
movement of his fastball and little else. His two-seamer is a deadly
pitch, but big league hitters soon will learn to wait on the other 25
percent of his arsenal, and Pelfrey's adjustments will determine his
career.

62. Phil Humber, 24, SP, New York Mets
2006 Stats (A+/AA): 2.83 ERA, 56H/76.1IP, 79K/20BB

The Mets took a lot of criticism for drafting Humber third in the 2004
draft, ahead of his Rice teammates Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend.
The Mets drew more complaints when Humber needed Tommy John surgery
halfway through his first pro season in 2005. Returning in 2006, Humber
showed the impressive three-pitch arsenal that defined him at Rice, and
tore through two levels of the Mets system. If Humber can prove he has
endurance, it won't take long before the Mets cure some of their
rotation problems by calling him up.

According to the Newark-Star Ledger, the Mets have had discussions with the Blue Jays about a deal that would send OF Vernon Wells to the Mets.

Any deal involving Wells would have to include Aaron Heilman, Lastings Milledge and either Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber.

I know I'm in the minorty here, but with the way our bullpen is right now, I cannot trade Heilman. I know we won't be able to get any deals done if he isn't part of it, but you cannot expect Ambiorix Burgos and his 12 blown saves to replace Heilman in any capacity.

According to the Denver Post, the Rockies and P Jason Jennings haven’t been able to come to any sort of agreement on a contract extension, opening the possibility of a trade. The Post lists the Cardinals, Cubs, Astros, Twins, Mets and Yankees as possible suitors for Jennings’ services.

Notably, the Post lists Mets P Brian Bannister as someone who interests Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd.

However, Metsblog suggests that any Jennings to the Mets trade would have to involve any combination of Ps Phil Humber and Mike Pelfrey and OFs Ben Johnson and Lastings Milledge going to Colorado.

If Bannister is the main component of any trade which would net the Mets a pitcher of Jennings’ caliber, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The same cannot be said if we would have to part with one of our prized prospects. While Jennings is a good pitcher, I don’t feel he is on the same level as a Jake Peavy or Dontrelle Willis, pitchers we could have with these same players. To me, a Bannister and Ben Johnson for Jennings trade would make the most sense for the Mets, but I’m not sure the Rockies would bite on it.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has a crapload of nuggets this morning:

The Mets are still interested in White Sox P Javier Vazquez, but he views the Rangers as the most likely trade partner. Rosenthal suggests the Sox trade Vazquez and OF Brian Anderson to Texas for some of Texas’ pitching prospects, namely Thomas Diamond and John Danks.

The Dodgers are close to signing 1B Nomar Garciaparra to a 2-year deal.

With the departure of DH Frank Thomas to the Blue Jays, expect the A’s to inquire about C Mike Piazza, OF Cliff Floyd, OF Aubrey Huff, OF Frank Catalanotto and 1B Shea Hillenbrand. The alternative route would be to acquire a bat by trading P Esteban Loaiza.

The Giants, Rangers, Orioles and Astros are the four teams most interested in OF Carlos Lee. Lee is a fallback option for the Giants if they fail to re-sign OF Barry Bonds.

If the Devil Rays move either OF Carl Crawford or OF Rocco Baldelli, they will be moved for a young pitcher with ace-like potential. Possible targets include Angels P Ervin Santana, Dodgers P Chad Billingsley and one of the Marlins young pitchers.

Astros.com reports Astros GM Tim Purpura denies having discussions with the Red Sox about P Brad Lidge.

Newsday reports Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez has no plans to waive his no-trade clause.

The Boston Herald is reporting that the Red Sox and Scott Boras plan to keep the Daisuke Matsuzaka contract negotiations “as quiet as possible”.

The Philadelphis Inquirer is reporting that free agent OF-2B Alfonso Soriano has said he prefers to stay on the east coast.

The Denver Post reports that the Cubs, Rangers and Astros are all showing interest in P Jason Jennings.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reports that the Rockies have told the Yankees they will take on half of the $23 million still owed to P Carl Pavano.

Gotham Baseball brings us this update from the GM meetings taking place in Naples, Florida…

Around this past trade deadline, I heard rumblings from the worldwide leader and Ken Rosenthal that the Devil Rays are looking to trade Carl Crawford for some young pitching. This got me thinking. What if we traded Lastings Milledge and Phil Humber to the Devil Rays for Crawford? It would be a perfect trade for both teams. The Mets get a proven player who also happens to be a Jose Reyes clone to fill the void in left field and possibly anchor the top of the lineup with Reyes, giving the Mets, without a doubt, the best 1-2 punch at the top of the order in baseball. As for the Devil Rays, they get a great young outfielder they can replace Crawford with in Milledge and let him develop in their system along with Delmon Young, Elijah Dukes and the rest of Tampa’s young stud position players. Humber not only fills the Rays’ request for a young pitcher, but a quality one who can establish himself as one of the better pitchers in the American League.

Then again, the Mets did trade the Rays Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano, so maybe they owe them a Crawford for Brian Bannister trade?

Thoughts?

Mike's Mets reports by way of MLB.com that Phil Humber has been shut down by the Mets from further participation in the Arizona Fall League due to tendinitis…

Tune into MLB Radio @ Noon ET today to listen to top Mets prospects Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber.