Twins

While the Minnesota Twins are still not playing games as MLB and the MLBPA continue to hammer away at negotiations, yet another baseball league has resumed play. This time it is Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB), which began play over the weekend.

While the Minnesota Twins are a homegrown team that relies heavily on players from their farm system to sustain success in the major leagues, reclamation projects are an important part of their team construction. Once highly touted prospects or players who have had some big league success and saw a dip in production with their former team for various reasons are often of interest to a team in a mid-sized city looking to get the most value out of their signings.

While the Major League All Star Game and Home Run Derby get all the publicity, it’s the Futures Game that showcases the elite talent intended to one day supplement big league organizations. The Minnesota Twins sent pitcher Jordan Balazovic as well as their best prospect Royce Lewis. This isn’t the first rodeo in an All-Star event for Royce, and it won’t be the last, but thus far it’s been the biggest.

While the lone player selected ahead of him in the 2012 draft, Carlos Correa, continues to build his case as already being the best shortstop in baseball at age 21, Byron Buxton is wrapping up yet another lengthy stay on the disabled list, his fourth in two years. The 21-year-old outfielder is expected to report to Rochester for a rehab stint today.

This latest setback for Buxton has been a huge downer, but not necessarily for the reasons you'd expect.

While the Hot Stove is still percolating prior to fully engaging all coils, there’s something else keeping things warm in Twins Territory. Justin Morneau is in the midst of the 10th Annual Winter Warm-Up Coat Drive to benefit the Salvation Army Harbor Light. I caught up with him to check on the progress and talk some baseball.

While the Hot Stove has cooled down on any Brian Dozier rumblings, news out of the Twin Cities has the Twins interested in adding other depth to their roster. MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger is reporting the Twins have touched base with multiple agents for position players and this includes former Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.

A conflicting report from the Star Tribune's LaVelle E. Neal III says the speculation surrounding Bautista needs to cool down. He's "hearing the Twins aren't interested in him."

So which report is correct and does signing a free agent slugger fit with the Twins' current direction?

While the dark, cold days of winter can be an ideal time to dive into research on baseball history, as a lifelong baseball fan I have to ask...is there ever a bad time to talk about baseball history? I serve as co-chair of the research committee for the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and invite other Twins Daily readers to get involved with our group.

While Rob Manfred is currently trying to put together plans for when baseball might resume, the sign-stealing scandal is still a reality that is lingering out there. One former Minnesota Twin had the sort of conviction about cheating that caused him to speak out about sign stealing twice during his career.

While much of the Twins 25-man roster might be pretty well set, there are a few position battles of note. As spring training rolls along, some of them will become more clear. It’s also possible that others could create additional position battles. We’ll certainly be covering those through the spring.

One of those position battles that we’ll likely hear a lot about is the backup catcher position. Jason Castro will be the starter, and he will likely start between 110 and 125 games. So who will start the other 35 to 55 games?

While most of the Twins action and video that we will see in 2020 will come from Target Field, don’t forget that there is another group of Twins players working at CHS Field in St. Paul, keeping ready.

While most of the official Winter Meetings meetings don't start until Monday, baseball people from major league, minor leagues and independent leagues are traveling to Orlando, Florida today.

It's been a fairly quiet offseason so far, but the two big puzzle pieces that were holding things up have been resolved in the last 72 hours, so it should be a very busy Winter Meetings.

Please feel free to check this article out all day, and post any rumors that you may see or read or hear. There will be plenty of rumors, I'm sure.

If the Twins make any moves, Twins Daily will have an article on it within moments.

While MLB owners continue to go back and forth with the MLBPA in order to reach a common ground inciting the resumption of baseball in 2020, we now have the next piece of the puzzle. After a sliding pay scale was flatly dismissed, it appears ownership will now target dollar saving tactics by playing a significantly shortened season. How does that impact the Twins?