Brandon Warne

The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline is pretty straightforward -- you’re either traded, or you aren’t. It’s after that where it gets a bit....complicated. In fact, players can technically be traded up until the end of the regular season, but they must be in an organization and on the 40-man roster on Aug. 31 to be eligible for postseason play. In short, that’s why you might see some trades that happen between Aug. 1 and the end of the month. The Twins have been no stranger to these types of trades. Don Baylor came over in 1987, and despite not doing much down the stretch for that season, was instrumental in October with seven hits in 21 postseason plate appearances, including a home run in the World Series. In 2003, the Twins picked up 46-year-old Jesse Orosco from the New York Yankees to get the last 14 outs of his storied 24-year career. The next year, the Twins acquired catcher Pat Borders for the stretch run from the Mariners with Joe Mauer on the shelf. Two years later, the Twins traded for Phil Nevin. You get the point. So what makes these deals different from those consummated before the July 31 deadline? Well, waivers comes into play. Any player not on the 40-man roster can be traded at this time -- which is often why you’ll see big leaguers moved for low-level or low-end prospects and/or cash -- without any special qualification, but a player on a 40-man roster must first be put on what is called revocable trade waivers. Here’s a hypothetical, not because it would happen, but because it’s relatable: Let’s say the Twins put Mauer on trade waivers. We’re assuming he doesn’t have a no-trade clause in this case, or that he’s told the Twins he’d waive it to play for a contender. Mauer has somewhere in the vicinity of $30 million owed to him for the rest of this season and all of next season. The other 29 teams have the opportunity to place a claim on Mauer, and if he goes unclaimed, he has cleared waivers and is thus eligible to be traded to any team. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this post here.

The trade deadline came and went, and for the second season in a row, the Minnesota Twins shipped an All-Star out as closer Brandon Kintzler was traded to the Washington Nationals for left-handed pitching prospect Tyler Watson and $500k in international bonus pool money, the Twins announced. Kintzler’s Twins tenure ends with a 2.98 ERA (3.64 FIP) in 99.2 innings across parts of two seasons. Kintzler, who turns 33 on Tuesday and will be a free agent at season’s end, had allowed 100 hits with 62 strikeouts (5.6 K/9) and 19 walks (1.7 BB/9) while saving 45 games with the team. It’s unclear what Kintzler’s role will be with the Nationals, who acquired both Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from the A’s earlier in the month, but he’s durable and versatile enough to pitch in just about any role. He leads the AL in games finished with 41, and his penchant for grounders (61.9 percent last season, 53.9 percent this season) will allow him to come into sticky situations and induce double-play grounders as well. Please click through to read this story in full on Zone Coverage here.

The Jaime Garcia era in Minnesota is over after 6.2 innings, three earned runs, one win and zero home games. The 31-year-old lefty is headed to the Bronx, as both teams announced the Minnesota Twins were shipping the veteran to the New York Yankees for left-handed pitcher Dylan Enns and right-handed pitcher Zack Littell. Garcia’s tenure with the Twins lasted a total of six days, as he -- along with catcher Anthony Recker -- was acquired from the Atlanta Braves on July 24 for right-handed pitcher Huascar Ynoa. When the Twins woke up on July 24, they were 49-48 and about to start a three-game series with the sizzling Los Angeles Dodgers. The Twins were one game out of the second Wild Card spot and a mere 2.5 games out of first place. Now just six days later, the Twins are 50-52, six games out of first place and four games out of a Wild Card spot and also coming off a crushing walk-off loss to the Oakland A’s -- the team with the worst record in the American League -- on Saturday night. Worse yet is that they’d have two teams to leapfrog to get into that game, and another three teams -- the Angels, Rangers and Orioles -- are each within 1.5 games of catching or surpassing them in that respect. In other words, it’s a crowded pool that’s about to get more dicey, and the tough part about staying in the Wild Card race is that with so many teams involved, at least a few of them are guaranteed to win every night. When a team is chasing a divisional foe, at least there are some head-to-head games that can cut into a deficit, and a clear path to the postseason if a team takes care of business inside the division. That’s less true when chasing teams on either coast, and the Twins wisely opted not to try do that. Please click through to Zone Coverage to read the rest of this article here.

