Trade talks dying down

The Twins have apparently relented on their demands for Iam Kennedy to be included;

"The Twins and Yankees reached what one person called an "impasse'' shortly before midnight CST. The Twins were asking that the Yankees include either pitcher Ian Kennedy or a tandem of pitching prospect Alan Horne and outfield prospect Austin Jackson in their package with pitcher Phil Hughes and outfielder Melky Cabrera."

Alan Horne, Austin Jackson, Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera? No freaking way. This seems high to me; maybe I am unaware of the market so I decided to look at some of the past deals for ace caliber pitcher to better gauge what it should take.

Josh Beckett Traded by the Florida Marlins with Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota to the Boston Red Sox for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Harvey Garcia, and Jesus Delgado (minors). I think we can equate Hanley to Phil as the centerpiece of this deal and Anibal as the Melky - a major league ready option without a particularly high ceiling. Harvey Garcia looks like a young Mota according to what I found - throws hard but never much success and Delgado has a smiliar story which also includes Tommy John surgery.

Curt Schilling Traded by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Boston Red Sox for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge de la Rosa, and Michael Goss (minors). Two major league ready pithcers with ok upside and two fringe prospects. Remind me again why the Yanks weren't more in on this one?

Randy Johnson Traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Houston Astros for a player to be named later, Freddy Garcia, and Carlos Guillen. The Houston Astros sent John Halama (October 1, 1998) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade. So two top prospects and John Halama.

Pedro Martinez Traded by the Montreal Expos to the Boston Red Sox for Tony Armas and Carl Pavano. Two top pitching prospects.

The Red Sox deal for Beckett is the one that should be the best refernce point for a Santana trade given his age. Once you take into account Santana's larger body of work and the fact that Boston got a starting third baseman and a major reliever in the deal i think what you have is a top prospect and one major league ready player with decent upside, Phil Hughes and Melky. Add in a secone tier prospect and it is a fair deal. Add in two of our top prospects(Horne and Jackson) and it is highway robbery.