Here are some Twins takeaways from GM Meetings

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Hot Stove season is officially underway, ushered in by the annual General Managers Meetings in Arizona from Tuesday to Thursday, at which Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey addressed the media. Here are three things for Twins fans to know at this point in the offseason.

Time to get creative (again)?

If there’s anything we’ve learned about this Twins leadership group, it’s to expect the unexpected.

“If we've established one thing about our past, it’s that we're going to see creative ways to improve the roster,” Falvey said Tuesday.

That might be particularly significant this offseason -- one in which the Twins need pitching, first-base and center-field help -- because the expectation is that the club will need to decrease its payroll from its record $153.7 million in ‘23, with its expiring television contract with Diamond Sports Group responsible for significant revenue uncertainty.

“We’ve pushed our payroll to heights that we had never pushed it before with the support, certainly, of ownership,” Falvey said to reporters, per the Star Tribune. “We know there is some natural ebb and flow to that. Will it be where it was last year? I don’t expect that. I expect it less than that.”

Some of that will come naturally as the Twins veer away from contracts like that of Joey Gallo ($11 million) and other departing free agents and toward their young position-player core that emerged down the stretch, with more youngsters like Austin Martin and Brooks Lee also expected to play important roles in ‘24.

But they still need to address some roster needs -- replacing Sonny Gray’s production in the rotation key among them -- and they’ll have less financial flexibility to do it. This is the front office, though, that has found unconventional solutions.

Recall that the Twins traded Brusdar Graterol for a cost-controlled Kenta Maeda before the ‘20 season as a third party in the blockbuster Mookie Betts deal, later immediately moved first-round pick Chase Petty to acquire Gray and flipped reigning batting champion Luis Arraez to acquire Pablo López (and that’s to say nothing of the Isiah Kiner-Falefa gambit that cleared the path for the first signing of Carlos Correa).

“We do feel like we walk into this offseason maybe with a better overall pitching group than we've walked into any of our recent offseasons,” Falvey said. “If we can be creative in ways to maybe mix and match some pieces around the roster, we feel like we have infield depth, we feel like we have guys with outfield experience and depth.”

If they need wiggle room for a free agent, could they perhaps find a taker for Jorge Polanco ($10.5 million) or Max Kepler ($10 million), who are sure to find interest in the trade market, with the Twins having young depth behind them? If they believe in young catcher Jair Camargo -- freshly added to the 40-man roster -- could they maybe find a match for Christian Vázquez ($10 million), especially with Ryan Jeffers coming off a breakout year?

As always, the Twins are looking to be flexible with their moving pieces and seek opportunistic matches on the market as they present themselves -- and the exploration has only just begun.

Buxton getting ready for center

The Twins were smart to snag Michael A. Taylor on the trade market last offseason as someone they’d initially hoped would be a backup option to Byron Buxton, who got off to a late start in Spring Training as a DH-only player.

It’s likely they’ll seek additional help in center field given Buxton’s history, but Falvey has already indicated the target will be different this year: The Twins will be getting Buxton ready for center field again after his plica excision procedure that the organization hopes will finally take pressure off the patellar tendon in his problematic right knee.

“Our expectation through the winter for him is that we're getting him ready to play center field,” Falvey said. “We had a different plan last offseason. He had a different procedure. We were hopeful to DH at the start of the year and then build in over time. Obviously, that didn't happen. But if he can go, our focus is going to be on him playing center field to start next year.”

‘Normal offseason’ for Correa, Kirilloff

Correa didn’t need an offseason procedure to address the plantar fasciitis that held him back -- and ultimately ruptured ahead of the playoffs -- in ‘23, and though Alex Kirilloff was taken off the ALDS roster, he ultimately didn’t need a labrum repair, instead requiring only a less invasive bursectomy.

The expectation, Falvey said, is that both Correa and Kirilloff are looking at relatively normal offseasons.

“Our hope is that, now that we've gotten to the offseason, [Correa] played great in the playoffs, he hit in the playoffs, so I think maybe we saw a little bit of what it could look like when he's back to full health,” Falvey said.