The Yanks and Twins may still be talking. Or not.

By now, it’s clear that we’re not going to get a resolution to this whole Johan Santana business tonight. But allow me to leave you with two reports which bode well for our efforts but not for Johan Santana’s Bronx future.

In one corner, hailing from ESPN.com and the fine city of Philadelphia, is Jayson Stark with this report:

The Yankees’ “by Monday night” deadline came and went. And Johan Santana was still a Twin when Tuesday arrived at the winter meeting. But even though the Yankees and Twins were still talking about different combinations as the night grew later and later, there was no indication that they were any closer to a deal for Santana than they were four days ago. In fact, if anything, the momentum seemed to be in the opposite direction. Officials from other clubs said several of the Yankees’ baseball personnel at the meetings had begun openly questioning whether they even wanted to make this trade if the Twins said yes. “The more this goes on,” said one AL executive, “the less they want to do it.”

And in the other corner, hailing from Sports Illustrated and the proud city of New York is Jon Heyman, with a report that the Yankees and Twins are at an impasse:

With the Yankees and Twins making limited progress as the Yanks’ self-imposed midnight deadline came and went, the Twins have rekindled talks with the Red Sox and are asking Boston to present a deal including top young lefthander Jon Lester.

People involved in the talks said they believe the situation is coming to a head and that Minnesota will make its call, one way or the other, in fairly short order. The Yankees have been seen as the favorite, but Boston may have renewed hope based upon the midnight phone call.

The Twins, according to Heyman, want Ian Kennedy or Alan Horne and Austin Jackson in addition to Phil Hughes and Mekly Cabrera. To which I say, “Yeah, right.”

Meanwhile, the Twins say they were “amused” by Hank Steinbrenner’s meaningless deadline. Of course, that deadline is only meaningless if the Red Sox don’t scale back their offer under the assumption that the Yanks are truly uninterested in Johan Santana.

For the Yanks’ part, the deadline just shows the internal divide over trading Phil Hughes. They’re not about to turn their backs on Johan Santana just yet, and it sure would be hard to argue against a rotation fronted by Santana, Pettitte, Wang and Joba Chamberlain, however.

Is a member of the Save the Big Three coalition beginning to crack? Stay tuned tomorrow.

Update 1:46: This Jayson Stark article has more info. The Twins didn’t extend a counterproposal after the Yanks rejected the 4-for-1 offer Heyman mentioned, and they reiterated their stance in regards to keeping Ian Kennedy. This could be falling apart for now. But “for now” is simply temporary when it comes to the Yankees.