The Mets plead guilty to stealing.

Venezuelan star pitcher Johan Santana will be traded from the Minnesota Twins to the New York Mets provided the two-time Cy Young Award winner agrees to a six- or seven-year deal with the Mets.

Santana has a full no-trade clause and can veto the deal unless he gets a contract extension, and it's expected that the Mets and Santana will begin negotiating as soon as possible. New York and Santana have until 5 p.m. ET Friday to reach an agreement, a baseball official told The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity. Deadlines have been extended in the past, however.

In return for Santana, the Twins would receive center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra, a package which some talent evaluators believe could be the fourth-best offer that Minnesota received during this process.

The Yankees were willing to part with tippity top prospect Phil Highes, and established Centerfielder Melky Cabrera. The Red Sox had a few offers out there, one that included Jon Lester, and the other deal that included fan favorite prodigy Centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury with pitcher Justin Masterson and infielder Jed Lowrie prominently involved. All more attractive than what the Mets offered.

As I've stated before, I'm a huge Met fan. I bleed Keith Hernandez. This is an absolute heist. Johan Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. Humber is at best a mid-rotation guy, Mulvey is unknown, Carlos Gomez has talent but who knows how it'll develop, and I never heard of that other dude. I'm almost not annoyed at the increase in price for my season package. I said almost.....that's valuable cash that can go towards my degenerate lifestyle. Somewhere an overweight, middle-aged, Dominican chick is losing out. Poor dear.