The deadline just passed over an hour ago, and man sources have now confirmed no additional deals have been made by the Twins.  The AL Central was extremely active today, as all thee contenders got a piece for the stretch run and the Indians traded Victor Martinez to the Red Sox for a pair or talented young pitchers.

The Tigers got lefty Jarrod Washburn this morning, who will provide solid inning-eating for their rotation.

The Twins then jumped in and got Orlando Cabrera, a moderate upgrade in the middle infield who hits like Brendan Harris, but fields more like Nick Punto.  Cabrera isn't a huge upgrade, but combined with a resurgent Mark Grudzielanik could add a win or two to the Twins' final total.

Then, at the last minute, and seemingly without warning, the White Sox made good on a season of innuendos and finally grabbing Jake Peavy from the Padres for a large package of prospects.  Peavy might not affect the division race heavily this season, he's on the DL with ankle problems for as much as another month, but he's signed through 2012 with a club option for 2013.  Peavy/Buerhle will be a tough 1-2 for the Twins to face for years to come.

Thoughts?  With all three teams within 2.5 games of the division crown, who's the new favorite in the Central?

1:15pm CDT, updates by AdamOnFirst

A little more on Ladendorf:

Here at TwinkieTown, we voted Ladendof the #30 prospect for the Twins before this season.  Seth Stohs did not list Ladendorf in the Twins top 40 prospects.  This was before Ladendorf lit up Rookie ball this year, but remember, Ladendorf is 21 this year with two years of college ball under his belt, so lighting up rookie ball in his second time through isn't so impressive.  Ladendorf's main calling card is his 16 HR's and 65 (!) SB's his final season at Howard college.  He has been very good stealing bases professionally, he's 15 for 17 while stealing as a Twin farmhand.

This is Seth Stoh's take on Ladendorf before the 2009 season, taken from his 2009 Minnesota twins Prospect Handbook (you can still go buy this for only a couple bucks):

The Twins 2nd round pick in 2008 had a very disappointing professional debut with the GCL Twins. He hit just .204/.308/.293 with eight doubles and a homer. However, when you see his 2008 college numbers, and the tools he has, you still see a guy with a lot of potential.
At Howard College this year, he hit 16 home runs and stole a nation-leading 65 bases. He had signed a scholarship to play baseball at Oklahoma State but instead signed with the Twins. Once he adjusts to the pro game, he could develop quickly.

My personal take on Ladendorf is he isn't a major price to pay, but we're already short on middle infield prospects, and he MIGHT have a lot of upside.  I wouldn't put much stock in any professional success until he hits in low and high A-ball though.

12:55pm CDT, updated by Jesse:

My initial take on getting O-Cab is quite simple:  it's going to be hard for him to be much worse than what we've already had playing in the middle infield.  Do I think it'll be a shame to lose plate appearances for Brendan Harris?  Yes.  Is he the best option on the market?  No.  But that's the only negative spin on this deal.  Oakland is sending Minnesota some cash, the Twins won't feel like they have to offer Cabrera arbitration for the pair of draft picks thanks to some genius clause in his contract (note from AdamOnFirst: Cabrera's contract forbids his team from offering him arbitration, so that team cannot receive any draft picks for him.) , and he really hasn't been worse than the guys we've been running out there on a nightly basis.

Only Cabrera has been hitting lately, and hell, maybe he stays hot the rest of the season.  He also has a bit of playoff experience, for whatever you think that's worth.

Tyler Ladendorf is a 21-year old shortstop just getting his first taste of post-rookie league professional ball.  He was Minnesota's second round draft pick in 2008, and in his first season hit .204/.308/.293 with the Gulf Coast Twins.  This year he started in Elizabethton, the Twins' other rookie league, and in 61 at-bats impressed with a triple slash of .410/.500/.721.  Since his promotion to Beloit the numbers have dropped back to earth, and he's hit just .222/.288/.241 in his first 54 at-bats.  But it's early.

