Ryan, Twins Left Out In The Cold At Winter Meetings

The reaction to this uneventful week in Nashville, from many longtime Twins fans, has been a shrug of the shoulders. "What did you expect?" That is fair, to an extent, but the circumstances and stakes were significantly different this time around than in previous years.

The Twins headed to Nashville with a very specific need, by their own admission. Not only did they fail to address it, but by all accounts they showed little interest in even trying to address it in a meaningful way.

While top free agent relievers like Darren O'Day, Joakim Soria and Shawn Kelley have come off the board, the Twins stood pat, with reporters concluding that the club's sole focus was on adding a left-handed reliever.

That makes some sense. Although the Twins lack any clearly exceptional right-handers in the bullpen, they undeniably have a stronger need for at least one lefty. But La Velle E. Neal III reported that the top southpaws on the market, Antonio Bastardo and Tony Sipp (who signed with Houston today), were not even on the team's radar. If that wording is to be believed, the Twins didn't even have material interest in pursuing the most impactful options at an area of need when all it would have cost was money. For a club that purportedly has championship aspirations and plentiful payroll flexibility, that's a tough pill to swallow.

What makes this passive approach to addressing the bullpen all the more frustrating is that throughout the league, other contenders are stacking up dominant back-end relief units, putting the Twins well behind the pack. Here are the top three relievers, presently, for five likely postseason contenders in the American League following Houston's acquisition of Philly phenom Ken Giles on Thursday:

Royals: Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera, Joakim Soria

Astros: Ken Giles, Luke Gregerson, Tony Sipp

Yankees: Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, Chasen Shreve

Red Sox: Craig Kimbrel, Koji Uehara, Carson Smith

Tigers: Francisco Rodriguez, Mark Lowe, Justin Wilson

With the exception of Shreve (and I'm guessing the Yanks aren't done yet), every name listed there is an established premier relief arm. The Twins don't currently have one of those on their staff outside of Glen Perkins, whose status is somewhat in doubt. They had ample opportunity to target such a player this week but evidently elected not to. And while the possibilities of a major free agent signing or transformative trade remain in play, it's becoming increasingly difficult to believe that Ryan and the Twins are willing to take the steps necessary to bolster their bullpen to a point where it could even hold a candle to the ones listed above.

Instead, all we've seen them do this week is weaken their outlook in the relief corps. On Thursday, the Milwaukee Brewers selected reliever Zack Jones from Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft. The 2012 fourth-round pick throws some serious gas and has put together a 2.63 ERA while averaging 12.8 K/9 on the farm, but was perplexingly left unprotected when the Twins made a series of 40-man roster moves last month.

Jones has his flaws, to be sure, but his upside is undeniable and his penchant for missing bats has held steady as he has climbed the minor-league ranks. That a Twins team that ranked last in the majors in bullpen K-rate this year, and appears to be relying almost completely on its prospect pipeline to alleviate that issue, would allow a nearly MLB-ready player like Jones to slip away while opting instead to protect a low-ceiling mediocrity like Pat Dean -- who is completely redundant on the 40-man with southpaws like Logan Darnell and Taylor Rogers present -- signals a disheartening miscalculation of priorities.

As much as I'd like to believe that this organization is evolving into a committed and dedicated winner with the proper mentality to succeed, weeks like this one really make me skeptical.