Much of the baseball world is preparing to congregate in Orlando, Fla., for the Winter Meetings, which kick off Monday. It’s a time for executives, agents and others to gather, and trades or free agency signings typically follow.

The Twins hired a new manager and rebuilt their coaching staff in November but little has been done to alter a roster that was torn down at the trade deadline. Perhaps this week will shed some light on what blueprint the Twins’ front office is planning to follow this offseason.

Pablo Lopez #49 of the Minnesota Twins pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the second inning at Comerica Park on July 26, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)

Or, maybe not. In recent years, the front office has worked late into the offseason to build out the roster.

Here are three Twins-related things to keep an eye out for this week during the Winter Meetings:

Will we learn what direction the Twins are taking?

The offseason started more than two months ago and we still haven’t found out much about what direction the Twins are going. Will they continue to trade productive veterans? What will the payroll look like?

Thus far, the Twins have made only minor additions, adding backup catcher Alex Jackson in a swap with Baltimore, reliever Eric Orze in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and claiming utilityman Ryan Kreidler off waivers.

Nobody expects them to be big spenders this winter, but rumors have been swirling around the trade statuses of their top two starters, Pablo López and Joe Ryan. There has even been recent speculation that all-star center fielder Byron Buxton is a potential trade candidate.

Will the Twins, in an effort to shed more from the payroll, trade one or both of the starters? López is projected to be the highest-paid player on the roster. Buxton would be second. If López and/or Ryan are sent off in trades, would that test the loyalty of even the most loyal — Buxton — to the point that he would consider waiving his no-trade clause?

All of this is tied to payroll, of course, which remains a question mark publicly. The Pohlad family announced in August that it would retain ownership of the team and add two limited partnership groups, though those have yet to be publicly identified and it remains seen what impact they might have on payroll.

President of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey will meet with the media at the Winter Meetings and perhaps shed light on what the rest of this offseason could look like.

Where will the Twins end up in the draft?

With some of the best odds in the draft lottery, Tuesday will be a big day for the future of the organization.

The Twins finished the 2025 season with the fourth-worst record in the majors, in front of only the Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals. But they actually have the second-best odds in the lottery. Both the Rockies and Nationals are ineligible for a lottery pick this year, meaning only the White Sox (27.73 percent) have higher odds of landing the first overall pick than the Twins (22.18 percent).

The lottery has worked in the Twins’ favor once. They got lucky in 2023, moving up eight spots to select now-top prospect Walker Jenkins fifth overall.

Will the Twins select someone in the Rule 5 draft?

The Twins selected right-handed pitcher Eiberson Castellano from the Philadelphia Phillies last year in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, marking the first time since 2017 that they had made a selection.

His stay in the organization was brief. Castellano spent spring training with the Twins but was unable to crack the 26-man roster out of camp and, per MLB rules, was offered back to the Phillies.

Might the Twins try again this year in Wednesday’s draft?

After trading away five members of the bullpen at the trade deadline, the Twins need relief help and could add someone to join the competition when spring training begins in February.

Byron Buxton #25 of the Minnesota Twins slides into third base on a triple against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning at Target Field on Sept. 2, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s anti-money laundering office has frozen the bank accounts of the Mexican co-owner of Miss Universe as part of an investigation into drugs, fuel and arms trafficking, an official said Friday.

The country’s Financial Intelligence Unit, which oversees the fight against money laundering, froze Mexican businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú’s bank accounts in Mexico, a federal official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the investigation.

The action against Rocha Cantú adds to mounting controversies for the Miss Universe organization. Last week, a court in Thailand issued an arrest warrant for the Thai co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case and this year´s competition — won by Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch — faced allegations of rigging.

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The Miss Universe organization did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment about the allegations against Rocha Cantú.

Mexico’s federal prosecutors said last week that Rocha Cantú has been under investigation since November 2024 for alleged organized crime activity, including drug and arms trafficking, as well as fuel theft. Last month, a federal judge issued 13 arrest warrants for some of those involved in the case, including the Mexican businessman, whose company Legacy Holding Group USA owns 50% of the Miss Universe shares.

The organization’s other 50% belongs to JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., a company owned by Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip.

A Thai court last week issued an arrest warrant for Jakrajutatip who was released on bail in 2023 on the fraud case. She failed to appear as required in a Bangkok court on Nov. 25. Since she did not notify the court about her absence, she was deemed to be a flight risk, according to a statement from the Bangkok South District Court.

