Minnesota Twins Daily Clips

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Nolasco, Milone to contend for rotation spots. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 1

Logan Darnell trying to get back with the Twins. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2

Twins: Healthy again, Ryan Pressly doesn’t mind darkhorse status. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3

The inside story: How the Twins found Miguel Sano. Star Tribune (Scoggins) p. 4

Thorpe has the look of a pitcher, even as he eases back from elbow surgery. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 8

Sunday Q&A: Bob Costas, broadcaster and host of Rod Carew special. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 10

Ranking the teams: 24 through 19. ESPN (Schoenfield) p. 11

AL Central Notes: Sano, Indians, Gurriel, Tigers. MLB Trade Rumors (Polishuk) p. 11

Central Notes: Brewers, Tigers, Mauer. MLB Trade Rumors (Wilmoth) p. 12

MLB player Byung-Ho Park adjusts to life in Fort Myers. News-Press (Dorsey) p. 12

Minnesota Twins Reach Out to Minority Communities to Increase Fanbase. KTSP (Mazan) p. 14

USA Today not hopeful of Twins’ chances in AL Central. Bring Me the News (Uren) p. 14

Nolasco, Milone to contend for rotation spots

Rhett Bollinger | MLB.com | February 15, 2016 MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins took a major step forward in 2015, improving their win total by 13 games to post a winning record for the first time since 2010, but they have their eyes on a bigger goal this season. Minnesota is aiming to make the postseason for the first time in six years, as it fell just short last year, getting eliminated on the penultimate game of the season in manager Paul Molitor's first season at the helm. But the Twins know starting pitching will be the key again in 2016, as they made improvements last season that helped facilitate a turnaround. Their starters went from posting the worst ERA in the Majors in '14 to the 16th-best in '15, going from a 5.06 ERA to a 4.14 ERA. The back end of the rotation figures to be one of the more intriguing position battles at camp. After Kyle Gibson, Ervin Santana and Phil Hughes, there are two open spots with several strong candidates set to compete to be in the Opening Day rotation. "You look at the rotation, we have depth there," Molitor said. "We can argue how they are going to be slotted in terms of not only who the five will be, but how they will go one through five. But we have some competition, as well as depth." The Twins lack a frontline starter, but they have rotation depth behind Gibson, Santana and Hughes, including Tommy Milone, Ricky Nolasco, Tyler Duffey, Trevor May and Jose Berrios. As veterans, Milone and Nolasco have a leg up, but Duffey was impressive down the stretch, May made strides as a starter before moving into the bullpen in July, and Berrios is their top pitching prospect. Milone has a solid case to be in the rotation, as he's coming off a strong year, posting a 3.92 ERA in 24 outings. He also doesn't project well as a potential bullpen option as a soft-tossing left-hander. Nolasco remains the biggest wild card, considering his struggles over the past two seasons. But he's due $25 million over the next two seasons and that

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could come into play. There remains a chance he starts out the year as a long reliever, but the Twins are hoping Nolasco bounces back and has a strong showing in spring to reclaim a spot in the rotation. Duffey is the strongest challenger to Milone and Nolasco, as he was a revelation late in the 2015 season, posting a 3.10 ERA in 10 starts down the stretch. May also has a chance, but given his success in the bullpen in the second half of '15, the Twins could opt to keep him as a reliever. Berrios, ranked No. 19 overall in MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, will get a chance to compete. But he is likely ticketed for Triple-A Rochester. What happens with the rotation battle will trickle into the 'pen, with May and Nolasco both candidates to help round out a relief unit that should see some new faces this season. "The bullpen has a chance to potentially take on a little bit different look," Molitor said. "I think that without counting on it, I think this might be a year you'll see some of our younger talent as far as bullpen arms surface at some point. But just like we talked about Buxton last year, you can't plan that, you just have to go with what you have and try to make it work." Logan Darnell trying to get back with the Twins

