According to the Troy Renck, the Twins have claimed RHP Josh Roenicke and Infielder Thomas Field from the Colorado Rockies.

Last year in Colorado, Roenicke went 4-2 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. In 88.2 innings, he walked 43 and struckout 54. Looks awful Jeff Gray-like to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins decided to DFA him in the coming days and try to sneak him through on a minor league deal. He's pitched in the big leagues for Cincinnati and Toronto before the Rockies.

Field hits about like Pedro Florimon who the Twins claimed from the Orioles after the 2011 season. He played in just two games for the Rockies last year after hitting .246/.315/.400 with 31 doubles, 6 triples and 8 home runs for Colorado Springs last year. He committed 24 errors in 117 games in 2012. He had played 16 games for the Rockies in 2011.

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If you were going to create a list of the Twins' offseason needs, you would likely write in big, bold letters STARTING PITCHING and underline it twice and put some exclamation points next to it for safe measure.

Clearly this area of the team put the Twins in significant default night after night. Shackled to the American League's worst earned run average (5.40), the focal point of the front office will be to beg,borrow and steal anything they can that can help deflate that unsightly statistic and give the team an opportunity to win games in 2013. For the most part, this means throwing whatever free cash at a consistent starter or two and potentially trading away a key member of the team in order ...

For the first time since Eddie Guardado, the team will enter next season with a homegrown pitcher as the closer. Glen Perkins exploded onto the scene in 2011 and he continued that success into 2012 by providing dominant relief.

All of this came after he failed to sustain success as a starter and looked like he might be out of the Twins future plans. Back in 2009, Perkins and his agent had the players association file a grievance against the Twins for a variety of reasons. He has come a long way from that point and has put together stellar seasons in back-to-back ...

In recent days, the Twins have announced a few procedural moves that weren't especially surprising. Among them were the decisions to decline 2013 options for Scott Baker and Matt Capps, which would have paid $9.25 million and $6 million, respectively. With both hurlers coming off seasons severely affected by injuries, there was no incentive for the Twins to pay such a high price when they could easily negotiate a better deal in free agency.

They have already begun trying to do so with Baker, who told reporters that his side has been talking with the club and that "we're not close, but we're definitely closer than when it started."

There's been no such steam surrounding Capps ...

There are a lot of Twins players playing in Winter Leagues in warm climates. I thought it would be good to provide Twins Daily readers with a quick update on how some are doing. Of course, at this point, all of these numbers are incredibly small sample, so take them for what they’re worth.

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE

On Monday, Kyle Gibson had his first clunker in four starts. The right-hander gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk in just two innings. All of the runs came in the 2^nd inning. With the loss, he is now 3-1 with a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings. He has walked three and struck out 20 batters. ...

This offseason, some minor leaguers have provided plenty of excitement. Kyle Gibson looked dominant in his first Arizona Fall League starts before a rough start yesterday. But he isn't the only player making some noise in a winter league as Aaron Hicks has put together some strong numbers in the Venezuelan League during his first handful of games. This comes on the heels of his best season as a professional while playing at the Double-A level for the Twins. As was mentioned on Twins Daily last week, his stock will be rising this offseason so it is interesting to consider where he could end up at the beginning of next season.
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