The 40-man roster churn for the Minnesota Twins continued on Thursday, as the team shipped catcher John Ryan Murphy to the Arizona Diamondbacks for left-handed reliever Gabriel Moya. Both teams confirmed the move via press releases. Moya will head to Double-A Chattanooga to get his Twins career underway, the team announced. Moya will be very familiar with the league, as he was a Southern League All-Star this season. Murphy was the odd man out behind the plate as the Twins had amassed five catchers on the 40-man roster with the Jaime Garcia trade earlier in the week, which brought Anthony Recker into the mix. Recker was initially assigned to Double-A Chattanooga, but it appears likely that will change with this move. Murphy came over in a deal following the 2015 season from the Yankees, as outfielder Aaron Hicks was sent to New York in return. But while Hicks has blossomed into a stellar everyday player for the Yankees this season — current injury notwithstanding — Murphy struggled to find his footing with the Twins and was behind the 8-ball almost immediately. Murphy hit just .075/.119/.100 over his first 44 plate appearances last season before being sent to Triple-A Rochester. Things did not improve much down on the farm, as Murphy inexplicably hit just .236/.286/.323 in 83 games with the Red Wings before returning for the stretch run to back up Kurt Suzuki in the major leagues last season. While the Twins were hoping to catch Murphy on the upswing after he’d hit .277/.327/.406 in 2015 with the Yankees, that simply was not the case. Murphy had hit just .222/.298/.330 with the Red Wings this season as he and Mitch Garver — one of the Twins’ better hitting prospects who is actually older than Murphy — have shared time behind the plate this season. While Murphy has struggled at the plate, he’s done fine work behind it. According to Baseball Prospectus, Murphy has been the top framing catcher in Triple-A this season, providing the Red Wings with 18.8 fielding runs above average. Only three catchers are above 10 runs this year in the minor leagues. The other two are Cardinals prospect Carson Kelly (10.2) and Eddy Rodriguez (15.3), who spent time this spring in Twins camp. Please click through to read the rest of this post at Zone Coverage here!

The upshot is this: this trade shows that Thad Levine and Derek Falvey have a pretty good idea of what’s going on with this Twins teamThe long-rumored, yet once-thought-perhaps-dead trade for Jaime Garcia has come to fruition, as the Atlanta Braves announced on Twitter Monday afternoon that the team had moved the left-handed starter, along with catcher Anthony Recker and cash for minor-league pitcher Huascar Ynoa According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Twins are taking on the remaining $4.55 million owed to Garcia, 31, as well as all but $100k of the $300k still owed to Recker, who is making $800k this season. What’s unclear is if Recker was involved in the originally proposed deal, which was scuttled by the Braves but was reportedly sending injured relief prospect Nick Burdi to the Braves instead. Ynoa, who turned 19 at the end of May, was signed by the A’s for as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic for $800k. He’s the younger brother of Michael Ynoa, the ballyhooed pitching international prospect signed by the Oakland A’s in 2008 for a then-record $4.25 million. Ynoa got hurt, had Tommy John surgery and never played in the big leagues with the A’s, but was traded as part of the deal after 2014 that sent Jeff Samardzija to the Chicago White Sox and Marcus Semien, among others, to the A’s. Ynoa has pitched in the big leagues in each of the last two seasons with the White Sox, compiling a 4.42 ERA with 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings, but also 5.9 walks per nine and a WHIP of 1.48. The right-handed Ynoa is much smaller than his older brother -- 6-foot-3, 175 pounds compared to 6-foot-7, 210 pounds -- and is probably at least three or four years away from pitching in the big leagues. He’s thrown just 133.1 innings as a professional, and after putting together a really strong year with the GCL Twins last season -- 3.18 ERA, 9.0 K/9, 1.10 WHIP -- has struggled a bit with the jump to the Appalachian League, posting a 5.26 ERA in 25.2 innings at Elizabethton with 8.1 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and a WHIP of 1.64. Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to read the rest of the story here.

