Final Winter Meetings Notes

• Today, clearly was not the day to sleep in. By 10 am, 1B Albert Pujols and LHP CJ Wilson both had come off the free agent market, and both signed with the Angels. Hard to believe Pujols is leaving St. Louis, but, it appeared that the Cardinals took him for granted and never offered a deal much over $200 million for 10 years. It will definitely be a thrill to get to see Pujols every year now...good thing the Twins just traded Kevin Slowey (Pujols was 2 for 2 with 2 HR and 4 RBI vs Slowey). (Note: The Twins home opener on April 9th is against the Los Angeles Angels.)
  
• The Twins drafted White Sox farmhand pitcher Terry Doyle in the Rule V draft today. Doyle was a combined 8-10 with a 3.07 ERA in 2011 between Class A and AA. He had an impressive Arizona Fall League, going 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. Hard to see him making the team out of camp this spring, so I would guess the Twins will send something back to the White Sox, so they can send Doyle to Rochester or New Britain.
• With Pujols' RH bat coming off the market, you could look for the Michael Cuddyer market to start heating up now. The Twins do have a reported 3 year/$24 million offer out to Cuddyer, and are pushing for a quicker resolution from him, so they can move on with other moves this offseason. If Cuddyer does sign elsewhere, it is likely that the Twins will push hard to retain Jason Kubel and may also go after free agent OF Josh Willingham.
  
• Yesterday when meeting with media in Dallas, Ron Gardenhire was full of information for us Twins fans. He first said that star players Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are doing well in their offseason workouts/rehabs. Secondly, he said that he is excited to have Matt Capps back to close in 2012. And thirdly, he mentioned that the team is looking to add a starting pitcher (The Twins did make a offer to Mark Buehrle, but were never really a strong candidate to land the lefty). Good thing Gardy talks to the media every so often, he is more insightful than the front office, so we get to know what the team is up to during the winter.
  
• There are 73 days until pitchers and catchers report...