Here's what the scouting report said on Ladendorf when we drafted him last June:

Height:  5'11"    Weight:  190 lbs
Bats/Throws:  Right/Right

From MLB.com's Draft Central scouting report:

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Just broken by Tim Brown of Yahoo sports and confirmed by LaVelle E Neil and Kelly Theiser, the Twins have acquired Orlando Cabrera from the Athletics for Low-A shortstop Tyler Ladendorf.

LEN III also reports the Twins are self reportedly, "wheeling and dealing."

More updates here soon...

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Could this man save the US economy?

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Adam Seidel, AP
Washington - Joe Mauer, catcher for the Minnesota Twins, was recently estimated to be valued over 900 billion dollars by the congressional budget office.  This estimate was reached by comparing Joe Mauer's economic value to the recently passed economic stimulus package, which cost almost 800 billion dollars.  According to President Obama, this package would create or save approximately 600,000 jobs.  The CBO estimated that Joe Mauer is responsible for the creation of about 125,000 jobs annually, causing a permanent increase in employment by about 720,000 jobs.

Because of this, the CBO has passed unusual legislative recommendations along to congress and the Obama administration.

CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf said on Monday, "if the Obama administration wishes to consider a second stimulus package, they should seriously consider eschewing all public spending programs and infrastructure improvements, and really focus on America's greatest asset, Joe Mauer."  The CBO has estimated that the US government could clone Joe Mauer at a cost of about 20 billion per Joe after an up front investment of about 80 billion dollars over two years.

Republican House Minority leader John Boener responded immediately to the findings.  "While the Republican party generally opposes genetic experimentation and all forms of human cloning, based on the evidence here, we would have to fully support such a plan.  As a party standing for family values and wholesome morals, we could not find a more admirable American than Joe Mauer.  We believe anyone standing against adding additional Joe Mauer's into the economy to be un-American."

Continue reading this post »

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

5 months ago: Minnesota Twins' Kevin Slowey pitches against the Houston Astros in the first inning of an interleague baseball game Friday, June 19, 2009, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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The Twins were finally able to shake the monkey off their backs tonight, breaking over .500 for the first time since May 14.  Since then, the Twins won a game to get to .500 mark, but then lost the next game 4 times, losing to the Pirates, the Cubs, the Mariners, and the Red Sox.  Perhaps fittingly, the Twins victory over the Astros that did the job last night was about as far off script as we could guess.

If before last night's game you were told Kevin Slowey would walk 4 and Roy Oswalt would throw a perfect game, you would not have foreseen a Twins win.  But Slowey was tough, working his way through 6 innings surrendering only 3 hits and one lone run while recording six strikeouts.  Slowey was able to wriggle out of jams for most of the evening thanks to frequent help from the Twins' defense.  Mauer caught a leadoff walk stealing in the first, Punto and Harris turned a double play to end the 4th, and Mauer threw out another baserunner to end the 5th.  Slowey was quick to close the door in innings too, retiring his first two-out hitter with a strikeout in each of the first three innings.

We found out in the 6th that Slowey was battling side pain the whole game.  He was visited during that inning by Twins coaches, but elected to stay in the game and finish the frame.  Team quotes after the game don't indicate any likelihood of a DL stay, but we'll have to watch for Slowey's name as more news comes out over the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, the Twins offense was scraping up enough to keep just ahead of the Astros.  Justin Morneau was able to deliver a sacrifice fly in the first to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead, and Nick Punto was able to put the Twins back on top 2-1 in the 5th when he perfectly executed a squeeze bunt with Delmon Young charging home.  That's the second time in a week Punto has scored a runner from third with the bunt as he did the same on Sunday in Chicago.  Punto isn't the first guy I would have expected to be doing this for the Twins as he's had trouble executing bunts over the years, despite his "little things right" reputation.  Anything the bottom of the order can do to help put up runs will go a long way for the Twins, and might help them win a few cloe ones when the team's best hitters are having a slow day.

