Some teams have started to leave the winter meetings, one of the most non-eventful ones I’ve been a part of. The Twins will hang around for tonight’s minor league banquet before leaving on Friday. I leave tomorrow, too.

The Twins headed to their suite following the Rule 5 draft for internal meetings. I do have a few tidbits.

I’ve always wondered how serious Boston’s interest in Johan Santana was. After talking with some Red Sox officials last night, they are very serious about landing Santana and dominating the Yankees for several years. It remains to be seen if they are serious enough to put Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury in the same deal.

One agent I spoke with on Wednesday called the Mets the, “sleeper,” team. They have two good outfield prospects in Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez, but do they really have enough to pull off a deal? Omar Minaya thinks so. I don’t unless a certain shortstop is part of the deal.

My sleeper pick is the Angels. I checked this morning and they still haven’t spoken to the Twins lately about Santana. Many of us here think they match up well with what the Twins need, especially power-hitting infield prospect Brandon Wood. There’s always a chance the Angels could jump in this thing. And everyone knows the Angels go all-in as well as anyone.

I’ve been told the Twins aren’t that fired up about Gary Matthews. That may mean they prefer Reggie Willits as a center field option.

The Dodgers? Unless I’m being lied to, there hasn’t been much contact with them, especially on the Santana front. Many people here are speculating that the addition of Andruw Jones frees up outfielders to throw in a Santana deal, but there’s a belief that Matt Kemp is more of a corner outfielder than centerfielder. Juan Pierre? That contract? Andre Ethier? Corner guy.

Travel schedules may slow down trade talks today and tomorrow. Sorry folks, the saga continues. And the Twins can’t zero in on potential free agents until they figure out what they can get back for Santana.

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