When I first heard the New York Mets became the frontrunners among the candidates wanting to trade for Johan Santana, I assumed they had included their No. 1 prospect, outfielder Fernando Martinez, in the deal.

But, no. After Tuesday's reports that the Mets have a deal with Minnesota, it appears the Twins caved in ... and Minnesota officials likely wished they had taken an original offer from the Yankees or Red Sox (unless the Twins really did not want Santana in the AL).

The Red Sox reportedly were offering, at one time, Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and, possibly, Justin Masterson. That equals a Major League-ready pitcher (Lester), a defensive whiz in center (Crisp), an infielder who may be a year away, or less, from the bigs (Lowrie) and a sinkerball specialist that may turn out better than Derek Lowe (Masterson).

The Yankees offered some good players, too, incuding center fielder Melky Cabrera and pitcher Phil Hughes.

But the Twins wanted more and it seems that the Yankees and Red Sox eventually offered less.

So, instead, the Twins get four prospects from the Mets. Here is what Baseball America reported about the Mets minor leaguers: "Scouts from other organizations say the Mets have little immediate help on the way in the farm system."

The four prospects are center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber. Baseball America ranks Guerra the No. 2 Mets prospect. Gomez is third, Mulvey fourth and Hymber seventh.

Both Guerra 18, and Gomez, 22, are raw. Mulvey was a good Double-A pitcher last year. Humber, a first-round draft pick in 2004, had Tommy John surgery in 2005, and is a question mark.

The only encouragement Minnesota fans can take is that the Twins usually scout other teams minor leaguers very well (they got Santana in a trade). So maybe the Twins see something in this Mets group.

For the Red Sox, they can move on (and not worry about the Yankees getting Santana) and keep developing their young talent.

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