Phil Miller | Star Tribune | February 16, 2016 Nobody would have blamed Logan Darnell if he had decided to skip TwinsFest last month. Technically, he isn’t even a member of the major league team anymore. But there the Tennessee lefthander was, signing autographs, greeting fans and catching up with teammates. Darnell even flew cross-country early the morning of Jan. 30 to get to Minnesota for the festival, after attending Michael Tonkin’s wedding in California on Jan. 29. Quite an effort on behalf of a team that was willing to let him walk away only a week earlier. “It’s just business. They have to do what they think they need to,” Darnell shrugged. “I understand it.” That didn’t make the phone call from General Manager Terry Ryan any easier. Darnell had just gotten home from winter ball in Venezuela on Jan. 22 when Ryan got in touch to deliver some bad news: The Twins had claimed another lefthanded pitcher, Michael Strong, off waivers from Miami. Since they already were at the 40-man roster limit, they had to cut somebody — “designate for assignment,” in the neutral-sounding baseball terminology — and Darnell was the unlucky designee. “It kind of came out of left field,” Darnell said, considering his strong 2015 season at Class AAA Rochester. “Of course I’m disappointed. You want to be confident, to feel like you’re getting ready to do good things for the team. I think I’m pitching really well, and when they take you off [the roster], it’s a blow.” Yet when Darnell thought about it, he realized that little had changed. He had the right to walk away and become a free agent, but with less than a month before training camp, he knew finding a major league contract somewhere else was unlikely, especially when he cleared waivers without any team claiming him. If he was only going to get a minor league contract and an invitation to spring training, it made sense to choose a team that has bullpen job available this spring, especially for lefthanders. A team like … well, the Twins. Ryan has declined to re-sign lefthanders Brian Duensing and Neal Cotts this winter, so the opportunity is there for someone to have a breakthrough in camp. If someone does, it won’t matter whether they are on the 40-man roster or not. As Molitor said last month, if a pitcher is getting outs reliably, “it’s not hard to find a spot.” And there was one other factor, too. “I really like the Twins,” said Darnell, who has been in the organization since being drafted in the sixth round out of Kentucky in 2010. “It’s all I’ve known, and I like how they treat you here. … Things are not always better on the other side of the hill.” So Darnell signed a minor league contract and will report to camp with his teammates on Sunday, hoping that his 2.78 ERA at Rochester last year, his 66 strikeouts in 77 innings, and his ability to both start (seven times last year, with a 3-0 record and 1.13 ERA) and relieve make him a candidate for a long-relief role. Worst case, he will be a free agent again next fall, when there is more time to find a new contract. But he would rather earn a chance to

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improve on his major league results: four starts and three relief appearances in 2014, and a disappointing 7.13 ERA. He got ready by spending nearly three months in Venezuela — or about a month longer than anticipated. He played for the Bravos de Margarita along with a handful of other Twins minor leaguers like Omar Bencomo, David Hurlbut and Yorman Landa, the latter of whom, coincidentally, had just been added to the Twins’ 40-man roster. Darnell became a mainstay of the Bravos’ rotation and pitched well. He planned to come home in mid-December, but by then the Bravos, who had not made the playoffs in a decade, were in a pennant race and he didn’t want to walk out on his teammates. When they qualified for the postseason, he made the same decision, and made two playoff starts, one of them a seven-inning, one-run victory over Aragua in which the only run was a home run by Eduardo Escobar. Margarita finally was eliminated Jan. 11 — a 1-0 loss started by Hurlbut — and Darnell came home, tired but encouraged about 2016. “I ended up getting 58 innings,” said Darnell, or more than two-thirds as many as he got during the regular season. “I think it was good for me. I was throwing really well, feeling pretty good.” Then came the phone call from Ryan, and an offseason transaction that certainly feels like a demotion. “I’m not going to think about that. Can’t do anything about it anyway,” he said. “I wish I was on the roster. If I pitch well enough, I will be.” Twins: Healthy again, Ryan Pressly doesn’t mind darkhorse status

Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | February 14, 2016 Amid all the offseason talk about the powerful young bullpen arms the Twins are cultivating in their farm system, Ryan Pressly has essentially become the forgotten man. Now fully recovered from a strained lat muscle that ended his season early last July, the fourth-year right-hander is eager to surprise those who would overlook him. “I’ve always been a dark horse,” he said Friday in a phone interview. “That’s kind of been my whole life.” Pressly uses that doubt as fuel even as Twins fans fill social media with daily projections for Nick Burdi, J.T. Chargois, Jake Reed and other fast-rising prospects. “People are going to say what they’re going to say,” Pressly said. “I can only control what I’m going to control. My job is to get people out. That’s what I’m going to do.” Still just 27 and with a combined big-league earned-run average of 2.89 the past two seasons, Pressly reported to Fort Myers on Feb. 6 and threw his second bullpen Friday morning. He packed on 12-15 pounds of muscle this winter after ending last season at 195. Working out up to two hours a day, five days a week, at Velocity Sports Performance in Southlake, Tex., Pressly joined a group of ballplayers under the direction of certified athletic trainer John Simon. This year’s class included outfielders Craig Gentry and Tyler Collins, with Austin Jackson, Ryan Goins and Christian Ponder among Simon’s past clients. With adjustments in his diet and workout routine, the hope is that this time Pressly will be able to maintain his strength throughout the season-long grind. “It’s weird,” Pressly said. “Every offseason I end up putting on 10-12 pounds of muscle, but it kind of deteriorates during the season. I got a blood analysis done to see what I’m deficient in and see if I can maintain.” Along with being advised to eat more red meat, Pressly has adjusted his dosage of Adderall, for which he has a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) from Major League Baseball. Before he was called up from Triple-A Rochester in July 2014, Pressly saw his weight dip to 187 pounds, and no one could figure out why. Subsequent tests isolated the problem.

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“The medication was suppressing my appetite,” Pressly said. “Being on that medication, I stay focused and everything like that, but my goal has always been trying to keep weight on. Now that we’ve switched that up, everything is working out fine now.” Having stranded 85 percent of his 13 inherited runners over the previous two months, things were looking up for Pressly last Independence Day in Kansas City. Throwing 97-98 mph in a weekend series that included sellout crowds and a postseason feel, Pressly had just thrown a scoreless sixth inning when he had to walk off the mound after giving up a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar in the seventh. “You usually see a spike in velocity before you get hurt,” Pressly said, “but I’m not going to go in the dugout and say, ‘Hey, I’m throwing too hard. Shut me down.’ It was just a freak accident. I was just throwing really hard. I was like, ‘Hey, I guess I’m feeling good today.’ I thought it was adrenaline.” Typically in the mid-90s with his fastball, Pressly wasn’t sure if it was the supercharged atmosphere or the generous radar gun at Kauffman Stadium that caused the temporary spike. “It was a postseason atmosphere,” he said. “It was awesome. That was by far the best environment I’ve ever pitched in. That place was really, really loud.” The rest of Pressly’s summer was painfully quiet as he was left to rehab an injury that is notorious for setbacks. The biggest one of those for him came around Aug. 20, when he pushed his flat-ground throwing session out to 120 feet. The following day, he couldn’t even reach 80 feet when he tried to play catch with Twins rehab coordinator Lanning Tucker. The diagnosis was delayed-onset muscle syndrome. “A lot of guys have it,” Pressly said. “You throw and you feel fine, and then the next day it’s like, ‘Whoa, what was that?’ That’s what happened. I was just like, ‘This isn’t working.’ “ Pressly consulted with former Twins bullpen mates Tyler Robertson and Jared Burton, who experienced similar issues with their comebacks from lat injuries. Even though he was making good progress in September, Pressly ran out of time and was forced to watch the Twins fall just short in their first postseason push in five years. “It was just unfortunate,” he said. “Bad timing.” Even though he still has one minor-league option remaining, timing could again be an issue for Pressly this spring. With fellow righty Michael Tonkin out of options and the aforementioned flamethrowers pushing for a bullpen spot along with the likes of Alex Meyer and J.R. Graham, Pressly knows he’ll have to be at his best from the start of camp on Feb 22. “The guys coming up behind us, they’ve got some pretty good arms,” Pressly said. “They’re going to be competing just as hard as us. They want to make a statement just as much as we do, but they’re still young. They’ll definitely get an opportunity next year, if not this year.” For now the window remains open for Pressly, a willing dark horse. The inside story: How the Twins found Miguel Sano

