Matthew Cerrone says the Twins have moved on from the Yankees and Red Sox, and are calling other teams to discuss Santana. Tyler Kepner says the Yanks have interpreted the Twins’ nonresponse to their offer as a rejection.”

Maybe he’s just posturing though.

Keeping Joba gives you the future.Joba stuff is much better then Hughes thats why they want to keep Joba and even if everybody gets there wish and we pull out of this deal the Yankees are gonna get somebody else.

Phil Hughes and his 92mph fastball is never going to be dominant. He could become Mussina good and win 250 games. But Mike Mussina was never an ace.

The Yanks were one dominant starter and at least 3 reliable relief pitchers away from being a championship caliber team last year. Guess what? They still are in the same boat as we speak.They have an aging core and an expensive payroll. Why NOT go for it in ‘08?

Melky is good,but not great. I can see why the Twins would want an additional prospect. The Yanks shouldnt lose this opportunity, especially with the depth they have in their farm system.

you don’t think giving up bth Hughes & Kennedy just to keep them from Boston is a panic move?

If Cashman had panicked like that Kennedy would be with the Texas Rangers and we would have Gagne. Yikes!!!

What you say is very true. The probability of Hughes being an all-star pitcher is undoubtedly questionable, just as it is with any young pitcher.

On the other hand, while I’m under no delusion that Hughes is going to be the best pitcher of his generation, nor a once-in-a-lifetime pitcher, I do think it would be fair to say that, of all the young pitchers in the majors, Hughes has as good a chance, if not better, to amount to an all-star arm. He has the track record in the minors, he has youth on his side (certainly doesn’t hurt his upside, even if it increases injury risk), he has the stuff (even if he lacks a big-time fastball, peak-94 with precision is still pretty damned impressive), and he has great mechanics with a repeatable delivery.

Of course he can amount to nothing. Of course I wouldn’t put more than a 25% chance (and even that is probably overly optimistic) that Hughes reaches his absolute ceiling and becomes one of the top fifteen pitchers in the AL. But I do think Hughes has at least an even-money chance of being an all-star arm, as far as young pitchers go. I would even go out on a limb and say, of all the young arms in the Yankee system, including Chamberlain, Hughes probably has the best chance of being an all-star arm; there’s a reason he was the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, compared favorably to a young Josh Beckett or Mark Prior, just a year ago.

Still, is trading Hughes for Santana a bad move? No, it isn’t. I think, from a baseball perspective, it’s probably a great move, even though the fan in me-and don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Phil Hughes fan-would be at best ambivalent. Nonetheless, keeping Hughes and not trading for Santana is likewise not a bad move. It might not be as good a move, but I wouldn’t classify it a catastrophe.

i would not give up both hughes and kennedy unless it was absolutely necessary to keep him from the Sox (though who knows how to really know what absolutely necessary means).

i have ZERO issue with people saying hughes plus other prospects like kennedy is a bad deal.

i just have no respect for the opinion that money aside, hughes will be better over the next few years than santana. hughes being great is a complete guess. santana being great is likely.

IPK and Hughes may be what Minny wants from the Yankees? They probably will take Horne/Jackson instead. Would you give them that for what you believe is the best pitcher on the planet?