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Twins Winter Meeting Update: Arroyo, Catching Market, Santana, Expectations

It's been a fairly slow day, but Jesse cobbles together bits and pieces for an update on day one of the Winter Meetings.

By Jesse Lund
USA TODAY Sports

Coming into today, it wasn't a well-guarded secret as to what the Twins' goals would be for the week of the Winter Meetings:

  1. Find another starting pitcher.
  2. Find a backup catcher.
They've made progress on number one, if the news surrounding Bronson Arroyo has any truth to it. We know that the Twins and the Pirates both made visits to Arroyo's agent today, but it doesn't sound like there have been any offers made so far. MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger also notes:
It’s still unclear if the Twins are ready to hand out another multi-year deal after spending a combined $73 million on Nolasco and Hughes, but it’s another sign the Twins aren’t done trying to fix a rotation that posted the worst ERA in the Majors last season.
Suffice it to say that I'm hoping the Twins are going to be a bit more shy about any additional multi-year offers to free agent starting pitchers (not named Matt Garza).


As far as catching is concerned, Terry Ryan claimed in his press conference that the free agent market "dried up" pretty quickly. I think we've all come to the same conclusion. LEN III thinks the Twins might have to go the trade route if they want to deal for a catcher, but as we mentioned earlier it's always going to be hard trading for a catcher of any level of talent.


There was also some discussion about Johan Santana today.

The good news is that Johan will continue to attempt to pitch. Injuries have derailed his career, which is a shame because it's hard to say how good he could have continued to be had he been healthy. If he would be willing to settle for a minor league contract, it would be fantastic to have him back in the organization for one last go-round to see what's left.

Notes

  • Also during the press conference this afternoon, Ryan stated his intention to field a good team in 2014 saying "This isn't a mulligan year." It might be too late for that, all things considered. But if they finish this off-season strong, have another strong off-season next year, and if some of those vaunted prospects show up, then 2015 could be a lot of fun.
  • Samuel Deduno is playing catch and should be ready for spring training. Deduno is out of options, so Minnesota's options are limited as far as he's concerned.
  • Also out of options: Scott Diamond and Vance Worley.
  • The rotation remains a priority over the bullpen, which is no surprise. Minnesota has not checked in on Joe Saunders, who is one of the pitchers the team looked at last winter.
  • Miguel Sano is still shut down, and surgery is still an option. For whatever this thing is, if it has the potential to be serious I wish they'd just have the surgery done and get it over with so the rehab process can get started. This whole wait-and-see thing so rarely works out.
  • Ryan hopes that Alex Meyer is "a fast mover."

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