Chip Scoggins | Star Tribune | February 15, 2016 RAIN FELL AT YANKEE STADIUM, prompting a delay that temporarily interrupted Mike Radcliff’s scouting assignment. With time to kill, he retreated to the back of the press box. Radcliff’s primary responsibility was to conduct advance research on the New York Yankees in preparation for a 2009 playoff series against the Twins. A different matter weighed heavily on him that night. Radcliff exchanged a flurry of calls with his bosses — high-ranking Twins executives — and the agent for highly coveted Dominican prospect Miguel Sano throughout the evening. The team’s 19-month pursuit of Sano had come down to money. Big money. And the moment to make a decision had arrived.

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Radcliff talked first to General Manager Bill Smith, who put CEO Jim Pohlad on the phone. Sano’s signing bonus would cost north of $3 million. The Twins had never invested that kind of outlay on an international prospect. Four other teams, including the Yankees, were believed to be in the final group interested in signing the 16-year-old slugger. Complicating matters was a protracted Major League Baseball investigation into Sano’s background that included bone scans and DNA testing. The investigation — standard practice for Latin players — had verified Sano’s identity and determined that he likely was either 16 or 17 years old, but MLB couldn’t say definitively that he wasn’t older. That made teams uneasy. The Twins were smitten, though. Their top scouts fell in love the first time they laid eyes on this power-hitting shortstop who reminded them of the great Miguel Cabrera. Smith and Radcliff were unwavering in their sales pitch to Pohlad, who didn’t need much convincing. “There’s nothing more seductive than hearing about a great prospect,” Pohlad said. “These guys were just totally all in on this one.” In their phone conversation that September night, Pohlad gave Radcliff the green light to negotiate a $3.15 million signing bonus, a then-record payout to a Latin American position player not from Cuba. A few days later, Sano feasted on salmon and broccoli at Neptuno’s restaurant in Boca Chica. Surrounded by his parents, family members and a few reporters, Sano signed his first professional baseball contract. The Twins’ contingent of scouts at the celebration included Fred Guerrero, the organization’s Latin American supervisor who gained the trust of Sano and his family at a time of vulnerability and uncertainty. “He was very excited, he was crying,” Guerrero said. “I was probably happier than him.” The organization’s diligence and financial commitment have paid dividends. Sano injected power into the Twins lineup last season, hitting 18 home runs with 52 RBI in 80 games. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting primarily as a designated hitter. He is transitioning to right field this season and will bat in the middle of the lineup. Sano’s signing in 2009 ended a long recruitment marked by wild rumors and mistrust of a Latin baseball system that breeds corruption and lies. The Twins patiently waded through the morass, not knowing if they could compete with other suitors financially, yet determined not to lose out on one of the best Dominican prospects in years. Twins officials believe their victory in the Sano sweepstakes brought a seismic shift in the perception of their organization inside the Dominican’s fertile land of baseball talent. “A new player is in town that’s willing to spend on the best guys,” Radcliff said. AN AREA SCOUT IN SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS phoned Fred Guerrero in early February 2008. The man told Guerrero that he needed to make an hour drive to see a 6-2, 185-pound phenom named Miguel Angel Sano. The kid was a few months shy of his 15th birthday. Guerrero was 29 at the time, still fairly young in the scouting world. Baseball scouting was a family business, five sons following in the footsteps of their father, Epy Guerrero, a legendary Dominican scout who is credited with helping open the pipeline of talent to MLB that includes the likes of David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Robinson Cano. Fred Guerrero learned the trade from his dad, including how to identify young talent. Sano was an easy case. The young scout marveled at Sano’s raw power and maturity at the plate the first time he watched him take batting practice. “That’s when I basically first fall in love with him,” Guerrero said. Guerrero called his boss, Radcliff, who sent special assistant to the GM Joe McIlvaine to evaluate Sano at the Twins academy in the Dominican. McIlvaine had scouted Miguel Cabrera in Venezuela years earlier. He had flashbacks the first time he watched Sano swing a bat.

