It's about the money

The Star Tribune's Joe Christensen today provided a useful outline of the contract situation confronting the Twins front office this winter.

He also provided a potential 25-man roster made up solely of the players under team control for 2011 — excluding all the current free-agents to be, from Jim Thome and Carl Pavano to Randy Flores and Clay Condrey. I provide the links in part because I expect to refer to this frequently during the winter.

That roster, because of contract commitments (not the least of which is a $9.5 million raise for Joe Mauer), projects to exceed the 2010 payroll.

The point: Even if the Twins don't add outside veterans, they're likely to bid some significant pieces farewell — and any major additions imply major subtractions.