Neal: Twins To Soon Ask For 'Final Answer'

Where's a Regis Philbin joke when you need one. According to Twins rumor mongerer La Velle Neal, Minnesota will soon ask the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets for their final offers on Johan Santana. Neal refutes Buster Olney's report yesterday which declared Jon Lester off the trading table.

Indications from Twins officials are that this is a critical week in the Johan Santana sweepstakes.

The club has not set any hard deadlines yet but may soon tell the teams most interested in Santana -- the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox -- that it's time for them to step up with their best offers for the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

Twins officials over the weekend maintained that all three teams remain interested in Santana. They also disputed reports that lefthander Jon Lester has been taken out of any Red Sox package. Boston still is believed to have different packages under consideration, one led by Lester and the other led by outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Twins would like a package from the Yankees that includes righthander Phil Hughes and outfielder Melky Cabrera -- an option that some Twins players quietly prefer.

There is always the possibility that the Yankees return their offer based around Hughes and Melky, though that possibility seems to shrink with every day passed.

The question now is whether the Twins and Yankees would be willing to assemble and accept an offer of say Ian Kennedy, Alan Horne, Melky Cabrera and Jeff Marquez. Only Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner can really answer that one.