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McIlvaine asked Guerrero to find his best pitchers in camp to face Sano in a scrimmage. The first pitcher hit 94 miles per hour on the gun. Sano pulled those fastballs foul. “I’m looking at this and scratching my head,” McIlvaine said. “I said to Fred, ‘You’re sure this kid is 15? Fifteen-year-olds usually can’t even touch a 94-mile-per-hour fastball. And this kid is pulling them foul. It seemed surreal.” One thought lingered with McIlvaine. “Wonder what this kid is going to cost?” he said. Those two unknowns — Sano’s age and his potential price tag — created a saga that would endure for months. BASEBALL TALENT HAS BECOME A LUCRATIVE EXPORT of the Dominican Republic. According to MLB, 10.2 percent of Opening Day rosters were made up of Dominican-born players. The allure of baseball riches fosters an insidious culture of deception and corruption in a country of high poverty rates. Prospects are known to lie about their age or fake their identities to pose as 16-year-olds, the age requirement to sign with major league teams. “International and Latin American in particular is still the Wild, Wild West of scouting,” Radcliff said. “There are rules, but they’re not followed all that well.” Young Dominican prospects are discovered and trained by street agents known as buscones. The buscones promote their talent to major league scouts in return for a cut of signing bonuses. Teams nurture relationships with buscones in order to find top players every year in advance of the July 2 signing day. MLB scouts scour the island for prospects, which meant the Twins weren’t the only team salivating over Sano. “That kind of talent is never a secret,” Guerrero said. To make his presence even more pronounced, a camera crew shadowed Sano for a documentary titled “Ballplayer: Pelotero,” which shed an unflattering light on his recruitment. Rumors circulated that Sano’s price tag could reach $5 million, possibly $6 million. Sticker shock scared off some teams. Twins scouts were anxious because they desperately wanted a chance to sign Sano, but they had a sinking feeling that one of baseball’s big spenders ultimately would write a larger check. “You just want to kidnap the kid, put him in your academy, hide him out and sign him,” McIlvaine said. The Twins had been down this road before with Miguel Cabrera. They scouted the future Hall of Famer as a 16-year-old in Venezuela and fell hard for him. The team even arranged for Twins legend Tony Oliva to meet with Cabrera in their recruitment. On July 1, 1999, a Twins contingent checked into a Venezuelan hotel filled with front-office personnel from other teams. The Twins made their final pitch to Cabrera, though the team never submitted a formal offer. The Marlins won the Cabrera sweepstakes with a $1.8 million contract. Twins officials were devastated. Radcliff described general manager Terry Ryan as “mad that day as ever.” Radcliff joked that he’s saving the whole story for “my book.” “I’m not going to throw any particular person under the bus,” he said. “But we weren’t set up to commit the necessary financial resources to get it done.” They were determined to avoid that same fate with Sano a decade later. MONEY WASN'T THE ONLY FACTOR hovering over the situation. Sano’s age became a hang-up in the process.

