The Minnesota Twins have never been players at the MLB winter meetings, so there’s no reason to think things will be different this week. La Velle E. Neal of the Star Tribune said as much on his Twitter feed.

But it’s still interesting to see what shakes out of the annual "rumor mill," which starts Monday.

Trade talk typically highlights the winter meetings, even if nothing gets done (remember the Johan Santana-dominated meetings of a few years ago?).

Maybe we’ll find out who the major players are in trying to acquire Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Roy Halladay and Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla. Both players are expected to be traded this offseason.

The Twins continue to be looking at adding veteran starting pitching. Carl Pavano, Rich Harden and Jarrod Washburn are all players that have been linked to the Twins either this offseason or in previous seasons.

They could add an infielder, too. Guys like second baseman Orlando Hudson and third basemen Adrian Beltre and Mark DeRosa could draw interest from the Twins. And there’s always the chance third baseman Joe Crede returns if all else fails. As I’ve said before, 90 games of Crede is better than 162 of Brendan Harris, Nick Punto or Matt Tolbert.