6:30 pm - As TonyO points out in the comment threads, LEN III is reporting that Pavano will indeed accept the Twins' offer of arbitration.
I should point out that this means there is only one rotation spot up for grabs. This provides Minnesota with a lot of starting pitching depth, although none of the contenders for the fifth spot look like stars. Could the Twins batch a couple of them along with another piece or two to get something significant in return?
Back to Pavano, Ed Price thinks the Twins could be on the hook for $7 million for this decision. Considering this was his first healthy season in half a decade, I think that's a bit high unless he reaches some incentive bonuses. But we'll find out.
3:45 pm - Happy Monday afternoon y'all, here's another Jesse update, rounding up some of the SP and 3B names and teams in circulation...
- Ed Price tweets that no fewer than 12 teams are interested in Tigers starter Edwin Jackson.
- Meanwhile, Ken Davidoff wonders if starters not named John Lackey or Randy Wolf can get more than a one-year deal.
- Speaking of Wolf, Ken Rosenthal says the Brewers are hot on his trail.
- Former Pavano rotation-mate Brad Penny is close to signing with the Cardinals.
- It sounds like Mark DeRose will decline the Cards' offer of arbitration.
- Adrian Beltre is also likely to decline arbitration.
Noon - Ken Rosenthal contradicts Neal, saying Pavano is actually likely to accept the offer of arbitration. Intriguing.
10:15 am - La Velle is guessing that Pavano will decline arbitration, and is hoping to get a multi-year deal.
9:30 am - Morning all, Jesse here. Over at Big League Stew there's a perma-chat going on, with news from Yahoo!'s pundits. A couple of things from Tim Brown: apparently Pavano's agent pressed the Twins for a multi-year deal last night. Brown also mentions that the Twins have prioritized starting pitching and third basemen, "in that order".
9:00 am - Only one link so far to start off the morning - Kelsie Smith at the PiPress reminds us all that those offered arbitration have to decide today whether to accept it. For the Twins, that's only Carl Pavano, and apparently Bill Smith and Pavano agent Tom O'Connell were deep in conversation late last night.
HOT STOVE CHAOS! HERE WE GO!
Okay, we're Twins fans; it's unlikely we'll see too much CHAOS this week. Nevertheless, we'll be following the news and posting updates in this thread. Discuss in the comments, of course.