MLB winter meetings update

Greetings from the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, where the winter meetings have kicked off under sunny skies and temps in the upper 60's. There will be little chance of us enjoying that weather though, as the media already is staking out the lobby of the hotel for their sources. I wrote in Sunday's dead-tree edition that the Twins are interested in Francisco Liriano, but also expressed surprise that they would be willing to surrender a draft pick to the Pirates as compensation. Let me clarify that. The draft pick the Twins would give up would be a second rounder, based on having one of the worst records in baseball. And many teams don't value that second round pick enough to not sign a worthy free agent. It appears that the Twins are willing to give up that pick to sign Frankie back. If the price is right, I was told. Check the blog every few hours or so for updates from San Diego. The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee announces its voting results at 1 pm central, so we'll be on Oliva-Kaat watch then. Twins manager Paul Molitor meets with the media in the late afternoon, so we'll have highlights from that session. Then we'll meet with Terry Ryan, who will talk about how much he's talking about potential deals. I reminded a bunch of Twins officials last night that, in my 18 years covering the club, they have NEVER announced a major move at the winter meetings. Let's go!