Knotholemike

Not necessarily. The Twins do NOT need salary relief, but the Mets do as they are still paying off Madoff's victims. The Mets can either get salary relief, top prospects, or some combination, but not both. As I pointed out in the original post the only obligation for the Twins is $35M over the next 2 years. They might have to part with a couple of prospects but not necessarily a top 5, not if they are taking on all of Santana's $25.5M salary. One of the Twins' outfield prospects would probably have to be part of any deal.

Dumbass

They might be able to "afford" one more year of Santana, but they would be fools to do so. They will NOT be able to compete with the Nationals, Phillies or Braves over the next two years so keeping Santana is like throwing money down a deep hole. If I'm a GM who needs pitching I would be all over them on these two pitchers.

Unfortunately, the Mets are in rebuilding mode so trading Santana for Morneau nets them nothing. With the Nationals, Braves and Phillies all significantly better than the Mets in 2013 and 2014, the Mets would want two things: 1) salary relief; and 2) prospect(s) who could help them in 2015 and beyond.

I'd throw him in too.

The trade-off for the Mets is that they can't get both salary relief and top prospects. Remember, they are still paying Bernie Madoff's victims. Money is still tight; not by design but by necessity. Maybe the Twins would have to part with a Berrios, but maybe not.

So you want to see more of Luis Perdomo, Samuel Deduno, Cole Devries, etc.?

Whether you believe the Twins can compete in 2013 or not would it be crazy to acquire Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey from the Mets? From the Twins perspective they would get at least one top of the rotation pitcher and possibly two if Santana regains his form after several years of injuries. Neither is signed to a long-term contract, though a 2-year, say $30M extension to Dickey would not necessarily be ridiculous. From the Mets perspective they would be trading a valuable commodity, a top-flight pitcher, but they would also be dumping about $31.5M in obligations for 2013 and $5.5M in obligations for 2014. Why it works: for the Twins these two pitchers would make them competitive in 2013 without breaking the bank as their payroll would rise to about $102M, maybe $105M+ if they signed yet another FA pitcher. They could take on that extra salary knowing this big splash would probably sell enough tickets to cushion the increase. For 2014, the additional payroll obligations - Dickey and a Santana buyout or extension - would be offset by the salaries of Blackburn ($5.5M) and Morneau ($15M) coming off the books. For the Mets, they get much needed breathing room to reset and rebuild for 2014 and beyond. Can it be done? The Twins may have to throw in a prospect or two to sweeten the deal and it might take a fairly good one that could help the Mets in say 2015. The deal would not compromise the Twins' flexibility and it might make them really competitive in their division in 2013.

Now the Twins only have about $70M in obligations for 2013, and Blackburn, Span and Morneau represent another $27M in obligations gone after next year. Although Meyers fills a glaring hole in the upper levels of the farm system he's probably not likely to be ready to join the rotation until 2015. I actually like this move for the Nationals much better than Atlanta's signing of BJ Upton. The Nationals have sluggers but really needed a quality lead-off man and center fielder. They get that in Span. But, I'm gonna miss the skinny version of Darryl from the Office patrol center at Target field.

The dearth of activity in this off-season has been excruciatingly painful. This was punctuated by the lead story that David Freese crashed into a tree to avoid hitting a deer.

Has anyone seen or can anyone provide an assessment of Plouffe's defense at 3B? How is his range and where does he rank along side other 3rd basemen?