In the sixth, Oswalt hung a slow 0-2 curveball over the plate to Michael Cuddyer, who bounced it down the line to plate Morneau, bringing the score to 3-1 for the Twins, but Oswalt was able to escape further damage when Delmon Young ground into a double play with the bases loaded.  Delmon Young struck back later in the 8th when his hard liner right at left fielder Jason Michaels was lost in a light bank and went to the wall for a 2-run double.

The Twins bullpen was effective enough to get the last nine outs for Kevin Slowey without exploding.  The only damage came when Jose Mijares surrendred a two-out solo bomb to left to Jeff Keppinger in the 8th, but Joe Nathan was quickly brought into the one-run game to shut the door, and he quickly ended the inning on three pitches, striking out Miguel Tejada on a high fastball.  A 1-2-3 ninth gave the Nathan his 16th save and the Twins their 35th win.

The win gave the Twins their 8th win in 10 tries this year against an NL opponent and surely left them licking their chops at the prospect of over a week more of interleauge games.

Time: 9:10 PM

Broadcasts: FSN, Twins Radio Network

Know Thine Enemy: Lookout Landing

This is the third matchup of these two young talents this year.  Felix one the first one, the Twins' home opener with 8 dominating one run innings.  Liriano hasn't pitched that well against the Mariners in either contest (or much all year), giving up 9 ER in 12 IP against Seattle so far this year, but was able to pick up the win over Kindg Felix back on May 9 when the Twins lit Felix up for 6 runs in 4 innings.  Both M&M boys went deep against Felix in that game.

The Twins have gotten the best of 26-28 Seattle so far this year, holding a 4-3 advantage on the season.  All those games, though, were in the Metrodome, and the Twins have notoriously struggled this season on the road with a 6-16 record outside the Dome.

King Felix has been notably worse in pitcher-friendly Safeco than on the road this season, with an ERA almost a full 2 runs higher at home.  It could very easily be simple statistical noise, but we'll see if the Twins can jump on his again and continue his home struggles.

As for Liriano?  Well, same old thing.  Can he control his fastball?  When he can he shows flashes of brilliance where he's shutdown effective, if not totally untouchable, but he has failed to do so most of the year.  There is still plenty of time for Liriano to figure it out, but for the Twins in 2009 we'd like to see it start to happen soon.

For a really great closer look at some finer points of the series, Jesse did a really awesome write-up on some things to look for over the weekend, it's just below.

GO TWINS!

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

6 months ago: Minnesota Twins' Michael Cuddyer hits a broken bat triple to complete hitting for the cycle against the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 22, 2009 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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As I said in the game thread, this Twins Lineup was top heavy.  WIth Jason Kubel being scratched pregame with a swollen knee, Michael Cuddyer was asked to step up into the cleanup spot.  After him was a paltry collection of .700 OPS and .500 OPS hitters.

But the top of the lineup delivered, with hitters 1-4 delivering 10 RBI between them.

Oh, and right, maybe you heard, Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle.

We as bloggers like to complain when "traditional" media derides us for whatever, but there are times when skill and training help.  And we are blessed to have a man capable of such covering in La Velle E Niel III

Majesty

No time to talk today, but the first series with interleague rival Milwaukee starts tongiht.  The Twins put that masive 20 spot up on the White Sox last night after shifting the lineup order up, but even after that, Gardenhire said this:

Manager Ron Gardenhire said he'll "try it again [tonight] and see what happens," but he prefers Mauer batting third.

"I would really like to have a guy [in the two-spot] that handles the bat -- a guy that can bunt, a guy that can run, all those things," Gardenhire said. "That's the way it's supposed to be in the lineup.

I always thought "hitting well" was preferable to "handling the bat," but hey, I'm not a major league manager.

Looks like Gardenhire's biting the bullet and going with Mauer, who apparently can't "handle the bat well," or whatever, second again.

This is a very top heavy lineup for the Twins though.  You've got Span setting the table with his high OBP, the Mauer and Morneau both with OPS's over 1.000, then Cuddyer with an OPS right at .900, then Jrede and Harris right about .700 each, then Gomez, TOlbert, and Punto around .500.  The top needs to be good everyday to score much like this.

