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Let's take a look at three questions facing the Twins ahead of Spring Training.

1. Which pieces of the existing core are tradeable?
The free agent market is now mostly depleted, and after the Twins set their sights high with a full-throated pursuit of Carlos Correa, they have (so far) emerged with only Christian Vázquez and Joey Gallo -- hardly the impact deals they likely envisioned to move the needle.

• Twins introduce Vázquez, move on from Correa

There has been some acknowledgement of the idea that trades involving the Major League roster will likely be necessary to acquire impact talent, considering how many prospects the Twins have recently traded away for win-now pieces like Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle and Jorge López. Who on the roster might represent an acceptable cost for impact additions elsewhere on the team?

Even before Gallo’s addition, it appeared likely that the Twins could deal from their left-handed corner outfield depth, where Max Kepler has long been a name speculated in trade talks. But higher-ceiling depth like Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner also exists there. How deep will the Twins be willing to go in a deal for, say, top-tier pitching? (And that’s to say nothing of Luis Arraez, coming off the AL batting title.)

This front office has shown creativity in such deals in the recent past, as when the Twins traded Mitch Garver to the Rangers for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ronny Henriquez -- but it’s a delicate balance of give and take, particularly coming off a tough season.

2. Is Farmer a workable solution at shortstop?
The Twins ultimately missed out not only on Correa, but also on the three other shortstops who represented the consensus top of the market at the position (Dansby Swanson, Xander Bogaerts and Trea Turner). Their trade with the Reds for Kyle Farmer gave them an option, but manager Rocco Baldelli said at the Winter Meetings that the Twins’ preference is for Farmer to remain defensively flexible.

Does that change now, when the Twins still have needs at shortstop, right-handed impact bats and possibly higher-end pitching -- but a limited pool of players from which to deal? President of baseball operations Derek Falvey couldn’t commit either way when asked if Farmer could be the starting shortstop come Opening Day.

“I would say that as it stands today, with the way our current roster is, I would be shocked if this is exactly our current roster by the time we get to Spring Training,” Falvey said. “So I would want to reserve the right to answer that specifically until we get closer to March.”

Farmer had a .716 OPS and 30 homers as the Reds’ primary shortstop across the past two seasons, so it would be a familiar role for him. But could the Twins still find more depth or target an upgrade? They’ll need to quickly figure that out.

3. How can they keep their players healthy?
Regardless of the course of the offseason to this point, it was always the case that one of the most prominent pathways for the Twins to improve upon their 78-84 record would come through getting more from the core pieces they already have.

They viewed their collapse out of first in the AL Central in ‘22 as a poor reflection of the quality of their roster due to the rash of injuries, and that’s part of why they hired veteran head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta away from the Oakland A’s to bring fresh leadership to the training staff.

This will be a particularly pivotal season in that regard, as the Twins’ roster relies heavily on players with past and present injury concerns, from Kenta Maeda (Tommy John surgery), Mahle (persistent shoulder issues in ‘22), Jorge Alcala (coming off a lost season) and Jhoan Duran (one year removed from elbow troubles) on the pitching side to Byron Buxton, Arraez and Kirilloff among the position group.

The Twins do have some prospect depth on the pitching side in the form of Josh Winder, Louie Varland and Simeon Woods Richardson to step in if necessary, but the lineup loses a lot of depth when Buxton and Kirilloff in particular aren’t available -- as was the case at the end of last season. At a certain point, the Twins need these core players to show they can, indeed, stay healthy together, because it’s tough to consider them a core if they can’t remain intact.