Minnesota Twins Notes, Quotes

--RHP Carl Pavano accepted Minnesota's offer of arbitration, ensuring that he will return to the team in 2010. In an e-mail to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Pavano explained why he opted for arbitration rather than pursuing free agency.

"I could have continued to sit back and wait for the market to unfold more, take a chance and end up with a team that is not a winner and in a place I don't want to be," Pavano wrote. "Or (I could) accept arbitration and work out a deal with a team that is strong in character and talent, as I have already experienced, with a staff that is the one of the best I've had in baseball, in a division where our rival last year is rumored to be unloading some of their top players, and having other teams in the start of a rebuilding phase. That doesn't assure us anything but I like our chances."

--RHP Boof Bonser was designated for assignment, then traded him to Boston for a player to be named. Bonser missed the entire 2009 season recovering from shoulder surgery. He is arbitration-eligible for the first time in his career.

--3B Danny Valencia is playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, but manager Ron Gardenhire remains skeptical the prospect will be improved enough to win the third-base job out of spring training.

"(In September) when we talked about bringing (Valencia) up, I asked, bring this kid up, let's take a look at him," Gardenhire told the Twin Cities media. "(The front office) said no one recommended that he was ready for the big leagues."

--LHP Glen Perkins is reportedly on the trade block, but Twins GM Bill Smith said the team does not harbor any "longstanding bitterness" about the starter's decision to seek a grievance against the Twins earlier this year. Perkins filed the complaint because he felt the Twins sent him to the minor leagues after reinstating him from the disabled list to keep him from accruing enough service time to earn arbitration rights this offseason.

"You move on. You can't have too thin of skin on any of things. In one way or another we hope Glen is ready for a great season in 2010," Smith said. "Filing a grievance is a player's right if he doesn't think that a decision by the club was right. Going to arbitration is a player's right if he doesn't think that the club's salary offer was fair. As long as you can go through the process, shake hands afterwards and move forward, you leave it behind."

--3B Joe Crede told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that his recovery from back surgery is going as expected and he'll begin baseball activities in January. Crede signed with the Twins after spring training started in 2009 and said he expects a similar timetable for finding a job this time around.

BY THE NUMBERS: 4 -- Number of starters the Twins have secured for their 2010 rotation: RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Scott Baker, RHP Kevin Slowey and RHP Nick Blackburn.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "There will be limitations, but our ownership has set out what we think are certainly substantial funds to get our club ready for the start of the season. ⿦ We've had to trade some good players, but it's the same philosophy in '09 that we were using in 1989." -- Twins GM Bill Smith on his ballclub's payroll hike entering the inaugural season in Target Field.