Winter meetings: Day 2 begins in San Diego

Greetings from Day 2 of the winter meetings in San Diego, where the Twins have locked down fifth place in the AL Central division. Well, that's what one scribe said to me in the lobby a few minutes ago. The Sox had a huge day on Monday, signing David Robertson to a four year, $46 million contract and trading for Jeff Samardzija We're ripping the Robertson deal because closers shouldn't have that high of a price tag. But he's good, and the Sox have him. Samardzija joins a Chicago rotation of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and whatever they can get out of John Danks. That's a good unit. It doesn't look good for the Twins, who main pitching targets are Francisco Liriano, Brett Anderson and Edinson Volquez. Other names I've heard them linked to are Dustin McGowan, Alexi Ogando, Logan Ondrusek and John Axford. Fans already are venting about who the Twins are pursuing, and I understand. But I will point out two things: 1. The Twins could be chasing people we haven't discovered yet, especially in trades. 2. Their big moves are coming in July, August and September. More on No. 2. The Twins are in rebuilding mode, regardless of what they are saying,. If you are hoping for a .500 season, then you're rebuilding. I think we began to see the lineup of the Twins near future last season with Santana, Dozier, Mauer and Vargas. But if you look down the road, there's going to be some major roster upheaval during the second half of the season. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Alex Meyer and Jose Berrios all could debut sometime during the season, especially the second half. Heck, Nick Burdi and Jake Reed are long shots to reach the bigs this season but have the ability to do so as bat-avoiding relievers. Now, the Twins have to avoid the injury bug, especially with Buxton, Sano and Meyer. But there could be a roster reset during 2015 that will be worth monitoring. Next offseason will be the one in which landing a top pitcher (Samardzija and David Price will be free agents) to anchor a revival will be a more palatable move. It's a roundabout way of saying my expectations for the 2014 Twins are low, low, low. My expectations for them this week at the winter meetings are low, low, low. And their chances of moving up the charts in the AL Central are low, low, low following Chicago's moves.