Sox-for-Santana deal any minute now?

The Pioneer Press is reporting that the Red Sox remain in the lead in trading for Johan Santana, and that a deal could be announced any minute.
The article states that the group of prospects the Sox have available to trade are closer to being ready for the Major Leagues than the Yankees' prospects.
The Yankees have a depleted, not-ready-for-primetime group of prospects? How could that be after all these years of shipping them off for aging, steroid-riddled has-beens?

Wherefore art though, Johan?

Maybe the Sox aren't getting Johan Santana after all. This thing has dragged out long enough, you would think that if a deal was going to work it would have been agreed to by now.

And while a daily news report comes out quoting prominent Yankees saying the team needs someone like Santana, and doesn't need someone like Santana, word is that the Yankees might be back in the game.

Despite another point-of-no-return, drop-dead deadline set by Hank Steinbrenner.
Despite word that the Yankees aren't adding any more prominent players to the package, i.e., no Joba Chamberlain or bet the farm package of Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.

And despite the fact Santana is reportedly seeking a seven-year, $140 million deal in exchange for agreeing to waive his no-trade clause.

OK, so that last one is obviously not a hindrance to the Yankees. Who cares if you have $415 million tied up in only two players. If that doesn't work, the Steinbrenners could buy the entire roster of the Florida Marlins for the next 40 years and make it their new Minor League system.

There are obvious risks in offering any 28-year-old pitcher a seven-year deal for that much money.

But look at it in the light of today's Major League Baseball. You can buy a lot of Human Growth Hormone with $140 million.

Matsui outta here for a 1-5 pitcher?

The New York Post is reporting that the Yankees may have asked Hideki Matsui to waive his no-trade clause so that he can be shipped to the San Francisco Giants for pitching help.

What kind of pitching help, you ask?

Johan Santana-like help?

Ah, no.

Well, the Giants have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Might help a little, right?

Ah, no.

Nope, the kind of pitching help we're talking about in exchange for the once-feared bat of Hideki Matsui is none other than Jonathan Sanchez. In 33 appearances last season, including four starts, he put up a record of 1-5 with a 5.88 ERA.

Look, if Carl Pavano is gone for good, the Yanks need to replace that spot on the roster somehow.

Leaning toward Ellsbury

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that the Twins are leaning towards a Red Sox package that includes Jacoby Ellsbury and Minor League players for Johan Santana, rather than the package that would have included Coco Crisp and John Lester.
That means my aforementioned scenario involving a six-man rotation with Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Lester and Buchholz, with Wakefield coming out of the bullpen, could give the Sox the best pitching staff from top to bottom in the entire Major Leagues next season.

The deal that will give Boston a dynasty

It's been all quiet on the Johan Santana front for nearly a week now, which has been kind of enjoyable, since it has given Yankees fans time to wallow in the possibility of the Sox acquiring another ace. Imagine this starting lineup:
Josh Beckett

Johan Santana

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Curt Schilling

Clay Buchholz

Tim Wakefield

That's if the Sox deal Jon Lester, Coco Crisp and a package of Minor League prospects, as has most frequently been mentioned.
If Boston includes future Hall of Fame center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury in the deal instead of Lester, you could put Lester into that rotation and bring Wakefield in out of the bullpen, a role he's filled very successfully from time to time in the past.
Can you imagine Wakefield coming in to clean up for Beckett, confusing hitters with knuckleballs after they've struggled to catch up with Beckett's fastball?
And you'll notice that I listed a rotation of six pitchers.
If the Red Sox pull off this trade for Santana, why not a six-man rotation? Matsuzaka thrived in Japan under that scenario, and did far better in Boston when he had an extra day of rest.
With that extra time off between starts, and the adjustments he's going to make during the offseason to life and pro baseball in the U.S., Matsuzaka's stuff could be as dominant as Beckett's and Santana's.
Good luck beating Boston in a five-game playoff series the next few years.