The Minnesota Twins had an answer for almost everything the Detroit Tigers did on Sunday afternoon — at least until the ninth inning. The Twins threatened late and closed to within a run in both the seventh and eighth innings, but ultimately fell 9-6 to drop not only the game, but the series to the Tigers. The loss dropped the Twins to 49-48 — and third place in the American League Central. It was clear early that the game did not have a good pace, and that stood the test of time with a final length of 4:19 — the longest nine-inning game in Twins history. The previous record was set exactly one year ago, an 11-9 win at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox that checked in eight minutes shorter than Sunday’s loss. One big reason for the pace was that both teams combined for 26 strikeouts and 10 walks. That sluggish pace started with Twins starter Adalberto Mejia, who was going up against the top offense in the game against left-handed pitching (124 wRC+). Mejia didn’t pitch poorly but simply was unable to put hitters away all day. He lasted just 4.1 innings and threw 96 pitches, but the final damage was far from terrifying — five hits, two runs (one earned) with five strikeouts and a pair of walks. Mejia had a 1-2-3 first inning and followed it by striking out the side in the second around a two-out double off the bat of catcher James McCann. Please click through to read this post in its entirety at ZoneCoverage.com here.

It’s overcast and warm -- but a bit cooler than the last two nights -- as the Minnesota Twins prepare for the rubber game of a three-game weekend set with the Detroit Tigers. It’ll be a pair of lefties doing battle in this one, as Adalberto Mejia (4.22 ERA/5.07 FIP in 70.1 innings) will toe the rubber for the Twins against Matt Boyd (5.58 ERA/4.60 FIP in 61.1 innings) of the Tigers. More on that in a bit. It’s Armed Forces Appreciation Day at Target Field, and in addition to some pregame stuff, there’ll be a helicopter fly over just before first pitch. Here’s how the Twins will line up in the finale: Here's how the Tigers will counter: Mejia doesn’t exactly have the sexiest stats — 7.4 strikeouts per nine, 4.1 walks per nine and a WHIP of 1.44 — but he’s been markedly better since the middle of June. Over his last six starts, Mejia has an ERA of 2.62, a K/BB rate of 25-13 (34.1 innings) and a slash line against of .235/.313/.386. Efficiency has been an issue all season long, but manager Paul Molitor sees Mejia as a work in progress who gives the team a chance to win far more often than not. “I think we’ve seen the development of a young pitcher,” Molitor said. “Obviously there are ways you continue to get better, but I think compared to earlier in the year…I think you can make a bit of a Gibson comparison to where he’d get tentative and pitch from behind. It didn’t work out particularly well. I think he’s more confident with his stuff in the zone, which leads to quicker outs. His pitch counts have been staying down a bit more consistently.” Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to see the rest of this story here. Thank you!

Kyle Gibson set a season-high with 7.1 strong innings and the bullpen held on for dear life as the Minnesota Twins prevailed with a 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night at Target Field. What started out as a 6-0 lead in the eighth inning quickly snowballed into a one-run win, but the Twins managed to even the series with the rubber game looming on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the 1987 World Series reunion weekend. “Gibby was really good,” manager Paul Molitor said. “I don’t know if you want to call it his best start or whatever, but we talk about strike percentage a lot when things aren’t going well. It might have been his best percentage of throwing it over and first-pitch strikes. It started waning late, but I still thought he had good stuff.” Gibson tossed seven shutout innings before encountering some turbulence in the eighth. Andrew Romine opened the inning with a liner to Eddie Rosario in left, followed by a single from Jose Iglesias and a walk to Ian Kinsler. After a mound visit, former Twins outfielder Alex Presley poked his third hit of the day — a ground-rule double into the stands in foul territory in left — on the next pitch to give the Tigers their first run of the day, and chase Gibson to the showers. “Physically, I felt like I was trying to find it the whole time really,” Gibson said. “Just in the pen. Something in like the third inning talking to Castro just didn’t feel too good either. He did a great job of getting me through that one and calling the right pitch at the right time. They took some swings and missed some pitches they’d probably normally hit. Thankfully it worked out that way for me, and the defense made some great plays.” To read this post in its entirety, please click over to ZoneCoverage.com here.

