The Ervin Santana mystery

Ervin Santana has a career record
of 105-90, most of it with the
Angels. He pitched for Kansas City
last season.

Ervin Santana remains a free agent, in large part — perhaps entirely — because of the draft pick price attached to him.

He's not alone — Stephen Drew and Kennys Morales are in the same uncomfortable boat — but unlike the two position players (both clients of Scott Boras), Santana's taken some action, useful or otherwise: He canned his agent, a guy with the unlikely name of Bean Stringfellow, last week, and soon there were rumors of teams sniffing around him.

One of those teams is the Twins, who were reported during the weekend to have offered him a three-year deal.

This notion doesn't do much for me. The Twins already signed three veteran starters to bolster the rotation; adding a fourth isn't solving a current problem.

More than another veteran starter, this team needs an infielder who can get on base (besides the first baseman) and a corner outfielder who can catch the ball.

Fortunately, Santana at this point seems intent on a one-year deal with a good offensive team (the idea being to fatten his record and try the market again next winter). The Twins do not meet that good offense criteria, and are unlikely to surrender a second-round pick for one year from Santana.

Other teams reportedly linked to Santana: Toronto, Baltimore and, after a couple of injuries in recent days to their starting pitching, Atlanta.