Just a few things worth mentioning

• First thing's first, head on over to SethSpeaks.net to see a few questions he asked me about my thoughts on the Twins off-season and the team in general. And while you're there, scroll down to see some other Q&A's with some other Twins bloggers & even a player!

• The newest rumor is that the Yankees are now putting together an offer that does include young pitcher Phil Hughes, despite rumors that they were reluctant to do so. This definitely rises price for Santana, to a pretty considerable amount. The Twins are very high on Phil Hughes, and he is a big upgrade over Ian Kennedy, who was originally being offered. Also rumored to be involved is young center fielder Melky Cabrera (nothing new) and there's also another prospect involved, although it will probably be a lower-prospect than what we are thinking.

The deal will probably not be back in Boston's hands. Either they try to improve their current offer, or they substitute either Jon Lester with Clay Bucholz, or Coco Crisp with Jacoby Ellsbury. I think that the Red Sox will have to add one of those two prospects to make a better deal than what the Yankees could be offering.

If the Red Sox do offer one of those two players, I think the next step for the Yankees would either to package both Hughes & Kennedy (with others) in a package, or to make Robinson Cano available. But it could be a while before things could get to that point.

This probably won't be resolved until after the winter meetings, unfortunately, Santana's value may prove to be too high at that time and teams may lose interest in him and may start focusing on a guy like Dan Haren or Eric Bedard.