Twins still discussing Louie Varland move to bullpen

With the Twins yet to make a personnel move during the Winter Meetings in Dallas, the chatter with team leaders has been about internal player movement, specifically swapping positions.

On Monday, President Derek Falvey talked about the possibility of Royce Lewis moving to second, Griffin Jax moving out of the bullpen, and Louie Varland moving into the bullpen.

Varland, a hard-throwing right-hander from Maplewood, has been primarily a starter in the minor leagues, but he has pitched well at times out of the Twins’ bullpen. In 22 major league starts, he’s 4-10 with a 1.426 WHIP. In 16 relief appearances, his WHIP is 1.227.

With rookies Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa and Zebby Matthews all making their major league debuts last season, and Joe Ryan expected back from a Grade 2 shoulder strain that cut his season short, the bullpen might offer more opportunity next season for a hard-thrower like Varland.

Falvey said management continues to discuss moves for Lewis and Varland with the players and their agents.

“Those are definitely continued conversations,” he said. “I think there’s an expressed open-mindedness to a lot of those things now as we prep through the offseason. I think we’re in a pretty good place on those conversations.”

Twins will pick 16th

The Twins had a miniscule chance to move into the top six picks in this June’s amateur draft and, as expected, failed to gain ground in Tuesday afternoon’s MLB Draft Lottery.

They will pick 16th overall in the June 4-12 draft.

Washington, which had a 10.2 percent chance of moving up, according to mlb.com, earned the top overall pick. The Nationals were followed by the Los Angeles Angels, Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

The Twins had a 1.1 percent chance of moving up.

Bench perspective

Moving first base coach Hank Conger to a new position as a bench coach was a natural for the Twins, and something they’ve had in mind for some time.

The Twins wanted the former major league catcher on their staff when he returned from coaching in South Korea — including a year as bench coach — and the job they had open was at first base.

“We knew that coming back, (that) it wasn’t the perfect fit,” Falvey said, “but it was the fit that we had at the time.”

After a staff shakeup this fall, it was announced last week that Conger will handle the catchers and work games as a bench coach beside manager Rocco Baldelli and bench coach Jayce Tingler.

“I think there’s a real opportunity here with Hank overseeing the catching group,” general manager Jeremy Zoll said. “It makes a lot of sense to have him in the dugout because when we’re on offense, the catcher that’s in the game is on the bench.

“And then he was at first base, so we think there’s actually that additional benefit to having him be on the bench, partner with the pitching coaches for those in-game adjustments, and make sure that we’re aligned on the game plan.”