At last, the Winter Meetings are back

What cold, dark winters these past two have been. There was the pandemic, of course, and then the lockout, both of which truncated the offseason, and terminated the Winter Meetings as we knew them. Executives and agents are arriving this weekend in San Diego to start the 2022 edition of the meetings, which will continue through mid-week.

There will be all sorts of meetings to go over rules and objectives for the league during the day, but between the bigger events and panels, the real action happens. These team leaders and player agents will have a chance to connect in person, in real time, and it is here that the offseason really gets underway. 

Without the ability to meet in person 2 years ago, or the restriction on the business that could actually be done last year, the 2022 edition should bring back what everyone loves about the Meetings. Between the larger meetings, people will meet in hallways and hotel rooms. An affair that already kept odd hours, transactions may spill even later in to the night, at least on central time. 

While the transaction wire is heating up, and a three day marathon refreshing MLBTradeRumors at all hours is an exciting thing to look forward to, the Twins have a long history of making a lot of noise, but not having a lot of action at the winter meetings. I wouldn't be surprised if that is how these meetings go either, even with the expectation that the Twins will be active this winter.

Minnesota is likely to throw a lot of money around in free agency. They have the capability, but have also shown a reluctance to get into bidding wars. Surely, they are willing to spend money, as Josh Donaldson and Carlos Correa have proven, but they are loathe to get into bidding wars. If there is a price, they will pay it. They haven't followed the market upward very often, however. Maybe they sign Correa again in San Diego, but barring that, I would be surprised if free agency doesn't get started until January for the Twins. 

Similarly, I'm not sure what the big trade the Twins might be looking to make would be. Sure, they could get better in the rotation, but that isn't going to fall into their lap, and they have little in the way of tradeable capital for a team looking to rebuild. Maybe they could get something together later in the offseason after smaller moves are made to accrue some prospect depth.

Even if the Twins aren't active, aside from the Rule 5 draft, perhaps, it's nice to have an old staple of the offseason back. Get ready for a non stop barrage of baseball headlines for the next week.