I wrote a couple days ago that I would revisit the Jarrod Washburn story if needed. And it’s needed.

The Twins, indeed, made a one-year offer to Washburn for around $5 million that was rejected by Washburn’s agent, Scott Boras. The offer was believed to have been made about a week ago.

Someone with knowledge of the offer even said, “it’s been pretty much dead since then.”

So a tip of the hat CBSSportsline for getting it out there first.

I’m sure Boras is trying to get Washburn more than something in the $5 million range. But there’s always a chance that he’ll return to the Twins if those efforts fail.

It happened a year ago when Boras tried to get Joe Crede a sizeable base salary. The Twins stuck to their offer of $2.5 million, plus bonuses, and Crede eventually signed with the Twins.

What’s interesting is that the Twins took a shot at Washburn despite having four-fifths of their starting rotation figured out. Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey are locks for next season. Lefthander Brian Duensing looks promising. Lefthander Glen Perkins, who might have to mend some relationships within the organization, is still around and is talented.

And lefthander Francisco Liriano is pitching well in winter ball. He tossed six shutout innings on Thursday on one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts. According to Twins GM Bill Smith, Liriano has thrown 11 scoreless innings in his last two outings.

But indications are that the Twins don’t want a repeat of last season, when unproven and raw righthanders Anthony Swarzak and Jeff Manship were used because of injures and Liriano’s struggles.

It also would be easier for the Twins to deal a starter - the Twins have let teams know that Perkins is available this offseason - if they have a veteran like Washburn in the rotation.

Washburn fits the type of free agent they are seeking: Someone who’s willing to sign for one season. The Twins are very reluctant to offer free agents more than one year for sizeable money because of the impact Joe Mauer’s extension would have on the 2011 payroll.

Sorry it too me so long to grab onto the right grapevine….

The Twins have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Clay Condrey to a one-year major league contract. Condrey, 34, posted a 3.00 ERA in 45 games for the Phillies.

For more info, check out his bio here. 

Twins GM Bill Smith said he likes that Condrey has pitched fairly well for a team that’s gone deep into the playoffs the past two seasons.

Condrey replaces Bobby Keppel on the Twins’ 40-man roster. Keppel asked for his release so he could sign with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese Pacific League. The guess here is that Keppel got a pretty nice offer and decided to go for it.

The odd thing is that Keppel leaves the Twins after getting his first major league win - in game 163.

Washburn: I know there was a report yesterday that the Twins have offered a contract to lefthander Jarrod Washburn. I have spoken with several people in the organization and received NO indications that an offer has been made. (Smith declined to comment).  The Twins have had interest in Washburn but, again, there’s no evidence that an offer has been made.

If that changes, I will let you know and I will give props to the CBSSportsline report. The responsible thing in these cases is to verify facts on my end before hitting the publish button.

And, as one person with the club told me, Brian Duensing might be better than Washburn right now.

Look for the Twins to release their long-awaited list of spring training invites soon. Indications are that Robb Quinlan won’t be one of them.

I trying to learn new phone numbers today as the Twins officially took over Target Field. Instead of calls starting with 375, they now begin with 659. Instead of having a Kirby Puckett Place address, the new address is:

Target Field

1 Twins Way

Minneapolis, Mn., 55403

I spoke today with Twins director of minor leagues Jim Rantz, who said many employees were still unpacking and getting organized. Rantz said the ceremony in which the keys were handed over to the Twins took place in the Twins clubhouse. Now completed, Rantz said everyone was pretty impressed with the players’ new sanctuary.

I can’t wait to come up with a reason to get over there to visit. For now, I’m not asking for much. I just want Mike Herman or Dustin Morse of the baseball communications department to let me know what their friggin’ new phone numbers are!!!!!

It’s going to be strange not having the Twins nearby. The Dome and Strib building are separated only by the light rail station. Jim Souhan, Joe Christensen and I park in the same lot the Twins officials use to use. I’m going to miss those occasional late-night conversations in the parking lot after games.

The Twins should announce their spring training invites soon, but Rantz did say that the Twins re-signed Brock Peterson for Class AAA Rochester. Brock is a great guy, one those guys you root for getting at least a cup of coffee in the bigs.

O.K. the other thing I must point out is Justin Morneau’s New Year’s Eve outfit. Former Twin Rob Bowen, who lives in the Atlanta area, flew to the Twin Cities for NYE and hung out with first baseman.

Here’s how they rolled….. A lot of downtown Minneapolis hotels had party themes on NYE, but I don’t remember any having a Dumb and Dumber or Jim Carrey theme…

I’m supposed to be off today. I still have some use-or-lose-it time off, but it’s been about three weeks since I last posted and I was tired of seeing that my last entry was about a minor leaguer I might never cover.