I'd move Palka for Garcia in a hot second.

The Detroit Tigers are in town, and it’s fitting because the Minnesota Twins are in a celebrating mood. They’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1987 World Series team — a team which toppled the Tigers to get there — and they also unveiled the eighth statue in Target Field history. https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne/status/888521345608417284 That is, that of manager Tom Kelly, who led the team not only to the ‘87 crown but another in 1991. He’s the winningest manager in Twins history, and helped usher in the era of winning baseball before departing following the 2001 season. A lot of the young players on his last teams were key parts of the next winning culture in Minnesota, such as Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie, Brad Radke, Doug Mientkiewicz and many, many others. https://twitter.com/Brandon_Warne/status/888516259792506881 Here’s TK addressing the media and a large throng of Twins fans outside Gate 34 as his statue was unveiled prior to Friday’s game: Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to read the rest of the article here.

Pinch hitter Eduardo Escobar singled home Joe Mauer in the bottom of the eighth as the Minnesota Twins dodged the oncoming downtown deluge to beat the Yankees 4-2 at Target Field on Monday night. Escobar came off the bench to hit for Kennys Vargas, and delivered the key hit against Yankees left-handed reliever Caleb Smith, who was making his big-league debut in relief of Bryan Mitchell. Vargas was sent back to Triple-A Rochester after the game to make room for Tuesday’s starter, Bartolo Colon. The team will still have to make a 40-man roster move prior to Tuesday’s game. Temperatures were in the 90s during pregame and 88 degrees at first pitch, but that mark dropped nearly 20 degrees late in the game as rains moved in from the north to soak both teams over the final inning. Brandon Kintzler tossed a perfect final inning with a strikeout to lock down his AL-best 26th save — tying him with Tampa Bay’s Alex Colome until the Rays won later on Monday night. Adalberto Mejia was solid in his first start out of the All-Star break, tossing 5.1 innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts, no walks and just five hits allowed. Mejia allowed doubles to Garrett Cooper, Austin Romine and Bradley Zimmer, but was able to avoid serious damage as he threw 76 pitches with 49 going for strikes. It was also Mejia’s first game all season in which he didn’t walk a batter. Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to read the rest of this story here.

It’s sunny and steamy as the Twins prepare to open a three-game set at Target Field against the New York Yankees. The Twins come in 46-45, with losses in four of their last five games including dropping two of three in Houston coming out of the All-Star break. The Yankees come in to open the season series against the Twins with a 47-43 record after splitting a four-game set against the Red Sox at Fenway Park to open the second half. The Yankees figure to be a bit taxed coming into the series, as they crammed 43 innings into three days against the Red Sox. They didn’t announce Bryan Mitchell as Monday’s starter until late Sunday night, and certainly didn’t get into Minneapolis until the early morning hours on Monday. Mitchell, a righty, will tangle with Twins lefty Adalberto Mejia in the series opener. More on that in a bit. Here’s how the Twins will line up against the Yankees: Here's how the Yankees will counter: Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com to see the rest of this story here.

However, thank you for reading and commenting!

Trades that focus on positions rather than upside are ill-advised, IMO.