I ate a Bratwurst today, was that an unintentional act of cheering for the Brewers?  Oh God...

GO TWINS!

First Pitch:  1:05 CDT

TV:  FS-N

Radio:  Twins Radio Network 1500

A week ago, the Twins were just polishing off a sweep of the Detroit Tigers.  The sweep was putting the Twins in a three way tie atop the Central division.  The Twins were tied with two team expected to finish last as the season started, so the Twins chances of outlasting their competition seemed. good.

Since then, little has gone right for the Twins.  Now sitting 5.5 games back of Detroit in the division, the Twins are looking to steal the final game against the White Sox and dodge their second straight road series sweep and a total state of free fall.

Ok, as a Twins fan, I can deal with these shenanigans against the Yankees.  I'm used to it against those guys, whatever it is, they just kill us.

But I will NOT tolerate losing to the White Sox like this.  There is nothing I love more as a Twins fan than beating these guys.  I have dreams about AJ Pierzynski punched in the face, I don't need my team taking it on the chops like this.

The good news for the Twins:  I never reevaluate my preseason opinions of teams until around June 1st, which with the late start to the season this year is really around June 7th.  Even then, I'll likely only moderately change my opinion on a surprise team's chances.  From that perspective, I do not have faith in the Tigers or Royals ability to hold on all year and record a division championship.  The Twins sit tied with the White Sox (and well above the dreadful Indians), so they're still well poised to win the division

Pitching Matchup

After Yankee's series where we surprisingly managed to get several very quality starting pitching performances and still lost, the wheels have started to wobble on the rotation's wagon.  Yet to put together a solid couple trips through the order, Minnesota's young starters, expected to be the backbone of the team, have been probably the most troubling aspect of the young season.  Blackburn has been on the dependable side, his only truly bad start when he gave up 6 ER in under 4 IP against Detroit on May 5.  The simple formula for Blackburn will be even more accentuated in US Cellular Field.  If he isn't getting grounders, the White Sox will find a way to get some fly balls out of the Cell's compact outfield.

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

7 months ago: New York Yankees' Melky Cabrera, left, celebrates with teammates after driving in the game winning run in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins Friday, May 15, 2009, in New York. The Yankees won the game 5-4. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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The Twins fought, scraped and clawed their way through 8 at Yankee stadium.  Francisco Liriano walked 6 Yankees in 6 innings yet somehow managed to only allow a single run.  Jesse Crain and Jose Mijares got themselves in a whole heap of trouble but managed to avoid a complete implosion.  The offense squandered several decent opportunities, but three home runs from the M&M boys and the Yankee's new bread box of a stadium got enough on the board.

Then the strangest of things happened.  The Twins got the game to Joe Nathan, and they did not win.  Nathan struggled with control of his own, and pitching on his fourth straight day, would finally allow a bases loaded, two out bloop single to Melky Cabrera to lose it for the Twins, 5-4.  I literally briefly popped my shoulder out of place by throwing my jacket across the room.

Disheartening for the Twins to lose on this way.  It was already an oddity for the Twins to be up after all that went the Yankees' way, including a bad hop inside the park home run around Denard Span that almost opened the floodgates for New York.  Even stranger was how the Twins managed to walk 10 hitters while Heath Bell was giving out extremely generous calls off the plate all night (Nathan worked Alex Rodriguez a full 6 inches inside once he realized he was getting the call).

All around, a very strange one with a stinker of an ending that I'd just as soon forget about quickly.  The good news is tomorrow's game is a noon start, so we won't have to wait long.

Note:  Matt Tolbert, hitting second again, was 0-5 and is now hitting .171.  When is Gardenhire going to stop being stubborn and take the easy out away from the middle of his best hitters, all 4 above .300?

Stars of the Game

The M&M boys.  2 dingers for Justin and 1 for Joe.

Duds of the Day

Matt Tolbert.  0-5, had a couple chances to add rund for the Twins, made a poor effort on a ball up the middle in the 9th that I thought should have been an out.

Joe Nathan.  3-run blown save in fourth straight day pitching.  Probably needs a rest.