The Minnesota Twins remain interested in free agent lefty Johan Santana, but other teams are starting to notice him as well.
According to the Star Tribune, a source close to Santana says several teams have expressed interest recently in the two-time Cy Young winner.
The newspaper reports Twins assistant General Manager Rob Antony confirmed he spoke with Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg on Monday and the sides remain in contact.
“I haven’t heard back from him,” Antony told the Star Tribune. “I expressed where we are at. He said, ‘I’ll talk to Johan and we will get back.'”
The Twins said last week a reunion with Santana remained a possibility.
Santana is trying to return after having a second surgery on his shoulder in April. He has thrown in the bullpen twice since Feb. 7, and will throw another bullpen toward the end of this week or early next week, according to the Star Tribune. Santana could schedule a bullpen session for all interested teams as well.
The earliest Santana could be ready to pitch would be the end of May or early June.
The market for Santana is hard to determine. He has been injured frequently since leaving the Twins for the Mets in before the 2008 season.
The Twins and Orioles watched his first bullpen session earlier this month, according to the Star Tribune. While the Twins interest has continued the Orioles have signed two other starting pitchers since.
The Mets appear to have no interest in bringing Santana back, after signing Daisuke Matsuzaka to a minor league contract. As many as 12 teams though are believed to have expressed some type of interest in Santana.
Santana was 93-44 with the Twins with a 3.22 ERA during his eight seasons in a Twins uniform.