We’re now past the All-Star Game and headed full steam toward the trade deadline on July 31. For the Minnesota Twins, a lot of things can happen between now and then, with games against Houston, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers coming up which may help tip the scales one way or the other toward whether the team will buy, sell or do something in the middle. Part of the fun of this time of year is reading columns from Jon Heyman or Jim Bowden about which trades make sense. So I’ve cooked up four trades I’d make if I were in charge of the Twins. I’ve chatted with fans of the teams involved in the trades below -- all people whose intellect I trust -- and they’ve advised me I was at least on the right track in terms of asking prices on each of these trades. Keep this in mind -- and if you tweet me to the contrary, I will hunt you down -- I am making each of these trades in isolation. You could argue that all four trades could be made, you could make any two of them, or any combination of them. I’m just taking them one-by-one, and it’s for this reason: the odds of even one of these trades happening is virtually zero. Why compound that by saying any combination of these trades would happen? So don’t come at me on Twitter saying it doesn’t make sense to trade Ervin Santana while moving a bunch of prospects to get another starter. I get where you’re coming from. I wouldn’t rule out that it still could happen, but I’m not definitely saying it will or even should happen. This is just a fun exercise as we head into the dog days of summer. RHP Fernando Romero, OF Alex Kirilloff, IF Nick Gordon and IF Travis Blankenhorn to the Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Marcus Stroman and LHP Francisco Liriano (or RHP Marco Estrada) Why the Twins do the trade: Stroman is basically Jose Berrios plus grounders, has almost 500 solid big-league innings under his belt and is under team control through 2020. With this trade, you can fling open your contention window next year, while still spending a bit of money in the offseason while Stroman, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler and friends are still cheap. Stroman has the heart of a lion, and is on the upswing. He also just turned 26 in May. Bringing back one of Toronto’s overpriced starters who has free agency impending works two-fold, as it can help lessen the prospect burden if the Twins don’t have quite as much as Toronto wants, and it can also help Minnesota fill the back of its rotation for the rest of the year. Don’t tell me Liriano out of the bullpen wouldn’t intrigue you, either. It’s a lot to trade, but if you want to start the contention clock next year, this is a good way to do it. Keep in mind -- these are all Terry Ryan prospects. Maybe Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have favorites, but it still isn’t guys that they’re as attached to as this last draft class, for instance. Why the Blue Jays do the trade: They’re in a weird spot with young pitching and old hitters. A retool for the Blue Jays makes sense in that they will probably move guys like Josh Donaldson (for a ton), Jose Bautista (for a so-so return) and Troy Tulowitzki (for whatever they can get). That’s a good start to a retool, but moving cost-controlled pitching in this day and age will jump start any sort of rebirth in an organization. By getting the Twins’ Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 7 prospects according to MLB.com, they’re doing just that. The Twins can’t really offer any more -- and you can swap out Stephen Gonsalves for Romero if you’re the Jays and you wish -- but they also get something they don’t really have in their system: a pitcher who can be a bona fide ace. I don’t necessarily think the Jays will move Aaron Sanchez or Stroman, but it might be the right time to consider it. With how close Romero and Gordon are to the big leagues, it wouldn’t be a huge step back in the medium term for Mark Shapiro. To see the other three trades, click through to ZoneCoverage.com here:

Hey guys. I’m writing you all from vacation in beautiful Rapid City, S.D. We’re on our way to see Mount Rushmore in the morning, but before that, here’s the mailbag column I promised you all almost a week ago. The homestand got kind of busy, and I ended up writing a James Rowson/Byron Buxton column I wasn’t previously planning on. Also, my baby turns eight weeks old this Tuesday, and so we’re spending my paternity leave and some of my wife’s maternity leave on the road because we never take vacations. I mean seriously, look at this face: So anyway, here goes nothing: I think it’s too soon to say. I think it’ll probably take 2-to-3 season to know for sure, but I do know based on my conversations with guys on the big club that they’re not throwing away old ways of doing things, but are also emphasizing analytics quite a bit — and Jeff Pickler is at the forefront of those operations. I do think though that they’re taking the slow and steady approach to this thing. They haven’t really turned over the 40-man roster that much — outside of mostly a bunch of inherited relievers — and didn’t do a ton in the offseason, either. I think bringing on two new catchers with good defensive skills was a way to evaluate existing players this season with their own eyes. That is to say, not holding what guys like Kyle Gibson did with different guys behind the plate and with whatever changes this new staff has implemented not yet taking shape yet. In other words, it’s an evaluation year for basically everyone in the organization, and they’ll begin parting it out more in the offseason. I think it’s a smart way to do business. https://twitter.com/MrKurimski/status/881948553517690880 You can target some cheaper rental relievers, but otherwise there isn’t much that can be done unless it’s taking on a lot of money or years in a contract that a team doesn’t want. That doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Twins right now. I think Pat Neshek makes a lot of sense if the Phillies aren’t asking for too much, but otherwise, I just stay the course. I’ve seen people clamoring for Brad Hand on the message boards and that makes no sense at all to me. A.J. Preller is going to straight up fleece someone in that deal, and it’s one reliever. Billy Wagner in his prime isn’t going to alter the course of what the Twins are going to do the rest of the year enough to merit this kind of trade, let alone Hand, who was not on the radar at all a year ago. The smartest bullpens in today’s game are the ones who find Brad Hands, not trades for them. Look at the Red Sox with Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg. They paid quite a bit in trade equity for those two guys, and have gotten a combined 2.2 innings from the duo. I’ve seen people on the boards and on Twitter who would be OK with moving names like Stephen Gonsalves plus more for Hand. That’s absolutely preposterous. Please click through to read the rest of this story on ZoneCoverage.com here.

