As of today, the Twins are no longer in negotiations with Casey Blake. The extra third year that Blake wants did indeed turn out to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Now Minnesota will turn to other options: Jack Wilson, Adrian Beltre and Garrett Atkins among them. The Rockies apparently asked for Kevin Slowey and Denard Span in exchange for Atkins.
Seems a bit much, in my opinion. With Slowey, a team gets a guy who has a predicted 3.76 FIP in 2009 (Bill James), who is coming off a reasonable 173.1 IP in 2008 (minor league and major league combined). He threw a total of 201.1 in 2007, so he seems to be a great candidate to do even better in his third season as a major leaguer, which his Bill James FIP indicates. Span is a decent OBP guy with little pop, and since the Astros don't need another left handed bat in CF, I don't see much worth in breaking him down any more.
With the Atkins' fate tied to that of Todd Helton, I don't know if the Rockies are willing to give him up for less than their original asking price. Without Helton hitting at 1B, they'll need Atkins to make the move across the infield.
Adrian Beltre is an interesting player. He has not done much to justify his 5 yr/$64 million deal he signed with the M's before the 2005 season. Few players do ever live up to the hype of a big contract, but regardless, he has been a dissapointment to an extent. His past three seasons have been manageable, with ISO% above .190 in all of them. A dramatic increase in his BB/K rate from his prior three seasons leads Bill James to be high on him going into 2009. With two years and $24 million left on his contract, the Twins may be in a position to may this move because of possible increased revenues with a new stadium opening in 2010.