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Age and identity deception have long been tricks of the trade in Dominican baseball. MLB rules allow teams to sign 16-year-olds, a golden age for international prospects. MLB has enacted stricter policies in recent years to combat corruption, but the system remains a minefield for scouts. Older prospects have been known to alter — or even buy — identification paperwork to create a different profile. The penalty for players caught lying about their age is a one-year suspension. “You get to be 18 in the Dominican or Venezuela, you might as well be 60,” Radcliff said. Scouts recount tales of being duped by prospects. As a young scout in a different organization, McIlvaine signed a Latin player who he thought was 19. McIlvaine later learned the player was 29. “When they tell you one thing, you’re a doubting Thomas because you got burned,” McIlvaine said. “I felt that way about Sano.” Radcliff scouted Sano seven times in person and remembers looking closely at Sano’s physique — even studying the size of his hands — in the dugout and lunch room, hoping to get clues about his age. “He never wavered [that he was 16],” Radcliff said. Radcliff admits he was conflicted on the issue. If Sano were a college player in the United States, his age wouldn’t be an issue. And did it really matter if Sano was 17, 18 or even 19, considering his enormous talent? “That was an ongoing discussion,” Radcliff said. “But if you can’t verify his age or his name or who he is, he’s not going to be able to get a visa.” Sano’s then-agent, Rob Plummer, was adamant that his client was telling the truth. Plummer has created a niche market in the Dominican, a trailblazer in attracting lucrative signing bonuses for 16-year-old prospects. Plummer has traveled to the Dominican more than 110 times since 1996. He said he’s caught two clients lying about their age. “It’s pretty hard to fool me,” he said. Guerrero, the Twins’ point person in the Dominican, also believed Sano and his family. He never made a big deal of Sano’s age. “I focus on his talent,” Guerrero said. “At first, I said, ‘I don’t care if this guy is 18.’ I thought he was special.” SANO REMAINED UNSIGNED as the July 2 signing day passed. A typical investigation takes a few weeks, maybe a month, but MLB’s investigation into Sano stretched much longer, forcing teams and Sano to sit idle. Plummer questioned whether the prolonged timetable was a calculated effort by teams to drive down Sano’s bargaining power. “They kept dragging their feet,” he said. “I must have made 20, 30 calls to Major League Baseball to see what was going on in terms of trying to get this resolved.” “Pelotero” highlights the frustration of Sano’s family and the steps it took to find a resolution. It tracked down birth and school records and agreed to medical tests. Sano underwent a DNA test that proved that his mother indeed had given birth to him. He also had bone scans that narrowed his age between 16 and 17. In one scene in the documentary, Sano’s family secretly videotapes a Pittsburgh Pirates scout named Rene Gayo at their home. The movie paints Gayo as a conspirator with MLB in the dispute over Sano’s age, insinuating that Gayo fueled rumors to scare off competitors and undermine Sano’s leverage in negotiations. Major League Baseball strongly condemned that depiction after the movie’s release. Plummer declined to discuss his interactions with other teams. Whatever the truth is, Twins officials believe the work that Guerrero and Radcliff did in establishing relationships struck a chord with Sano’s camp.

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“In the end, we think that they trusted our organization,” said Smith, the team’s general manager at the time. Plummer asked teams not to submit offers until after the investigation was complete. The Twins complied but they maintained constant contact with Sano’s camp. Radcliff spoke regularly with Plummer, while Guerrero visited with Sano and his family every other week for more than a year. “Miguel went through a lot because his family is so poor,” Guerrero said. “I would sometimes feel sorry for the kid. I knew he was going to have a bright future, but I could only imagine what he’s gone through.” Six years later, Sano and Guerrero remain close, still talking by phone several times a week. “When I was being investigated,” Sano said, “Fred called me all the time saying, ‘You’re all right. I know your age.’ ” THE TWINS EARNED SANO'S TRUST, but money often trumps everything in negotiations. The potential cost was unknown throughout the investigation, though Radcliff said rumors “were way out there.” “So any [dollar figure] in the past is not good enough,” Radcliff said. “It’s going to be higher than that. Everybody knew that.” The Twins had already committed considerable money to sign international players Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco that July, so scouts were uncertain how much was left in the budget. Smith never sensed any hesitation from Radcliff or Guerrero on Sano’s potential, which gave him the assurance in his pitch to Pohlad and team president Dave St. Peter. “Somebody’s got to stick your neck out and say, ‘Yes, we should do this,’ ” Smith said. “We have two guys that we trust [do that].” Smith declined to say how high the Twins were willing to go if a bidding war ensued, but he described their offer as “groundbreaking.” “That was a major moment,” Radcliff said. “In the player acquisition business, we are now a major player.” Pohlad downplayed the suggestion that the moment signified a fundamental shift in organizational philosophy, one that showed the Twins were committed to building a championship roster. “I hope that’s always been the case,” Pohlad said. “Internally, that’s what we believe and we’ll keep doing that.” The Twins have beefed up their operation in the Dominican in recent years by building a new academy and adding more scouts. Guerrero lives in the country and supervises a team of six full-time scouts — three in Venezuela and three in the Dominican. On July 2 of last year, the Twins signed 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Wander Javier to a $4 million contract. Sano still ranks as a professional highlight for Twins officials. Radcliff lists Sano among the best young prospects that he’s scouted in his long career, a group that also includes Alex Rodriguez, Joe Mauer, Yu Darvish and Cabrera. Sano has heard Cabrera comparisons a lot. He finds those comments flattering but said he strives “to be like Miguel Sano.” He wants to create his own identity and legacy in Minnesota. “I feel good here,” he said. “I will be here a long time, the team that gave me an opportunity.” Thorpe has the look of a pitcher, even as he eases back from elbow surgery

