Who can it be knocking at my door?

As the Santana sweepstakes heats up over the next 10 days, Twins fans are holding their breath to see what Bill Smith has up his sleeve. Twins Territory was sent into a quasi tizzy last week when it was announced that Torii Hunter had signed with the Angels. Despite the feast on Turkey day at least this Twins fan was left feeling empty inside. The focus is back to Santana as the Twins front office attempts to avoid letting another big name go without major compensation in the form of talent. At a local watering hole on Wednesday night (pre-Hunter deal) I was involved in a long discussion with an area Twins fan that we'll call Sam. Sam, who was a few beers into his night, pulled me close and whispered "I have it on a good source that Hunter won't be re-signed, the Twins are gonna trade Johan and get 2 or 3 starters they can add to the roster with immediate impact, and the Pohlad's are loosening the purse strings for guys like Morneau, Cuddy, Mauer and an other free agents in an effort to win now." While Sam was drunk and his "source" about as reliable as me or you, you could at the very least hear the desperation of an entire state in his voice to not come away from baseball's winter meetings empty-handed.

When the dust finally does settle, Twins fans won't forget two things: Santana's 93-44 record, career 3.22 ERA, and 2 Cy Youngs and "who we get" for him. Very soon we'll at least know the names, considering the size of talent in Santana "who we get" will have to be better than the steals we have seen in the past in the Lirianos, Nathans, Guzmans, Miltons. Whether it's coming from the Yankees lead by Joba Chamberlain, the Mets lead by Jose Reyes, or some other team, the names will be burned in your memory for good or for bad. Two years from April when the snow is flying at "Best Buy Field at Target Stadium at General Mills Grounds" we could be swooning over a team of lovable characters who are in the midst of something special or cursing the fact that we let the best pitcher in baseball go and got nothing in return.