The Twins have just selected righthander Jason Jones fron the Yankees organization in the major league phase of today’s Rule 5 draft.

Jones was 13-7 with a 3.33 ERA in 25 starts at Class AA last season and 0-1, 2,38 in two starts at Class AAA. Check here for the rest of his vitals.

Jones will have to remain on the major league roster all season or be offered back to the Yankees, The Twins do have the option of swinging a deal to keep his rights if they want to send him to the minors.

I know nothing about this man, since he just came into my life. This is something I found on him right off the bat.

The Twins lost pitcher Jose Lugo to the A’s  Royals with the 12th overall pick.

The minor league phase has just begun. Check here for more later.

Update: The Twins have taken righthander Henry Arias in the Class AAA phase of the draft.

Update: Wow. Frank Robinson just walked by….

About 20 hours ago, I was led to believe that there was a chance the Twins could emerge as a third team in this whole Jake Peavy to the Cubs mess. That doesn’t appear to be the case anymore, but the Twins could still have a chance for infielder Mark DeRosa.

It will be an interesting day here Thursday as Padres’ GM Kevin Towers and Cubs GM Jim Hendry try to close this deal.

The Padres remind me a little bit of the Twins last year when they tried to trade Johan Santana. In the end, there was one viable suitor. A full no-trade clause limited what offers were made.

San Diego might be in a tougher spot because Peavy obviously wants to play for the Cubs, the Cubs already have a very good rotation and don’t have to give up more than they want. Reporters for both teams on Wednesday said Towers seemed to be worn down and Hendry rather relaxed. That makes sense.

DeRosa could end up in the Peavy three-way trade, as the Phillies appear to be that third team. But the Cubs could deal DeRosa separately to either the Phillies or Twins. As of this writing, we all expected talks to last into the early morning.

It’s unclear who the Cubs want from the Twins for DeRosa. They need a left-handed hitting outfielder, but I was assured that a request for Jason Kubel had not been made yet. I don’t know if the Twins would deal him, anyway.

What I don’t  understand is if the Padres want pitching back and they don’t want to take on Jason Marquis’ $9.875 million salary (the Cubs have to dump salary to make this work) why can’t the Twins step in? 

The only reason I can come up with is that the Padres would want Kevin Slowey. They were itching to draft Slowey in 2005 and their draft room apparently went nuts when the Twins took him in the second round. Then Slowey pitched well against them in Petco Park this year. A lot of teams have asked about Slowey this offseason but I sense the Twins draw the line there.

Haven’t heard much more on other trade news, other than Delmon Young remains somewhere on Philly’s radar and there’s a chance the Rockies and Twins could talk again about Garrett Atkins. They aren’t interested in Jorge Cantu and, suddenly, Twins people are telling me there are no-trade problems with Adrian Beltre. He does have a limited no-trade but there were no indications during the season that the Twins were on it.

 And I haven’t heard a thing about relief help.

Well there’s one more day left in the winter meetings, but plenty of days left before spring training. It’s not time to be an alarmist but the Twins better do more this offseason than re-sign Nick Punto.

As I write this, the Tigers and Rays are holding a press conference about a Matt Joyce-for-Edwin Jackson trade. And the Mets, Indians and Mariners just pulled off a 12-player deal in which J.J. Putz goes to the Mets. The Mets are building a bullpen!

Man, the team I cover never makes a trade here…..Â

Not a whole lot new to report. This usually is the toughest day to gather information. The annual baseball writers meeting took place this morning and the managers’ luncheon begins in about 20 minutes.

I do have a couple nuggets:

The Twins and Phillies both want Mark DeRosa. But the Phillies don’t have the pitching the Twins have to send the Cubs. The Phillies are having trouble signing Jamie Moyer back and night need pitching.

But if the Phillies don’t get DeRosa, Nick Punto appears to be their next option.

Delmon Young remains on the Phillies radar - but not in the central area.

Two persons with knowledge of negotiations said the Twins and Cubs talked yesterday about a deal for infielder Mark DeRosa - a potential move that would get the Twins involved in the most talked-about trade of the offseason.

The Cubs have been looking for teams to bring into the Jake Peavy deal because they don’t have enough pitching to send the Padres in return for the 2007 Cy Young Award winner. The Twins have young pitching. The question: Who are the Twins be willing to give up for DeRosa, who’s free agent after the season and is expected to test the market then.

Indications are that the Cubs will present the Twins a list of pitchers they would want in the deal - a list that likely would be influenced by the Padres.

DeRosa, who turns 34 in February, will make $5.5 million next season. He batted .285 last season with career highs of 21 homers and 87 RBI.

I took it for granted that the Twins would play DeRosa at third base because that’s all the Twins have talked about this offseason. But, while talking about Alexi Casilla yesterday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire raised the possibility about moving Casilla back to short next season - where many believed his best position was before an opening at second popped up last season.

 “If we were to lose (Nick Punto) or something like that, I’m not afraid to take a look to see a Tolbert at second base or something,” Gardenhire said. “I’m not afraid to do any of that. You can mix-and-match all you want.
“I like the way it was going along when we had Casilla playing healthy at second base. That was a pretty good infield and we were playing pretty good baseball. We had lead-off guys and guys that would take pitches and bunters and the whole package, and it was fun baseball to watch. If we can get back to that, that was okay. Nothing wrong with that infield at all. ”

DeRosa played 95 games at second base last season and 22 at third.

The Peavy trade has had several moving parts to it throughout the offseason, so expect the Cubs to keep looking for a third team to help out until they can find the right pitching to spin off to the Padres.

In other news:

Punto update: I’m not sure if the DeRosa talks affect this or not but there’s a belief that if the Twins are to keep Punto, a deal could be done very soon. Punto is shopping around for offers but is expected to come back to the Twins to give them the final decision.

Kevin Kouzmanoff: The Twins are interested in the Padres third baseman and could call the Padres about him if the DeRosa talks don’t pan out. Kouzmanoff doesn’t walk much but has the power the Twins are looking for. He’s considered a shaky defensive player, but one person who has watched him pointed out that he works hard at getting better with the glove and has a chance to improve.

Other third basemen: The Twins don’t appear to be too fired up about Jorge Cantu. They still like Ty Wigginton, referring to him as a, `gamer.’

Other stuff: The Twins don’t appear to be interested in Texas’ Michael Young, who has been mentioned as trade bait recently….

I’m headed out of the media center to work the lobby until the last scout leaves. But I wanted to show you a breakdown of Casey Blake’s contract with the Dodgers, which now has been signed.

The Twins offered Blake two years and $14 million, refusing to add a third year to the deal for a 35-year old player.

The Dodgers nabbed him for a three-year, 17.5 million deal - with an option for 2012!
Here’s the offer that topped the Twins’:
2009 salary: $5 million
2010 salary: $6 million
2011 salary: $5.25 million
2012 salary: $6 million, or a $1.25 million buyout.

That option year might be a way to fold another $1.25 million into the deal, as the Dodge aren’t expected to pick it up - unless Blake has Paul Molitor-like genes.

My question: What if the Twins had gone two years for $15 million plus a third-year option with a $1.5 million buyout? That’s $16.5  million he’d be a lock to make, maybe enough to entice him to sign closer to home.

Twins officials, of course, might read this and argue that $7.5 million is a little too much for someone who will turn 36 next season. And I could understand that. But I would like to have that debate.