Day 2, winter meetings: No progress by the Twins

Day 2 of the winter meetings closed on Tuesday....well, slowed down...with no major deals.

We thought things were over last night, but the White Sox stole the show by signing closer David Robertson and closing on a deal for Jeff Samardzija. Chicago looks to be leaving the Twins at the bottom of the AL Central.

``We can talk all we want about it," GM Terry Ryan said. ``Let's see how it plays out."

The Twins' pitching search turned up rocks again, as Ryan met with teams and agents but gave no indications that a deal was imminent. Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano re-signed with Pittsburgh, Edinson Volquez might re-sign with Pittsburgh and Justin Masterson is about to choose a landing spot between two clubs not named "Twins"

So the Twins continue their search. Since they aren't afraid to surrender a second-round pick, so they could look into a pitcher tied to compensation like righthander Ervin Santana, but there have been no indications the club have spoken with his representatives this week.

OTHER NOTES

It doesn't appear that the Twins will make a move for John Axford.

When talking about pitchers returning for next season, Ryan mentioned Mike Pelfrey first. Pelfrey made five starts before landing on the DL with a groin pull. During a rehab stint he had problems with his elbow and ended up having season-ending surgery to remove scar tissue that was messing with the ulnar nerve.

``He was very accountable and felt and felt bad that he couldn't contribute," Ryan said, ``and so did I."

Pelfrey prefers to start, and the Twins will look at him in that role......first.

When asked if he's still focusing on pitchers, Ryan said, ``We've been dabbling in everything."

That connects with what I heard earlier, that they have had talks about a free agent position player with some pop. Stay tuned.

Ryo Shinkawa, the affable former interpreter for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, is at the winter meetings looking for work. He stopped by the Twins' suite to say hello.

That's all for now. Headed to the lobby to see who ends up with Jon Lester. The Fighting Epsteins or the former Fighting Epsteins.

A late report had the Twins one of several teams that have spoken to the Mets about righthander Dillon Gee. Not sure who the Twins would dangle but they could be willing to part with hitting prospect Eddie Rosario or infielder Eduardo Escobar. Escobar showed that he could be an everyday player, batting .275 with 35 doubles last season.