A Key Point to a Potential Santana Trade

At the present time, the Minnesota Twins 40-man roster includes 39 players, leaving one opening without either trading a player or putting one onto waivers. Of the Mets' 40-man roster, neither Mulvey, Guerra or Martinez are on it, which means that, should the Mets' trade these three in a package for Santana, the Twins' would also not have to place them on their 40-man roster, due to their minor league status. This has to be a factor in a potential trade, as if the deal was made and the Twins felt that Guerra and Martinez, for instance, weren't ready to take a shot at the majors right now, they'd have some time before they had to place them on their official roster, leaving Twins' GM Bill Smith some extra roster flexibility with what amounts to being a pretty young major league team. This might sound like a small factor, but players such as Hughes, Cabrera, Elksbury, Crisp and Lester all have to be added to the 40-man roster, as Carlos Gomez and Phil Humber would, but a Mets' trade wouldn't upset the Twins' "status quo" as much and would help keep flexibility in their organization, (as well as payroll flexibility), something that HAS to be on Smith's mind. Just some additional food for thought as we get closer, we hope, to a resolution to this trade!