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?

Barring a last-minute change of mind righthander Carl Pavano will inform the Twins tonight that he is accepting the Twins’ offer of arbitration, according to a source familiar with negotiations.

It’s official: Pavano has accepted arbitration from the Twins.

Pavano, 33, had drawn interest from a handful of teams and had hoped to receive some multi-year offers but, at the worst, will end up with the Twins on a one-year deal. The sides are expected to try to reach agreement on a contract to avoid arbitration.

It means that four-fifths of the Twins’ 2010 rotation is pretty much set in stone. Pavano will join righthanders Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey in the rotation.

There will be plenty of competition for the fifth spot in the rotation between lefthanders Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing and Francisco Liriano and righthanders Boof Bonser, Anthony Swarzak and Jeff Manship. Some of those pitchers, of course, have more realistic chances than others,

Darn late night deadlines. There’s no word on if Carl Pavano will accept or decline arbitration. The deadline is 11 p.m. CST, so we might have to wait a little while for a decision. There are rumblings that Pavano might accept arbitration.

Credit Bill Smith for planning ahead. He gave us a quote if Pavano accepts and one if he rejects.

Each manager has a 30-minute press conference at the winter meetings. But Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has called in sick with the flu and won’t fly here for his scheduled presser tomorrow. It’s kind of a letdown for some of the national media here who enjoy the Gardy-isms every year.

It’s been reported that Miguel Angel Sano’s visa has been approved. But the Twins only deal in absolutes. They just received a copy of his visa via fax and now feel comfortable that he’s officially on board. Smith said that the club will meet with the family to determine which last name he’ll go by - Sano or Jean.

Aaron Gleeman will be happy to know that I’m sitting next to ESPN’s Keith Law in the press room. I think Kieth is one high-quality guy.

Saturday is the deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players, and there’s already speculation about players joining the free agent ranks this weekend. There’s a chance that Brayan Pena might be at the top of the Royals’ depth chart at catcher by then.

For Twins fans wondering who their Opening Day third baseman will be, there’s been little news down here so far. But heard in the hallway that Garrett Atkins could be non-tendered. Classify that one as slightly above rumor level for now.

Finally, the phrase I’ve heard the most in less than 24 hours here: “What were the Twins thinking when they built that stadium without a roof?”

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.