Whoever thought that it would be down to any other team other than the Yankees and Red Sox must have been in Never Never Land. Anyway, it appears now that the Yankees are doing much more to land the ace lefty. Peter Gammons reported earlier today on Mike & Mike In The Morning that Hank Steinbrenner could step in to push Phil Hughes in the trade, something which the other franchise staff are not keen on. It's the traditional Steinbrenner get-stars-at-all-cost approach and forget about building a club from the ground up (although I must say that baseball rarely does that nowadays).
ESPN's Buster Olney also has the same opinions, including Melky Cabrera and one other prospect to be included in the package.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are also talking to the A's about Dan Haren. There has also been suggestions that the Red Sox are not really keen on Santana, being on the table only to push up the price for the player, while side stepping the Yankees for Dan Haren. Whatever that amounts to, it has gone to dust anyway. Getting Santana on the Boston team would also bring up questions about Josh Beckett's salary - a rework would have to be done.
In my opinion now, the Yankees are the clear favourites to land Santana.
Update: The Yankees have confirmed that Phil Hughes will be included in any package for Santana. As mentioned earlier, with this addition, Yankees will be at the forefront of any race for Johan Santana.
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