Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Twins will likely trade for a new closer now that Joe Nathan is out for the season.

To avoid having Nathan being startled by rumors, Minnesota general manager Bill Smith told the injured closer of his intentions to acquire a possible closer.

San Diego's Heath Bell has been rumored, and the Twins are looking at Toronto, where Kevin Gregg, Scott Downs and Jason Frasor are competing for the Jays' closer gig.

"The past two weeks, we've been working on contingencies," Smith told the Pioneer Press.

Can the Twins keep Joe Mauer on the roster? 

John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press suggests the answer is yes, if Mauer will accept less money than he would on the open market, and take a good portion of the money on the back-end of the deal.

Brian Goldberg, Ken Griffey Jr.'s agent, pointed out that a deal for Mauer would be similar to Griffey's deal with the Reds back in 2000.

If Mauer becomes a free agent after this season, he could command as much as $30 million a season on the open market.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune :

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters that free-agent slugger Jim Thome won’t return to the team this year, a decision that could clear the way for Thome to sign with the Twins.

Another report said the Rays and Tigers are also interested in Thome but called the Twins the favorite to sign him.

The Pioneer Press speculates now that the Twins have dealt with all the arbitration-eligible players, they could be on to negotiations with Joe Mauer.  However, insiders say there have been no serious talks yet.

Twins GM Bill Smith  told the St. Paul Pioneer Press he's okay with leaving the winter meetings with a hole to fill at third base.

The club remain interested in San Diego 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff and free-agent 3B Mark DeRosa.

DeRosa's agent went so far as to confirm the Twins are one of several teams to inquire about the third baseman but admitted the discussion with Minnesota was preliminary.

With the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players on Saturday, Smith admitted the Twins have talked about speculation that several players could be nontendered, making them free agents available to all teams.

In a text message to MLB.com , Joe Mauer denied the report of a deadline in place for his negotiations on a contract extension with the Twins.

The text was in response to an earlier report that quoted a source saying that if a deal wasn't made by spring training, Mauer would end talks.

"I'm not going to react to every story/rumor that comes out or comment on any negotiations. As far as that report, I don't know where that came from.

"I've always said it will happen when it needs to happen and I truly believe that," Mauer said of a potential contract extension. "I'm not the kind of guy that, you know, says by this date we need to have something done."

Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Yankees haven't discounted Minnesota yet. The Yankees had three scouts at the Metrodome covering the Twins during their three-game series against Detroit.

The Yankees would likely would be the Minnesota Twins' first-round playoff opponent in New York if the Twins can win the Central Division,

Joe Crede told Kelsie Smith of the Pioneer Press that he'd like to stay in Minnesota next season despite his list of injuries this season.

"Expect the worst and hope for the best," said Crede. "I'd definitely love to play next year and even beyond that."