The court rescheduled her hearing for Dec. 26.

Rocha Cantú was also a part owner of the Casino Royale in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, when it was attacked in 2011 by a group of gunmen who entered it, doused gasoline and set it on fire, killing 52 people.

Baltazar Saucedo Estrada, who was charged with planning the attack, was sentenced in July to 135 years in prison.

By SARAH RAZA, Associated Press

Federal agents have arrested a dozen people in Minneapolis since launching an enforcement operation this week primarily focused on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S., but fewer than half of those detained are Somali.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that agents had arrested 12 people. Of those, six are Mexican nationals, five are from Somalia and one is from El Salvador.

Protesters gather at a rally for immigrants and workers outside Signature Aviation near the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, Wednesday, Dec 3, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Minneapolis-St. Paul, which has the nation’s largest Somali community, is the latest area targeted by the Trump administration for mass deportations, following operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina. This week, immigration authorities have also arrived in New Orleans, where officials said they intend to arrest up to 5,000 people.

In a statement, ICE called the 12 people arrested some of the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” Eight of them had been charged or convicted of crimes, including assault, fraud, domestic violence and driving under the influence, according to ICE.

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President Donald Trump recently targeted Somali immigrants in public remarks, calling them “ garbage ” and saying “they contribute nothing.” He also blamed Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for allowing alleged fraud in government programs to happen on his watch, which a conservative publication claimed was funneling money to a Somali militant group.

The crackdown has drawn intense criticism from local and state officials who have denounced Trump’s rhetoric and pledged to protect the Somali community. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said city police would not participate in federal immigration enforcement.

In the ICE statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused Frey and Walz of not enforcing immigration laws and endangering citizens.

By JOHN ROGERS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Frank Gehry, who designed some of most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96.

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Gehry died Friday in his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.

Gehry won every major prize that architecture has to offer.

Gehry’s fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of some of the most wildly imaginative buildings ever constructed and brought him a measure of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect.

Among his many masterpieces are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Berlin’s DZ Bank Building.

FILE – The Louis Vuitton Foundation building designed by American architect Frank Gehry is pictured before the presentation of Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2015 ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
LOS ANGELES – OCTOBER 23: (TABS OUT) The Concert Hall Exterior at the Walt Disney Concert Hall opening gala, day one of three, October 23, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for LAPA)
Pedestrians walk past Guggenheim museum, under a cloudy sky, in Bilbao, on June 27, 2023. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

Gehry was awarded every major prize architecture has to offer, including the field’s top honor, the Pritzker Prize, for what has been described as “refreshingly original and totally American” work.

Other honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his native country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.

Years after he stopped designing ordinary looking buildings, word surfaced in 2006 that the pedestrian Santa Monica mall project that had led to his career epiphany might be headed for the wrecking ball. Gehry admirers were aghast, but the man himself was amused.

“They’re going to tear it down now and build the kind of original idea I had,” he said with a laugh.

Eventually Santa Monica Place was remodeled, giving it a more contemporary, airy outdoor look. Still, it’s no Gehry masterpiece.

Gehry, meanwhile, continued to work well into his 80s, turning out heralded buildings that remade skylines around the world.

The headquarters of InerActiveCorp, known as the IAC Building, took the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New York City’s Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York By Gehry building, one of the world’s tallest residential structures, was a stunning addition to the Lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in 2011.

That same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He also taught at Yale and Columbia University over the years.

Not everyone was a fan of Gehry’s work. Some naysayers dismissed it as not much more than gigantic, lopsided reincarnations of the little scrap-wood cities he said he spent hours building when he was growing up in the mining town of Timmins, Ontario.

Princeton art critic Hal Foster dismissed many of his later efforts as “oppressive,” arguing they were designed primarily to be tourist attractions. Some denounced Disney Hall as looking like a collection of cardboard boxes that had been left out in the rain.

Still other critics included Dwight D. Eisenhower’s family, who objected to Gehry’s flamboyant proposal for a memorial honoring the nation’s 34th president. Although the family said it wanted a simple memorial and not the one Gehry had proposed, with its multiple statues and billowing metal tapestries depicting Eisenhower’s life, the architect declined to change his design significantly. As of 2014 the memorial remained unbuilt, with local planning officials again asking Gehry to make revisions.

Gehry did agree to tone down a proposed expansion for Facebook’s Northern California headquarters at the insistence of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who said he wanted a more anonymous look.