Twins' Falvey: next 7-10 days will bring flurry of free agent decisions

Last week, I took a look at five potential free agents who might be good fits with the Twins — while also noting that since signing catcher Jason Castro early in free agency, the Twins have basically been at a standstill at least in terms of closing the deal on anyone.

Of the five players mentioned, only long shot Mark Trumbo is off the board (having just returned to Baltimore). In an interesting offseason, a bunch of useful players are still out there. And it sounds like the Twins could be ready to move on one (or more) of them in the coming days.

That was the impression, at least, from talking Friday to Derek Falvey, the Twins’ head of baseball operations. Both he and general manager Thad Levine noted the unusual glut of pitching still on the market, which Levine attributed it to a lack of a signature pitcher on the market this offseason (thus eliminating the domino effect that can happen when market value is set and/or teams miss their Plan A target).

Falvey said signing Castro was the team’s top priority. The next step in the plan was seeing how the market shook out in January. Now that the month is almost over …

“I think you’re seeing there are a number of free agents still available that I think can impact us this year and beyond,” Falvey said. “We’re staying in touch with those guys right up until we get to spring training and maybe beyond to figure out ways we can add a number of those guys potentially as we go forward.”

But those players won’t be there forever. If fans are getting antsy for more moves, the decisions should be happening soon.

“I think we’re seeing right now there might be opportunities in the pitching market to have conversations,” Falvey said. “We have had a lot of those conversations over the last month or so, and I would expect those to start coming to a head really in the next week to 10 days.”

Falvey said that could mean starters or relievers because he thinks the Twins have some flexibility with their existing pitchers to either start or head to the bullpen. Levine specifically mentioned targeting veteran players who can be good in both the clubhouse and on the field — a trait which also has value to Falvey.

In fact, the 33-year-old trained in analytics said the thing he is most interested in seeing during spring training amounts to chemistry.

“I want to see some things that are admittedly a little behind-the-scenes,” Falvey said. “There are cultural elements to a successful team that I’ve been able to observe: a team pulling together, a team operating in a way in which guys play for each other and not themselves.”

That road map seems to lead to the Twins signing a veteran free agent pitcher or two in the near future. We’ll see if that actually happens.