Hey guys, I've been filming video podcasts with a couple Twins players over the last few weeks, and thought this might be a good spot to post them: Catching up with the Catcher - Ep. 1 Catching up with the Catcher - Ep. 2 Hanging With Mr. Hughes - Ep. 1

Oh, shoot. I see you said video. We didn't do a video.

Try this link: http://zonecoverage.com/2017/twins/mws-talking-byron-buxtons-hitting-approach-with-twins-hitting-coach-james-rowson/

I think, and this is just me guessing, it's that hitting it hard on the ground is preferred to, say, hitting popups. Buxton has the second-highest popup rate among 165 qualified big-league hitters at 21.1 percent (Odor, 21.2 percent). Basically, the goal is honing in on the best launch angle, which isn't necessarily on the ground, but certainly not straight up.

A six-spot in the third inning gave the Minnesota Twins all the offense they needed -- or would get -- while Jose Berrios and three relievers combined to hold the Baltimore Orioles offense at bay in a 6-4 win at Target Field on a balmy Thursday night. A poorly-conceived throw from Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini with one out in the third torpedoed much of the value he provided with the bat on a night where he hit a pair of doubles and scored a pair of runs. His throw extended the inning, but also meant that all six runs allowed by Orioles starter Dylan Bundy were earned, pushing his ERA up to 4.33 by the time he hit the showers. Just over a month ago, Bundy’s ERA resided under 3.00. In fact, after facing the Twins and holding them to just two earned runs over seven innings on May 23, Bundy’s ERA checked in at 2.92. In three of Bundy’s last four starts, he’s allowed at least five earned runs as he appears to be hitting a bit of a wall as the midseason break creeps up. MASN Sports’ Roch Kubatko told Zone Coverage prior to Thursday’s game that Bundy won’t throw at all during the break, and will slot in the back of the O’s rotation to give him some added rest, considering he threw just over 100 innings last season. Berrios was merely adequate for the Twins on the night, as he completed the bare minimum tasks to be awarded a quality start. He didn’t get a ton of help from his friends, as Miguel Sano clanged an easy throw at first base from third baseman Eduardo Escobar, and that run came around to score when Mark Trumbo bashed a 3-0 pitch from Berrios onto the berm just over the fence in center. “I give Jose a lot of credit,” said manager Paul Molitor. “We talk about maturing at this level. We all saw how he struggled with his curveball command in particular compared to what we have seen. But he fought through it. We had a misplay and a 3-0 homer, and we dug a bit of a hole.” Please click through to Zone Coverage here to see the rest of this story.

Rowson is very good at his job.

