I’ve arrived at Nashville for the winter meetings (several hours ahead of my luggage, I’m sad to say) and I’ve probably been the closest thing to a Twins official walking through the hotel.

Seriously, the Twins have been sequestered in their suite for internal discussions for a chunk of the evening, leaving me to be asked by other scribes, “what’s your club doing?” and, “where are your people?”

I have little to tell them. Like many people here, I walked in to find out that there have been reports that Johan Santana has informed the club that he won’t waive his no trade clause during the regular season, and that the Yankees’ Hank Steinbrenner won’t be played against the Red Sox and has set a Monday deadline. Is this anything like the A-Rod ultimatum?

Anyway, the walls appear to be closing in on Bill Smith & Co. I couldn’t be more happier. No, not like that. It’s time for the Twins to make a decision we can stop rumor-mongering and adding and subtracting names from potential deals. Part of the process is exciting, but part of it gives me a headache.  And while some of you love the rumors, others must be a little tired of them too.

The latest is that the Red Sox are willing to include Jacoby Ellsbury as part of a package in a deal, but not Jon Lester too. They Yankees appear willing to deal Phillip Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a mid-level prospect.

The Twins may have no choice but to accept one of these offers or risk watching Santana walk after 2008. They were the ones who indicated that they wouldn’t back down from their demands, but I wonder if Santana’s announcement will change their minds.

Maybe, hopefully, all this will come to an end in a day or so. There are other moves the Twins need to make. By the way, Yanks GM Brian Cashman isn’t due here until Monday.

In other developments, the Star Tribune has re-hired the staff of Winter Meetings Confidential (me) for another year to report on all the rumors that bounce around the hotel this week.

I already have a couple nuggets:

Joe Nathan, who lives in Tennessee and works out at UT, stopped by the hotel for a visit and dinner with his agent Dave Pepe. I wasn’t around when he hit the lobby, but I’m sure he’s wondering about his future with the Twins.

One player whose future is no longer with the Twins is outfielder Lew Ford. WMC has learned that Ford is closing in on a one-year deal (with a vesting option) with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. We caught wind of this a little while ago, and now the deal in almost done. Ford apparently was only getting non-roster invite offers from Major League clubs. Best of luck to Leeeeeeeew.Â

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.