Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports "[Johan] Santana approved the team's trade attempts, knowing he will have the final say because of his complete no-trade clause."  Given the dearth of hitting on the Twins, one can expect any team with a surplus of young hitting to be involved in the more serious Santana trade rumors.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com is reporting, "The Twins, rival executives say, want at least one big-name major leaguer for Santana, a player such as the Mets' Jose Reyes or Yankees' Robinson Cano."  This dovetails nicely with what Kat O'Brien of Long Island, NY's Newsday offered in this morning's edition.

Later she offers, "The Twins are believed to have more interest in Chamberlain and Hughes than Kennedy, but they also like second baseman Robinson Cano and centerfielder Melky Cabrera."  The same All-Star level player Rosenthal mentioned.

She does say that the Mets may be involved based on what GM Omar Minaya has been saying this off-season about adding a starting pitcher and mention the same group of prospects - outfielders Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez along with pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Aaron Heilman.  No mention of Jose Reyes which makes a lot of sense given the Mets have made no intentions of dealing him known.

Milledge and Gomez would certainly improve the Twins' outfield.  I still don't see the team as serious contenders given the Twins could use a 3B and an upgrade at 2B, and the arms the Mets have to offer wouldn't beat out the ones the Twins already have.

More interesting, though, is the Twins need two positions that another team who is shopping an All-Star play does - the Florida Marlins.  The Fish are shopping 3B Miguel Cabrera and want to also fill 3B and CF.  Could the other Los Angeles team land Santana after failing to land Cabrera with the exact same player package?  Matt Kemp and Andy LaRoche for Johan Santana makes a lot of sense if the Angels land Cabrera for Willits, Wood et al, doesn't it?