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The minor league seasons are reaching into their final two weeks. A couple of teams have a shot at making the playoffs with a strong end to their season. While development is the most important thing in the minor leagues, learning how to win and being in that environment can be a positive thing for the players development too. It should be a fun couple of weeks following the Twins and their minor league system.

If there’s one good reason to keep tuning into the Twins the rest of this season, it’s because we could very will be watching the end of Joe Mauer’s career. He provided a special moment for the home crowd Friday night. With the Twins trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Joe Mauer came off the bench to blast a three-run homer that put the Twins up for good.

Rochester and Chattanooga won laughers, Cedar Rapids split a double-header that included the suspended game from Wednesday night, Fort Myers won a close one, the GCL Twins snuck a win out and also Elizabethton was smoked 0-9. Can’t win them all.

A conga line broke out on the basepaths at Target Field last night. The Twins’ pitching staff gave up eight run on 10 hits and six walks, yet they still won by seven runs. The offensive outburst was led by Logan Forsythe, who was a perfect 5-for-5.

It wasn't so long ago that the Twins were flush with quality righties out of the bullpen. Even though the rest of his team was lagging around the middle of the season, Paul Molitor could feel confident in calling upon any number of stalwarts.

Ryan Pressly, blowing people away. Addison Reed, living up to his billing. Trevor Hildenberger, as reliable as they get. Fernando Rodney, rattling off saves. Even Matt Magill was cruising along.

Now, things have changed — most crucially, with respect to the 2019 bullpen outlook.

On July 31, the Twins traded popular second baseman Brian Dozier to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that had been in the works for roughly 20 months. In return, the Twins acquired Double-A prospects Luke Raley and Devin Smeltzer. The Dodgers were willing to make the deal but insisted on the Twins taking back second baseman Logan Forsythe, and more important, his salary. Brian Dozier has been a big add for the Dodgers, but Forsythe has returned to his American League form with the Twins.

The Minnesota Twins currently have two of the hottest hitting players in all of minor league baseball within their system. First round picks in the previous two MLB Drafts, Alex Kirilloff and Royce Lewis have taken the Florida State League by storm. Their torrid performances have bolstered an already impressive prospect stock, but it’s their card stock that has also seen a significant rise.

Twins DH/1B Logan Morrison was recently shut down for the remainder of the season and, by reports, is expected to undergo surgery for a hip condition that has been bothering him for much of the year. The problem is being reported as ‘hip impingement’, which is a fairly common diagnosis. Some may recall that the NBA’s Isaiah Thomas dealt with this problem over the past couple seasons and underwent surgery more recently.

So what is ‘hip impingement’? And when does it need surgery? And what happens during surgery? Let’s dive in and see what we can find out:

Twins Daily Roundtable is a weekly series. As part of this series, a question will be posed to the site’s writers and they will respond in 200 words or less (Some writers don’t like to stick to this limit). This will give readers an opportunity to see multiple points of view and then add their own point of view in the comments section.

The Fernando Rodney Experience has moved out of the Twin Cities and this means the Twins are looking for a new ninth inning man. With no specific “closer in waiting,” the Twins could be using a variety of players in the final frame for the rest of the season. All of these players might be auditioning for a more important role on the 2019 squad.

This week’s roundtable discussion question is: “Who should serve as the Twins closer for the rest of the season?”

On the day that Lewis Thorpe was promoted to Triple-A, both he and Brusdar Graterol turned in outstanding efforts. From the batter’s box, Alex Kirilloff and his 4-4 day stole the show. Read about the rest of the happenings from the farm today.

You’re not going to win many games in which your starting pitcher goes less than four innings. On the other hand, you’re probably not going to lose many games in which Bobby Wilson hits a home run. Both of those things happened in Wednesday afternoon’s game, but it was the Twins’ bullpen that really turned in the performance that mattered.

Jake Odorizzi looked like he was going to completely derail in the second inning. He gave up a pair of runs on two hits and a couple of walks. Meanwhile, Pirates starter Jameson Taillon was perfect through the first three frames. That script flipped real quick.

Odorizzi averted the train wreck. The Twins got to Taillon.