Five days before the New Year, it’s safe to say the Twins’ offseason has been a bust. It’s not over yet — a trade remains a possibility — but the hope that a significant upgrade to the starting pitching staff would be made via free agency has passed.

There was the reported five-year, $100 million offer to Zack Wheeler but he elected to take five years and $118 million from the Phillies. After that it’s uncertain just how aggressive Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey was in bidding for Madison Bumgarner, who signed with Arizona; Dallas Keuchel, who landed with the Chicago White Sox; and Hyun-Jin Ryu, whose reported desire to stay on the West Coast was so great that he signed with Toronto.

So far, the Twins “big” free agent moves have been retaining suspended starter Michael Pineda on a two-year, $20 million contract; keeping starter Jake Odorizzi and reliever Sergio Romo; and adding veteran bullpen arm Tyler Clippard. Catcher Alex Avila also was signed to a one-year, $4.25 million contract.

This seems to have led to two reactions from disgruntled fans — at least those who enjoy the use of social media as much as I do. The first is the common refrain about the penny-pinching ways of owner Jim Pohlad and his family. These fans feel that the Pohlads simply won’t allow their executives to spend and it doesn’t matter if their names are Terry Ryan and Bill Smith or Derek Falvey and Thad Levine.

The second reaction is to point the finger at Falvey and Levine, the team’s general manager, and claim the boy geniuses who took the Twins to a 101-win season in 2019 aren’t willing to invest in starting pitching help because it’s risky (true) and they don’t want to look dumb (possible).

The issue is that as these two groups of fans battle over which is right, they are missing the point. It doesn’t matter because you are both in the same spot of being rightfully disappointed.

What does matter is that with spring training getting closer by the day, what should be a very competitive team has yet to make a splash move despite being given a road map on several occasions in 2019 regarding what was needed. That would be a top end starting pitcher.

There were reports before Christmas that the Twins were in on the sweepstakes for free agent third baseman Josh Donaldson and that they would be willing to pay a hefty price. This sounds great — and adding Donaldson would enable manager Rocco Baldelli to move Miguel Sano to first base — but that doesn’t solve the Twins problem unless they were planning to turn around and make a big-time trade for a starting pitcher.

The Twins’ rotation currently looks like this: Jose Berrios, Odorizzi, Randy Dobnak, Pineda (when he returns from his 60-game PED suspension in May); and a yet-to-be determined fifth starter or group of fifth starters. This isn’t going to cut it for a team that wants to contend, especially with the Chicago White Sox making multiple moves and appearing ready to pounce in the weak AL Central.

The Twins’ defenders will tell you that something is coming and that the contracts the second-level free agent pitchers got — Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg were the top guys and were never coming here — weren’t reasonable.

But what they have to reazlie is that for as many moves as Falvey and Levine have made in turning the Twins into a contender, they have yet to show this fan base what they are willing to do to take the next step now that we’ve established the Twins’ window to compete is wide open.

What nobody can expect is the 2020 Twins will recapture the magic of 2019 and again hit a big-league record 307 home runs. Some may even suggest, the baseball will be different in 2020, making it impossible to average 1.9 home runs per game.

And even if that is case, we have established the Twins need more starting pitching than they had in that slugfest series against the Yankees last July at Target Field. It also became clear that while Dobnak was a great story, having him start Game 2 in Yankee Stadium in the American League Division Series was a recipe for a quick ouster from October.

Falvey and Levine can’t assume this window is going to remain perpetually open. This is professional sports and any assumption of long-term success is foolish. They also have yet to prove that they can pick a path to taking the next step. By the time the July 31st trade deadline arrived last summer, it was clear this was a special season for the Twins and it also was clear they desperately needed another starter.

Acquiring that type of starter would have likely come at the expense of a top prospect or even two. There weren’t a ton of deals to be made but Toronto moved Marcus Stroman to the Mets, so to say there were no trade options available was incorrect. The Twins added relievers Romo from the Marlins and Sam Dyson (oops) from the Giants and stayed away from the starting pitching market.

The lack of activity was met with disappointment and a sense it might be different in free agency. It wasn’t. So now we’ll go back to wondering if that big trade is coming. Eddie Rosario’s name has been mentioned, Sano and his powerful bat should be shopped, there is a replenished farm system that has some coveted players in it that could bring back immediate help on the mound. Trading a Royce Lewis or Alex Kirilloff would be painful but pursuing a championship requires making difficult decisions.

So is that the path Falvey and Levine will take? The opportunity to create excitement about the Twins is there. They are coming off a fabulous season that raised expectations, interest in the Wild is as low as it has been in years and the Wolves continue to be off the radar. If the Twins make a significant move, there appears to be plenty of disposable income in this market that would be headed toward Target Field.

Right now, however, it’s likely much of that cash is staying in the pockets of fans who are rightfully skeptical. Many are upset with Pohlad and some blame the young executives. All are disappointed and they have every right to be.