Twins players and pitching coach Rick Anderson remained in contact with pitcher Carl Pavano in recent days, reminding him constantly how much they wanted him to be a part of the 2010 team.

“He feels tremendously comfortable in Minnesota,” Pavano’s agent, Tom O’Connell said. “He has tremendous respect for his teammates and thinks they are united in trying to win.

“We had to explore free agency, no doubt. But, at the end of the day this was a very easy decision because has made a lot of money in his career and its important to win a championship and the Twins give him the best opportunity to win.”

We’ll see. I think Pavnao brought a lot to the rotation down the stretch. If he didn’t want to pitch to a guy, he would professionally walk him, and go get the next guy. That’s something the rest of the staff can definitely learn from. `Veteran savvy’ is a term that gets thrown around a lot. But Pavano has it. He’s going to have runners on base. He’s going to be slow to the plate and will give up stolen bases. But he doesn’t let it get to him.

As I’ve written before, it’s going to be interesting watching competition for spots on the pitching staff. There might be nine spots already filled. And what if Pat Neshek really is all the way back from elbow surgery?

Ran into the guys from Baseball America this morning. They are working on their top ten Twins prospects list and are leaning toward making Aaron Hicks No. 1 again. Sounds like their top four might go: 1. Hicks. 2. Wilson Ramos. 3. Kyle Gibson. 4. Ben Revere.  Adrian Salcedo has a chance to crack their top ten. 

I’m not exaggerating. Baseball officials and media folk continue to hammer me about Target Field not having a roof.  I’m not putting up much of a fight.

Haven’t heard much about the Twins’ plans for third base here. But I do know that the Padres would like to talk to them about Kevin Kouzmanoff and the agents for Pedro Feliz would like a moment of their time, too. San Diego might be interested in Glen Perkins, who could be had.

Another Twin would could be more available than others: Boof Bonser.

The Marriott is a reporter’s and scout’s dream. We all are members of the Marriott rewards program, so we’re all getting points this week. The problem is that the concierge lounge has been packed in the mornings. But it’s also led to some interesting group discussions.

This morning, I sat with media members from Philadelphia, San Diego, Tampa Bay, Boston and Arizona. We decided that the three places the winter meetings should be held at are: 1. New Orleans, 2. Las Vegas and 3. Orlando. And that the best pressboxes in the league are: 1. Seattle. 2. Baltimore and 3. Anaheim.

Then, I had to answer questions about heaters in the Target Field pressbox. Aren’t they happy that they can stay at the City Center Marriott and walk to the park every day?

Tom O’Connell, the agent for righthander Carl Pavano, met with the Twins last night and will meet with them again tonight as the sides try to reach agreement on a contract.

Pavano has until 11 p.m. to accept or reject the Twins’ offer of arbitration. If he accepts, the sides will continue to negotiate on what will likely be a one-year deal. And the Twins would have four-fifths of their rotation figured out.

If he rejects arbitration, the Twins would be among several teams pursuing Pavano. Word is that five teams have expressed interest in the righthander, with one of them probably Cleveland, where Pavano pitched before  being traded to the Twins in August.

The sense I get is that O’Connell has been trying to find a two-year deal for his client but teams might not be willing to go that far with a pitcher who was broken down for four seasons before pitching 200 innings, including the playoffs, last season.

If there’s not two-year deal out there, Pavano might accept arbitration.

 Heard from a N.L. scout that shortstop J.J. Hardy’s range has slipped a little. That’s not good news for a team that’s looking for stability there. The scout also said that Hardy has struggled against breaking stuff.

Former Twins minor league Saul Rivera has been released by the Nationals.

Another former Twin Jacque Jones, is expected to arrive here so he can meet with teams. Jones is trying to return to the majors after not playing in the majors all of last year.

BTW, there’s another deadline to watch out for. The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players is 11 p.m.  Saturday. What’s with these late night deadlines?

I’m set up and ready to roll here at the Indy Marriott as the first day of the annual baseball winter meetings kicks off. Check back here during the day for updates on what the Twins are (or aren’t) doing to improve their ballclub.