Some comments made by Twins center fielder Byron Buxton during the road trip to Fenway Park last week sent the blogosphere/Twittersphere into a tizzy. Buxton, who has hit just .209/.283/.303 this season coming into Thursday night’s game against the Orioles, told Jake Depue of 1500ESPN that he had scorned the leg kick he used to start the season in order to put the ball in play more — including more balls hit on the ground. “[The goal is] putting the ball in play more,” Buxton told Depue. “Putting it on the ground more to get it out of the air. With the leg kick I was more fly ball oriented. It didn’t give me a chance to get on base. Now putting it on the ground I at least have the chance of beating it out or them rushing the throw and making an error.” It’s not hard to read what Buxton said and be immediately discouraged. There’s a reason why the catchphrase among hitters is “Elevate and celebrate.” It’s not exactly earth-shattering science, either; hit the ball on the ground, and you limit yourself to singles and lots of outs. Hit it in the air, and you’re open to not only singles, but extra-base hits of all shapes and sizes. So to hear what Buxton said and not immediately think that he was moving away from his strength and ceiling for the false security of the “safety” of his speed is totally understandable. But according to hitting coach James Rowson, the fears are also unfounded. Make no mistake about it: the Twins are in no way trying to get Buxton to be a slap-happy, beat-it-into-the-ground-and-beat-the-throw kind of hitter. “Absolutely not,” Rowson said of the seemingly prevalent thought that the Twins wanted Buxton to hit the ball into the ground and use his speed as his primary offensive weapon. “Absolutely not. Here’s the deal: I clearly do not want Byron Buxton to hit the ball on the ground and run. (laughs) That is not in the plan. Without a doubt, he’s has a chance to be a dynamic player in this league for years to come and he has the ability to drive the baseball.” Rowson added that he was encouraged by Buxton’s progress even as recently as Thursday night, as the youngster absolutely peppered some balls on the way to a 2-for-4 night — his second multi-hit game in a row and third over his last six games. “Just last night he hit three balls over 100 mph, which shows you that he’s hitting baseballs hard in the last few days,” Rowson said. “It’s starting to come along. No, the goal is not to hit balls on the ground. The goal is going to be to use the whole field and hit balls hard.” Please click through to read the rest of this article here on ZoneCoverage.com.

It’s steamy and for the most part sunny as the Minnesota Twins prepare to open a four-game series — their final one of the first half — against the visiting Baltimore Orioles. A pair of good righties will tangle in this one, as Jose Berrios takes the ball for the Twins and Dylan Bundy counters for the Orioles. Felix Jorge was in the clubhouse chatting with teammates and learning about his new home stadium — since his MLB debut was in Kansas City — and manager Paul Molitor confirmed that he would start on Friday. “He’s pitching tomorrow,” Molitor said. “We will have to make a roster move to get him on tomorrow.” “We told him when he left, you never know when your chance might come, and sure enough it’s six days,” Molitor added. Molitor also said that Hector Santiago had his MRI, and everything came back fairly clean. “There was some wear and tear, and there’s some inflammation,” he said. “We think it’s probably best to take the ball out of his hand here until after the break, and then see where we’re at and start kinda building back up.” Craig Breslow also said his 30-pitch bullpen went well, and he’s headed to Rochester over the weekend to pitch on Sunday. He’ll throw just before the All-Star break down there, and then be reevaluated to see what’s next. Chris Gimenez caught his bullpen, and had rave reviews. “His stuff looked really good,” Gimenez said following batting practice. Here’s how the Twins will line up in this one: Please click through to ZoneCoverage.com here for the full story.

Baseball is a game of inches. Of what-ifs. Of should haves, would haves and could haves. This is rarely more evident than in a 2-1 Twins loss Wednesday night at Target Field, when the go-ahead run scored on a steal of home -- as part of a double steal -- and a potential home run ball just missed going out by perhaps less than a foot. Ervin Santana was brilliant for the Twins, as he tossed his fourth complete game of the season in a losing effort. He threw 117 pitches (80 strikes), and got his season ERA to 2.99 -- back under 3.00, where it has resided before every start this season, except for this one (3.07 coming into Wednesday). Santana now has more complete games than the other 29 teams in baseball. It’s true; no other entire team has more than three, while Santana accounts for all four that Twins hurlers have posted this year. “Those are the toughest games for a manager,” said Paul Molitor of the complete-game loss for Santana. “You see some things get ugly at times, and you get maybe blown out of the water. But you get an effort like that; it’s hard to squander those away. Those are hard to come by.” Throwing 80 strikes is also a rarity; just two other pitchers have done so this year, as Max Scherzer completed the feat on May 26 against the Padres while Chris Sale did so against the Blue Jays on April 20. In fact, prior to Scherzer doing it, Sale had the previous three times it had been done. Please click through to read the rest of this story here at ZoneCoverage.com.