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TwinsFest usually offers the club a chance to introduce its shiny new offseason acquisitions to the home fans ahead of the team's migration south to Spring Training. That wasn’t the case this year at Target Field given the near-total silence on Minnesota’s transaction log this offseason.

Among the group that congregated in Minneapolis for the weekend, only reliever Josh Staumont represented a new arrival to the organization. The only other external additions to the 40-man roster were waiver claims Ryan Jensen and Bubba Thompson.

Though this offseason obviously has been a bit of an extreme, this Minnesota front office is no stranger to slowly developing rosters. It's tough to count them out of finding creative ways to add to the group -- even into Spring Training.

“I would tell you that we’re exploring a ton of things,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “It takes two sides and overlap for that to work.”

The free-agent market was always likely to be less of a factor this offseason due to the financial uncertainty stemming from the Twins’ still-unresolved television situation. As far as the trade market, things have been slower to develop in part because of the club’s more unique trade position.

Given where the Twins are in their competitive cycle, they’re not looking to trade away their pieces -- say, Jorge Polanco or  Max Kepler -- for Minor Leaguers. If anything, there are areas on the Major League roster where they need to add should they hope to contend. As far as those sorts of buyer-oriented deals, a slower-moving market -- a market that is just now becoming less stuck -- still seems to be impacting the Twins’ ability to find a fit.

“We’ve heard a lot when we talk to some that, ‘Hey, just haven’t felt that the market’s fully developed yet for Player X or Player Y and we’re going to wait for that,’ and they’re OK waiting for that a little bit later into the offseason,” Falvey said. “So I would expect that we will see more activity in February, per usual.”

With all that said, the Twins will rely heavily on health and/or improvements from several key spots for a brunt of their improvement -- namely, Byron Buxton back in center field, Alex Kirilloff and Jose Miranda at first base, Carlos Correa at shortstop.

They could add to their position player group, to be sure, but with Austin Martin and  Brooks Lee likely to enter the fold this season, the most urgent need could be center field insurance behind Buxton. Despite Buxton, Correa and Royce Lewis being limited in 2023 by injury, the Twins still finished fifth in the American League in runs scored. 

“The lack of clarity makes it a little harder in the offseason,” Falvey said. “But I would say that when we look at our group, it’s also a factor that we feel really good about the core of the group. There isn’t clearly a path for a certain spot, necessarily, right?”

The most urgent need remains on the pitching side. Louie Varland appears destined to build up as a starter again, but the starting depth remains perilously thin behind him and the other four rotation locks: Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack.

Pitching attrition is a fact of life -- the Twins saw that last season with injuries to Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda -- and without a clear next man up in the rotation, starting depth remains an ever-present priority.

“I think I’m never going to feel, at this stage or otherwise, that we have enough pitching depth,” Falvey said. “You’re always hunting more. Now, you don’t always get it and you don’t always have the group that would be perfect but I would say that will continue to be a focus for us, maybe as much as any other focus that we have for the remainder of the offseason, both in the rotation and the bullpen.”