I checked with Tom O’Connell, Carl Pavano’s agent, last night to see if they intended to accept or reject arbitration from the Twins. O’Connell didn’t want to tip his hand, so we’ll have to wait until later to find out what their move is. My guess is that they will reject the offer but keep talking to the Twins.

The Twins aren’t too fired up about giving him a two-year deal. Pavano is trying to distance  himself from a bad four-year run with the Yankees and might have to take another one-year deal - and have a big year -  before he can get more security.

Pavano is the Twins’ top priority right now. Cleveland has expressed interest in Pavano too.

There’s already been some news this morning, with the announcement that Whitey Herzog and Doug Harvey have been elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Tony Oliva fans, chill. This was the year for managers, umpires, owners and pioneers to be voted on by the Veterans Committee.

Former Twins managers Tom Kelly, Billy Martin and Gene Mauch were among a group of people who received fewer than three votes.  Davey Johnson and Steve O’Neill were the others. 

Check back here during the day for updates. I’ll probably tweet a couple things from the lobby, too.

I’m also pleased to announce that the Winter Meetings Confidential staff has been retained for another year. The WMC staff scours the hotel every year for newsy nuggets from all over the league and drops them in the ink edition of our newsgathering juggernaut.

For instance, WMC heard last night that the Rangers are looking to move righthander Kevin Millwood because of their continuing financial dilemma. The Twins were in Texas in August when the Rangers couldn’t sign their first-round pick because of what everyone believes were mounting financial woes.  

Another nugget: It sounds like Tampa Bay firmly believes it has the cultural infrastructure in place to handle a complicated personality like outfielder Milton Bradley. Good luck to them if they make that move.

So in addition to any Twins news, you’ll get league-wide dope in the daily paper.

That’s all for now. Gotta stake out the lobby.

Sorry this is late. Had a minor emergency.

Signs continue to point toward Francisco Liriano starting on Sunday in Kansas City. My guess is that it will be official on Friday.

Denard Span looked and sounded like his old self today. He told manager Ron Gardenhire he’s available to pinch hit or be a late defensive substitute. Signs point to him returning to the starting lineup on Friday.

Funny stuff before the game. White Sox GM Kenny Williams met with the media and told them that his team will go back to taking infield before games, which very few teams do these days. I don’t know if more  infield solves all the problems in the Windy City. But Williams is a very determined man….

There are some indications that one trait the Sox would like to have from the Twins is mental toughness. Is mental toughness a big edge for the Twins? At least they still have a shot at the postseason while the Sox played themselves out of the race. The Twins deserve some credit for not giving up.

Lineups

Twins (78-73)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brendan Harris, DH
8. Matt Tolbert, 3B
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Brian Duensing, LHP

White Sox (73-79)

1. Jayson Nix, 2B
2. Gordon Beckham, 3B
3. A.J., C
4. P.K., 1B
5. Alexei Ramirez, SS
6. Jermaine Dye, RF
7. Carlos Quentin, LF
8. Alex Rios, CF
9. Tyler Flowers, DH

Pitching: Mark Buehrle, LHP

Denard Span is not in today’s lineup as he recovers from being hit in the head on Monday. He had appeared in every game since June 25 after coming off the disabled list. He had started every game since July 21.

Carlos Gomez will see if he has another cycle against the White Sox in him, as he’s leading off and playing in center. Stayed tuned for updates later.

Update:  Here are a bunch of pitching matchups:

at Kansas City

Friday: Carl Pavano vs Robinson Tejada
Saturday; Scott Baker vs Lenny DiNardo
Sunday: Jeff Manship vs Zack Greinke (first meeting of 2009)

at Detroit

Monday: Nick Blackburn vs Rick Porcello
Tuesday: Brian Duensing vs Justin Verlander
Wednesday: Carl Pavano vs Nate Robertson
Thursday: Scott Baker vs Eddie  Bonine

 Lineup

Twins (77-73)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brendan Harris, DH
8. Matt Tolbert, 3B
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Jeff Manship

White Sox (73-78)

1. Scott Podsednik, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 3B
3. A.J. Pierzynski, C
4. Paul Konerko, 1B
5. Mark Kotsay, DH
6. Alexei Ramirez, SS
7. Carlos Quentin, LF
8. Chris Getz, 2B
9. Alex Rios, RF

John Danks, LHP