4 things to watch with the Twins at baseball’s upcoming winter meetings

The Twins don’t plan to trade any of their star players — Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Byron Buxton — and that will likely move them from a team at the center of the upcoming MLB winter meetings into a quieter corner.

Team President Derek Falvey repeatedly said all offseason that it was his preference to add to the roster, and keep his star players, but now there is more clarity from ownership than there was a month ago. It’s still unclear where the team’s payroll will settle, as it currently sits around $95 million, but the message from ownership is that it won’t require a major subtraction from the roster.

That answers one major question about the direction of the Twins’ offseason, particularly after their trade-deadline fire sale. Here are four more things to watch this week in Orlando when the MLB winter meetings run Monday through Thursday:

One reason why the Twins didn’t have clarity about the direction of their offseason last month was because the yet-to-be-identified minority investor groups were expected to play a part in the payroll process. Owner Joe Pohlad said in August that the Twins were adding minority investors to help pay the near $500 million debt attached to the team, but no further details have been released over the past four months.

No announcement about the minority investment groups is expected at the winter meetings, one club official said, but Pohlad told the Minnesota Star Tribune in October he anticipated it would be completed by the end of the year.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters at the owners meetings in November that “those non-control interest sales are on track and in process.”

The Twins will enter Tuesday’s MLB draft lottery with the second-best odds for the No. 1 overall pick (22.18%) in the 2026 amateur draft, behind only the Chicago White Sox (27.73%).

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, is viewed as the top draft prospect entering the spring, but it’s early in the process. Paul Skenes, the National League Cy Young Award winner this season, wasn’t viewed as the top pitcher in his draft class ahead of his junior year at Louisiana State before a dominant season pushed him to No. 1 overall.

There are still two months before the start of spring training, but new Twins manager Derek Shelton and the front office should have a clearer picture on parts of the roster.

The Twins contemplated putting Luke Keaschall in the outfield last season before he broke his forearm. No team is ever completely content with its starting pitching depth, but the Twins have enough openings in their bullpen that they can prepare some of their young pitchers for relief roles.

How will the Twins sort out their outfield? They opted to tender a contract to Trevor Larnach, which was a surprise because they have five other lefthanded-hitting outfielders on their 40-man roster. Top prospect Walker Jenkins, who finished the season at Class AAA, falls into that category, too.

The Twins have a full 40-man roster, so unless they drop a player within the next few days, they will be skipping the chance to take a player in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft, where they hold the fourth pick.