I’ll get more involved after the new year. That’s’ when Joe C. will be away on one of his super-cool excellent adventures.

Twins officials are in the transition phase between the Dome and Target Field. The next time I’ll try to contact one of them will be on a new phone number at the new park.

They continue to monitor the market for third basemen. Mark DeRosa? There have been reports that his asking price has gone down. Heard at the winter meetings that he wanted three years and $21-24 million (boy, did that Placido Polanco contract set the bar). Now it might be two years and $6 million per. Is that in the Twins’ wheelhouse now?

UPDATE: DeRosa looks to be headed to San Francisco.

Adrian Beltre? No chance. He’s going to want more than DeRosa.  But many teams appear to be waiting for the market to drop. Players like Jason Bay and Matt Holliday don’t have jobs and might not end up with what they originally sought.

Haven’t heard anything on Kevin Kouzmanoff since the winter meetings (then again, I’ve been off). Kouzmanoff for Glen Perkins makes sense to me. But I did hear in Indy that the new Padres GM doesn’t want to swing and miss with his first trade - which is why he asked for more than Perkins for Kouzmanoff.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire  said during the winter meetings that the club might still be interested in starting pitching. We know about Jarrod Washburn’s interest in pitching close to home. I know other names have been mentioned elsewhere.

I can see the Twins  adding a moderately-priced starter for the back end of their rotation. But I also see that they have a few bodies around - Perkins (for now) and Francisco Liriano are at the top of the list. And Brian Duensing has raised the stakes.

My opinion is that if they need a couple million to get a deal with DeRosa done, don’t worry about adding another starter. The pitchers they are looking at aren’t front of the rotation types, anyway.

I have heard nothing concrete about the Joe Mauer negotiations recently. I must say, however, it seems like everyone I run into has a mutual a friend or a neighbor of a friend who’s heard this or that about the deal.

Believe me, we will let you know whenever we hear anything about talks. There’s usually someone on one side or the other who lets a detail slip out here and there. Both parties are working extremely hard to keep this one quiet. That won’t stop us from trying…

I noticed that Buster Olney of ESPN wrote about the opening of Target Field . You wouldn’t believe h0w many people approached me at the winter meetings about playing outdoors. Most people think we live in Siberia. I met new Cleveland manager Manny Acta, and the first thing he said to me was, “what’s it’s going to be like playing outdoors up there?”

It’s on everyone’s mind.

The Star Tribune took a tour of Target Field before the holiday season kicked off. The place is going to rock. Fans will be right on top of the action. The foul territory is among the smallest in the game (Scott Baker won’t be happy). The last row in left field is closer to the field than the first row of the upper deck at the Dome.

The thing that jumped out at me the most: bars.

Yes, bars. They’re everywhere. And for good reason.

First of all, the Twins have tried to provide places where fans from any part of the park can get warm when the temperature dips. Every time I saw a bunch of heat lamps, a bar seemed to be nearby.

The coolest thing I learned during the tour:  There will be a spot called the Town Ball Tavern. I don’t know how the Twins pulled it off, but they acquired the old floor that the Minneapolis Lakers played on and have installed it in the Town Ball Tavern. A spot worth visiting….

That’s about it, baseball-wise, for now. I hope you got what you wanted for Christmas, and I hope you achieve everything you strive for in 2010. I leave you with a couple non-baseball notes.

One of my gifts to my brother was a Star Trek DVD. I’m not a Trekkie, but the movie was pretty good.

And I ask all Packers fans to unite with Bears fans tonight as we fight off the attack of the Purple-clad horde from the north…

The Rule 5 draft is roughly 30 minutes away, but the Twins look to be spectators and not participators this year. They have the 20th pick in the major league phase and have talked about players. But they don’t see a fit for where they are drafting. Plus, their 40-man roster is full.

“At this time we are at 40,” Twins GM Bill Smith said. “While that’s subject to change, we don’t anticipate altering our roster before (the draft).”

We will be present at the event, anyway.

One development on the trade front. One AL team that has been in touch with the Twins was told that Boof Bonser, Glen Perkins AND Alexi Casilla were available. Casilla was a mild surprise. He disappointed the Twins last season and they have the scrappy Matt Tolbert to help back up the infield.

Teams will begin to pack up and leave after the draft. Not the Twins. They always attend a minor league banquet on the last day of the meetings. We are scheduled to meet with Smith after the draft, then we’ll begin to wrap up this year’s winter meetings.