Twins Winter Meetings Day 1: Quiet but not Silent

The Minnesota Twins were quiet on the first day of Winter Meetings.  They made no trades and didn’t sign any players.  Quiet, however, is different than silent.

Twins GM Terry Ryan clarified the team’s position in a few areas.  First of all, Ryan explained that, while the Twins talked to representatives for virtually every free agent pitcher, they have no expectation of signing anyone from the top tier.  Phil Mackey of 1500espn.com is attending the meetings, and he surmised on Monday’s “Talkin’ Twins” program that anyone from Anibal Sanchez on up will be out of the Twins’ reach.  Pitchers whose names have been tossed around by a variety of people who are in touch with the Twins front office include:  Brandon McCarthy, Joe Blanton, Brandon Webb, Brett Myers, Mike Pelfrey, and John Lannan.

Ryan also made it clear that Joe Mauer won’t be traded.  If you’ve been reading Puckett’s Pond, you’re probably savvier then the general public and many members of the media, who insisted a Mauer trade could be in the works.  It seems that the Boston Red Sox finally got the message, as they signed catcher Mike Napoli to a 3-year, $39 million deal.  Another non-surprise was Ryan’s confirmation that, with Denard Span off to D.C. and Ben Revere shifted to center field, Parmelee is the front runner for the right field position in 2013.  No change is expected in middle infield, according to Ryan, but the team is actively looking for inexpensive options to give Trevor Plouffe competition at third base.

Finally, information was released about the upcoming World Baseball Classic.  Twins’ Liam Hendriks will not be playing, as he recently had his elbow scoped for bone chips.  Justin Morneau will play for Canada, and Minnesota’s Hometown Hero is one of Team USA’s first representatives:

The best Twins Winter Meetings real-time information from media attending the meetings can be found on Twitter:

• @RhettBollinger – Rhett Bollinger, MLB.com Twins Beat Writer
• @PMac21 – Phil Mackey, 1500espn.com Twins Beat Writer
• @Buster_ESPN – Buster Olney, Senior Baseball Writer for ESPN The Magazine