SAN DIEGO – Paul Molitor has never managed a professional baseball game, but at least he's been in the dugout as a coach.

Being at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, home of Major League Baseball's winter meetings this week, is new territory for him.

So the rookie manager spent Monday getting used to sitting with General Manager Terry Ryan as he spoke with teams and agents about players and getting an idea of how deals come together.

"Primarily for me, the first 36 hours has been spending a lot of time in the Twins suite, as we discussed what our goals were for our time here, reviewing everything from free agents, and Rule 5, to potential club fits for trades and addressing our needs," Molitor said. "We were looking at our roster, and if things happen, our space is limited right now. So there are extensive things that Terry needs to cover with our scouting team and other people that are present. But it's a bigger thing even than you can imagine once you get here."

Ryan, who spent Monday meeting with agents and teams, said the winter meetings should be beneficial to a first-timer like Molitor.

"This will be good for him," Ryan said. "It will be very enlightening and in-depth. We do get into it and certainly trade talk and visiting other clubs, sitting with other agents. I'll try to make sure I get him involved on anything that takes place so he knows exactly how it does work."

And Ryan wants Molitor to jump in if he can add to discussions.

"When a manager has an opinion and he's got the knowledge and he's got direct viewership of players and things of that nature — especially evaluation and makeup on free agents they might know about — they are very valuable."

Molitor jumped right into his debut at the manager's media sessions, answering questions on many topics concerning his club.

On what image he wants to project to his players: "I hate to say I want them to be, [but] I don't want the players to try to be like me because I want guys to be who they are. But I think that I'm going to be more internal than external. I think I like the idea of calmness, regardless of circumstance. At the same time, having an intensity and obvious look about you. I have a tendency for people to say you didn't like to laugh very much when you played. I was happy inside, but I was just serious."

On if Danny Santana will report to camp as an infielder or outfielder: "I would say today that Danny Santana's coming as an infielder."

On whether Joe Mauer should be more vocal because of his credentials: "No, I think people will always debate. Can you demand a player because of either compensation or accomplishments to be somebody that he's not? I think people like to watch Joe. They see how he prepares, and he's going to be who he is. Joe gets his two cents in here and there to the right people at the right time. It's just kind of behind the scenes normally, but I have no problem with how he handles that.''