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.

The Twins love the Hot Stove as much as me.

Johan Santana is the big name regarding trade rumors this baseball off-season, with teams like the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and the Dodgers offering up prospects by the truck load. While this may be the centerpiece of the Twins off-season, they don't seem to be forgetting about other parts of their team.

As part of a 6 player trade the Twins dealt SP Matt Garza to the Devil Rays for OF Delmon Young. With this trade, the Twins fill the hole that Torii Hunter left in CF, at least at the plate. This will also allow them to hold out for more pitching when teams ask about Santana. Good for them, Johan is an ace, they shouldn't give into anybody and expect a king's ransom in return.

Other Hot Stove happenings.....

-According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cardinals are looking at other options at SS before they make a run at bringing back incumbent David Eckstein. One of these possibilities is Miguel Tejada. The chances seem to be slim to none, although Pirate SS Jack Wilson seems to be the front-runner.

-Aaron Rowand thinks highly of himself, and his going to use his career year to try and get an exorbitant amount of money. Apparently GM's caught on to the whole playing-in-a-ban-box thing. The White Sox have passed on Rowand returning to roam CF for them, and apparently Red Sox CFer Coco Crisp seems to be the name they are tossing around at Cellular Field. (If the White Sox ever want to truly compete with the Cubs, they really need to come up with a different name for their ballpark).

Rowand's fate could definitely be tied to the Santana trade. If the Yankees end up parting with Melky Cabrerra then Rowand could be sitting there to reap the Yankee windfall and take over in CF.

- The Mets are in desperate need of a top of the line starter, and it doesn't look like they have the chips to compete with the other teams in the Santana race. Instead the MEts will be looking in Oakland trying to get either Dan Haren or Joe Blanton, and as NY Newsday mentioned, it looks as if Billy Beane will be holding their feet to the fire, and they're going to have to overpay for both.

Again, a pic of a hot chick in a kitchen to signify the Hot Stove...well, not really in a hot kitchen, but who cares, Vida Guerra is pretty damn hot so it works for me. Plus I'm pretty sure most baseball players wouldn't mind sleeping with her, so this pic works on many levels.