Afternoon Links:

· FBI opens case investigating whether Roger Clemens committed perjury. MLB fans offer their overbearing indifference.

· Jon Heyman says Joe Torre will have a tough time keeping the Dodgers together as embittered veterans will mix with LA's uber prospects.

· Jonathon Mayo, good source of MiLB info, takes his swings on the Clemens predicament and may offer a surprising perspective.

· The NY Observer thinks a Betemit/Duncan platoon at first base best serves Yanks though Joe Girardi will probably institute the "hot hand" approach.

Heyman: Santana Deal Imminent

Update 5:00 pm:

The Mets and Twins have been granted a two hour extension until 7 pm to conclude contract talks which would lock up Johan Santana into his mid-30s.

---

Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting the Mets are closing in on a deal of six years at about $22 million per season:

Johan Santana and the Mets continue to make progress on a record-setting contract that is expected to make the two-time Cy Young winner a $150-million man, SI.com has learned. People with knowledge of the talks say they expect a deal to be completed by the 5 p.m. EST deadline.

Santana and the Mets are discussing a contract extension for six years that is expected to pay Santana close to $22 million a year, according to sources familiar with the talks. In addition, it is believed the Mets may add about $7 million to Santana's $13.25 million salary for 2008.

That expected new $20 million salary for '08, and the six additional years at $22 million, could bring Santana's total haul to $152 million. The previous record for a pitcher was Barry Zito's $126-million, seven-year deal signed last winter with the San Francisco Giants.

Some reports say the Mets are holding strong to a deal of five years and a sixth year as a vested option, but if Heyman's report is accurate, Omar Minaya cannot be blamed for trying. They are throwing the kitchen sink at Santana, and a deal will therefore get done soon, if it hasn't already.

I know plenty of Mets fans, and though we like to take shots at each other from time to time, I have to offer a kudos on picking up the best pitcher in baseball. With the NL and that stadium, Johan will be an absolute stud for them. Citi Field and not Fenway Park is all the Yankees care about.

Heyman: Mets, Santana, Blah Blah Blah

All Santana, All the Time.

Jon Heyman has joined the chorus of reporters who already suggest the Mets are Johan Santana's top suitor.

Once written off as an extreme long shot in the long-running Johan Santana drama, the Mets may actually be the favorite now. At the very least, there are indications now that they are engaging in more regular dialogue with the Twins in recent days than either the Red Sox or Yankees. And Mets general manager Omar Minaya, who loves a big deal but hasn't made one since the winter before last, has told some people in the business, "We have a shot.''

Minaya declined to comment when I reached him on Tuesday. But there are some definite signs that the Twins may be warming to the idea of taking a package of projects and prospects with high ceilings while not insisting on much in the way of major-league help. Which, if true, would give the Mets a real shot.

Neither the Red Sox, who have seemed consistently lukewarm in this derby, nor the Yankees, who have run hot and cold, has been as aggressive as one might expect considering their longstanding fight over players big and small. At this point, it appears either might simply be happy not to see Santana go to the other.

The Yankees remain the wild card. GM Brian Cashman has made the rejuvenation of the team's farm system his calling card and is said to be against trading even one top-flight young pitcher, such as Phil Hughes. But newly-empowered general partner Hank Steinbrenner is said by insiders to be much more willing to do what it takes in terms of prospects and dollars to land Santana.

Some Mets officials have an impression that they could probably have Santana if they simply added Martinez to the mix, but one person familiar with the Mets thinking said he'd be surprised if the Mets agreed to do that, which would leave their minor-league system practically barren. Which explains why there still isn't a deal.

The top Twins rumor writer, La Velle E. Neal III, offers his recent insights on the Santana debaucle. Neal shows a very different perspective, stating the Yankees continue to talk with Minnesota:

First of all, the Twins continue to talk to the Mets, Red Sox AND YANKEES about deals for Johan Santana. Despite the Yankees claiming that they are out of the running, I’ve been told the Twins have spoken with all three teams in recent days.

This doesn’t surprise me. Both New York teams need starting pitching help. Mets starters were 66-53 last season, including 13 wins from Tom Glavine. The Yankees are counting on Andy Pettitte, who will turn 36 during the season, to lead their rotation.

I kept being told that the Twins are willing to go to spring training with Santana, although that would be the worst-case scenario. For now, the Twins have stepped up their efforts to make a deal with one of these teams before camp opens.

Mitchell, McNamee Hug It Out

Sports Illustrated's best newsbreaker, Jon Heyman, offers the exclusive with Brian McNamee. In it, McNamee speaks of his sorrow for burying his client and idol, Roger Clemens. He also explains Senator Mitchell embraced the troubled trainer after confirming testimony detailing the Rocket's use of performance-enhancing-drugs. Weird.

From SI.com:

McNamee speaks fondly about his successful pairing with Clemens; apparently, he hasn't quite let go. There are signs that he'd like their old relationship back. Clemens revealed on 60 Minutes that McNamee emailed him for fishing tips days before Mitchell's findings were divulged without hinting what was to come, an assertion that McNamee didn't deny.

McNamee explains that he was prohibited from revealing to anyone what he had told Mitchell. "It was killing me," he says. "I got sick. I could not talk about it. It was a federal investigation.'' McNamee also explains that at the time he was still reasonably hopeful that none of the names Mitchell learned from him or anyone else would be made public. "Why would I tell Roger or Andy something they might not even find out about?'' he says.

McNamee received the first call from the feds way back in May. "I was pretty compelled to tell the truth,'' is the way McNamee put it. "It made me sick,'' he says. 'I was hospitalized for the stress.''

Three months later, in August, he was called before Mitchell, and asked to nod to what he told the feds the month before. When he was done nodding, he says Mitchell hugged him. But he claims he took no pride in it.

"Within the culture of what was going on, he was just a small part of it. A lot of guys did it. You can't take away the work Roger did. You can't take away the fact that he worked out as hard as anybody.'' When McNamee, also a former strength and conditioning coach with the Blue Jays from 1998 through 2000, is asked to estimate how many major leaguers were involved with steroids during that period, he answers without hesitation. "More than half,'' he says.

"When Clemens claims to have no knowledge that Andy Pettitte -- Clemens' close friend and training partner, and another former client of McNamee -- had twice taken HGH, thus corroborating McNamee's testimony in the Mitchell Report, the trainer interjects, "I believe that."

As the 60 Minutes interview draws to a close, Clemens, who will repeat his denials in a news conference the next day, discusses the possibility of taking a lie detector test. "I think he's the one guy who could probably beat the test," McNamee opines. "He might actually believe that he's telling the truth."

More than anything else, the distressed, desperate voice used by McNamee on the strange recorded phone call was caused by a sadness in overseeing his friend and hero's fall from grace. This would explain his desire to recover the friendship he had with Clemens. It also accounts for McNamee's refusal to retract his testimony.

Not saying anything is proven, but it is a passable explanation for McNamee's actions. There's no doubting the trainer's shady nature, just as there is no concurring Roger's denials. The trainer shot first and mortally wounded Clemens before he was even able to load up a defense. The rest is history, and a clouded one at that.