La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune was recently named Rumor Royalty for the Twins. As part of the feature, he answered a few questions for MLBTR.
MLBTR: In your estimation what is the percent likelihood that Johan Santana stays with the Twins for all of ’08 and Bill Smith just collects the draft picks? I imagine fans wouldn’t mind seeing Johan and Francisco Liriano paired up one last time.
Neal: I would guess 10 percent – and some people would say that’s too high. The Twins had to deal with Torii Hunter’s lame duck season last year and, while it would be entertaining to watch Santana work his craft during a walk year, the Twins would be criticized all season for not dealing Santana to get players who could fill holes on the major league roster and boost the minor league system.
