the system isn't broken in that the twins could have made a great deal out of this. that is, they had the ability and the opportunity. they just ... didn't. i honestly have no idea why they made the deal with the mets, or why they made the deal with the mets now. it seems like a terrible move, and one they were not, at all, forced to make.
the biggest point of contention: the offer the red sox and yankees made were both better, and both rejected by the twins. i.e; the twins turned down at least two better deals than the one they made. yes, what the twins were looking to get out of both teams was even better, but what they could have gotten would have been a really good trade (and one, as a yankees fan, i would have regretted)
but it seems the twins hit the panic button and made this deal with the mets. ...and what i was saying earlier in the thread was that time was actually in their favor.
with spring training coming up, players were now back in the situation where they could get hurt and/or teams could be publically evaluated. maybe, for example, andy pettitte hurt his elbow and would be out for 2 months. all of a sudden, the yankees are in huge trouble, and have to make a deal. or maybe everything with the yankees was looking great, and boston started to get nervous, so they'd up their ante. or someone else could have realized an ace'd just be so nice to have right now to compete with whomever.
there was so much opportunity for the twins here
