Yankees might pull out of Santana talks for good … NASHVILLE — With the Yankee's self-imposed deadline approaching, the Twins and Yankees were getting nowhere Monday night in their attempt to complete a deal for Johan Santana.  So the Yankees were again making noises that they might pull out of the Santana talks for good.

METS MAKE MOVE TO ADD JAPANESE RIGHTY KURODA  —  The Mets are very much in the mix for Japanese righty Hiroki Kuroda, to the point they have moved past what was essentially an opening round of bidding, The Post has learned.  —  The Mets have legitimate interest in Kuroda …

Nationals Acquire Troubled Dukes  —  The Washington Nationals began baseball's winter meetings Monday with a dramatic and potentially controversial move, trading for troubled Tampa Bay outfielder Elijah Dukes, a 23-year-old whose skills are undisputed but whose long and varied list of legal issues sent his standing in the game tumbling.

Source: Royals, Guillen agree to preliminary 3-year, $36M deal … NASHVILLE — Outfielder Jose Guillen and the Kansas City Royals have reached a preliminary agreement for a three year, $36 million deal, a relative of the ballplayer told ESPNdeportes.com.  —  The agreement will be complete …

Santana and Yankees are close but not yet joined  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Monday evening bore down on The Steinbrenner Deadline, or the moment the Minnesota Twins supposedly will no longer be allowed to unload the best left-hander in baseball on the New York Yankees, and baseball's winter meetings began to skew even more toward pitching.

Notes: Kearns could be on the move  —  Outfielder may be traded to deepen Nats' starting rotation  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nationals general manager Jim Bowden said on Monday that there will be four players — Wily Mo Pena, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and Austin Kearns …

Cubs looking at all options  —  Fukudome on radar, but Reds' Hamilton also a possibility  —  NASHVILLE — The Cubs are unlikely to walk away from the winter meetings with Kosuke Fukudome under contract, and general manager Jim Hendry gets a little touchy whenever the Japanese outfielder's name comes up in conversation.

The New Look Dodgers...An Interview with Ned Colletti  —  When I spoke with Ned Colletti back in January, he had only been General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers for about 14 months.  He had just watched his team finish a season with 88 victories and earn a Wild Card berth in the 2006 playoffs.

Rolen is star of trade talks  —  NASHVILLE, TENN. — There was a former Cardinals World Series-winning manager elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame here on Monday.  It just wasn't the one many expected.  —  Whitey Herzog, who directed the Cardinals to the 1982, 1985 and 1987 National League pennants …

Santana?  —  A rotation featuring Beckett, Santana as the top two is pretty much as good as it can get.  The thought of pitching behind these guys has to fire ya up.  That being said I look at it like this.  —  If we make the move we'll have done so with Theo knowing whatever he had to trade …