SAN DIEGO -- The Twins officially announced two signings at this year's Winter Meetings, but those were old news, as the agreements with starter Michael Pineda and backup catcher Alex Avila had already been reported a week earlier. Otherwise, Minnesota remained relatively quiet throughout an otherwise splashy week in San Diego.

President of baseball operations Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine made the search for a starting pitcher their most significant priority at these Meetings. Though Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg both came off the board with blockbuster deals, the next tier of starters -- better fits for the Twins' needs -- remained largely intact.

The Twins could also look to address their pitching needs through various trade opportunities, but Falvey and Levine characterized the market as being more active on the free-agent side than on the team-to-team side, for the time being.

"I would say that we've had a lot of conversations with different [parties] -- mostly agents, and then some clubs -- but I would say that we feel we made good progress in terms of just understanding a little bit more of where the market is," Falvey said. "We've had some situations come and go that ended up not being fits for our team, but I would say we feel pretty good."

Falvey, Levine, manager Rocco Baldelli and their staff also took the opportunity to hold some internal discussions about the Twins' coaching vacancies, with the bench coach and assistant pitching coach positions yet to be filled.

Biggest remaining needs
1) Starting pitcher: Though finding a starter was the Twins' biggest focus at the Winter Meetings, no move got done, and they still need at least one more impact starter. With Cole, Strasburg, Zack Wheeler and Rick Porcello all off the market, other top options, like Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel, remain available.

2) Some position player, probably an infielder: The Twins aren't fixated on any specific position, but Falvey and Levine indicated that they will seek to add another bat late in the offseason, which will likely depend on the balance of their roster. Corner infield could be a focus after C.J. Cron was non-tendered, but the positional flexibility of Luis Arraez, Miguel Sanó and Marwin Gonzalez will allow the Twins to explore a variety of options.

3. Relief pitcher: There's no dire need for relief help, with the makings of a solid bullpen in Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Trevor May, Zack Littell, Cody Stashak and possibly Brusdar Graterol. But the Twins remain open to the possibility of adding another complementary piece if the right fit were to arise. They don't have any specific reliever profile in mind.

Rule 5 Draft
The Twins neither gained nor lost a player in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft after passing with the No. 27 selection. Though Minnesota left a pair of its Top 30 prospects unprotected in shortstop Wander Javier (No. 7) and right-hander Griffin Jax (No. 21), both remained in the organization, along with other pitchers like Luis Rijo, Tom Hackimer and Jovani Moran that could have garnered interest.

Minnesota did lose infielder Brian Schales to the Tigers and right-hander Andriu Marin to the Rangers in the Minor League phase of the draft. Schales is a career .237/.322/.334 hitter in the Minors and split the 2019 season between Class A Advanced Fort Myers, Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Rochester. Marin had a 4.17 career ERA in five Rookie league seasons, most recently with the Twins' Elizabethton affiliate.

GM'S bottom line
"I think, if anything, it just gave us some more clarity around what our next few weeks look like. But I wouldn't say there was anything gleaned that was different. We've already assessed the players. We already kind of know what we think of each player on the board. I would say this: the conversations with teams [about trades] seemed a little less frequent, than, maybe, the free-agent conversations." -- Falvey