Winter Meetings Are Over. Now What?

The busiest period of the Hot Stove season came and went with the Minnesota Twins making barely a peep.

So, where do we go from here?

We now have a little under two weeks remaining until the holiday season gets underway. During the time period surrounding Christmas and New Year's, major league front offices go mostly silent. You'll see a few moves announced during this stretch, but for the most part there will be minimal action. It's the dead zone of the MLB offseason.

However, there's still some time left before we get there. The first two weeks of December are generally pretty active. During this stretch, many of the discussions that developed during the Winter Meetings reach completion. Free agents who don't want to end the year unemployed settle on their favorite offer.

So, what are the next steps for the Minnesota Twins, who have been very quiet thus far outside of signing Jason Castro and acquiring minor-leaguer Justin Haley via trade?

Ongoing Dozier Discussions

Things have conspicuously been quiet on this front. There were many reports of advanced talks between the Twins and Dodgers last week, but recent days have produced little in the way of substantive buzz. Hunger for news on the topic has grown so insatiable that one user-initiated thread in our forums, with a "source" indicating a deal would be completed within 24 hours (that deadline passed last Thursday) has generated more than 1,200 replies.

I personally believe a deal will go down, because the motivation on both sides is considerable. The most likely window for such an eventuality would be within the next 10 days or so, but that's not a given to occur. When the Twins made their last trade of this magnitude, sending Johan Santana to the Mets following the 2007 season, an announcement didn't come until late January.

On the one hand, Derek Falvey and Thad Levine shouldn't feel rushed in getting this done. The leverage is on their side, because Dozier is a hell of a player with two affordable years remaining on his contract. While Minnesota's need for quality young pitching borders on desperate, it isn't as immediate as LA's need for an impact second baseman with offensive punch.

On the other hand, they need to move forward with the rest of their plans, which would be significantly altered by removing Dozier from the equation while adding MLB-ready talent coming back in the swap.

I'm expecting something to be finalized soon.

Arbitration Haggling

The official deadline for teams and unsigned arbitration-eligible players to submit figures doesn't come until mid-January, but there's no doubt that conversations are already taking place.

The Twins already took care of business with their two position players, releasing Trevor Plouffe and reaching agreement with Eduardo Escobar on a one-year, $2.6 million pact. That leaves four pitchers: Hector Santiago, Kyle Gibson, Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Pressly. The latter three shouldn't be grounds for much drama. Each is expected to settle at less than $4 million, and each has a fairly secure spot on the 2017 pitching staff.

Santiago could be trickier. He made $5 million this year and will be looking to maximize earnings in his final turn at arbitration. He stayed healthy enough to post career highs in starts (33) and innings (182), so there's a good case for a hefty raise.

However, he also delivered a poor performance in 2016, and the Twins received the worst portion of it in the final months. He has some distinct weaknesses – particularly his propensity for allowing walks and home runs – that should make an analytically-inclined front office squirm a little. If he makes $8.6 million, as MLB Trade Rumors projects, then this veteran with a 103 career ERA+ would stand to be the fourth-highest paid player on the 2017 roster.

It's a questionable investment for a rebuilding team with several young starters worth taking a look at, and more potentially on the way in a Dozier deal. I do wonder if we'll see the Twins float Santiago around to contenders seeking back-of-rotation reliability.

Fishing For Free Agents

The Twins have already made their biggest splash in free agency with the addition of Castro. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see another multi-year contract. But we'll almost surely see more signings. Specifically, I anticipate the addition of one or two experienced relievers through this avenue.

Kenley Jansen is the only member of the "big three" still out there now that Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon have signed lucrative deals, but there are many intriguing names still on the market. Among them are Neftali Feliz, Santiago Casilla, Greg Holland and Drew Storen. These guys all have closing experience but won't break the bank, and that's appealing with the uncertainty surrounding Glen Perkins.

Looking past guaranteed deals, the Twins have historically had a tendency to sign at least one reliever to a minor-league contract and then give him a spot in the bullpen. Last year that was Kintzler, though it took him a month to reach the majors. The year before, it was Blaine Boyer. Previous examples include Casey Fien, Dennys Reyes and Jared Burton (who, incidentally, is trying to make a comeback after taking 2015 off). We don't know if this trend will carry over to the new regime, but as those names attest, it can be an effective strategy.

One name to watch is Clayton Richard, who was connected to the club by Darren Wolfson last week. He's not the kind of arm that's going to generate much excitement, but Richard fits the mold of what the Twins should be seeking: a specialized lefty suppressor who has been around the block a few times.

The bullpen is presently very short on southpaws with meaningful big-league track records. As far as left-handed relievers go, currently the 40-man roster includes (aside from Perkins) only Taylor Rogers, Buddy Boshers, Ryan O'Rourke, Mason Melotakis and Randy Rosario. No one amongst that quintet has made more than 62 appearances in the majors.

What do you expect to see over the next couple of weeks? What do you hope to see?

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