Patrick Reusse | Star Tribune | February 14, 2016 FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Twins beat out a dozen teams to sign Lewis Thorpe as a 16-year-old Australian pitching prospect in July 2012. The Twins gave the lefthander a $500,000 signing bonus and had him start his professional career in this country in the Gulf Coast LEague in the summer of 2013.

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Thorpe had 64 strikeouts in 44 innings in the rookie league. He pitched another 36 2/3 innings in the Australian Baseball League that winter (which is summer in Australia). Thorpe was 18 when the Twins sent him to Class A Cedar Rapids for the 2014 season. He was the youngest player in the Midwest League and did OK: a 3-2 record with a 4.65 ERA in 16 starts, and 80 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. A few days after the season ended, Thorpe had elbow pain and was diagnosed with a strained ligament. Thorpe skipped the Australian league. He made a start against Tampa Bay’s high-Class A team in 2015 spring training and that was it. The elbow ligament was torn. He had Tommy John replacement surgery last April 10. He was home in Australia for three weeks over the Christmas holidays. Other than that respite, Thorpe has been in Florida, going through the slow rehabilitation process that pitchers must endure after elbow surgery. On Friday, Thorpe had a throwing session off a mound for the second time since the surgery. Catcher Alex Swim set up in front of the plate, making it a 55-foot session. “The plan is I’ll be ready to throw live batting practice next month, and then I’ll stay here with the extended-spring team,’’ Thorpe said. “If everything goes OK, I’ll be pitching for a minor league club later in the summer.’’ Thorpe’s still only 20 and you watch him throw – even from 55 feet – and he has the look of a pitcher. He’s now more muscular than the listed 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, and as Ron Gardenhire used to tell us, “the ball comes out of his hand.’’ The Twins have signed many players from Australia. Assuming the elbow holds, this kid should be the deal. PLUS THREE FROM PATRICK Australians who could make it to Twins before Lewis Thorpe (in order): *James Beresford, 27, 2B-ss: Entering 10th season in organization. LH hitter, batted .307 at Class AAA. With the beloved Doug Bernier gone, maybe he’ll see big leagues. *Sam Gibbons, 22, RH starter: Had four-start stretch last August at Cedar Rapids with 1.16 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 31 innings. *Logan Wade, 24, utility: Plays everywhere but catcher and switch hits. There’s always hope for a guy like that. ADDITIONAL AUSSIE BASEBALL NOTES Thorpe had a strong interest in what was happening with baseball back in Australia when I talked to him last week. The Aussies were hosting the first of four qualifiers for the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The fourth WBC will be held next March, assuming there's no roadblock in the negotiations between Major League Baseball and the players association for a new labor contract after this season. There are 12 countries qualified by their finish in 2013 for the next WBC: Dominican Republic (champion), Puerto Rico, Japan, Netherlands, Cuba, United States, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, Venezuela, Canada and China. Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Spain were in the 16-team WBC field in 2013. Those countries finished last in their four-team brackets, so all will be going through qualifiers to reclaim a place in the 2017 tournament. There are 12 other countries in the four qualifiers that will send the winner to the 2017 WBC and complete the 16-team field. The first was held in Sydney, Australia in recent days, with the Aussies competing against South Africa, the Phillippines and New Zealand. Australia went 3-0 and won the qualifier with a 12-5 victory over South Africa on Sunday. The Australians actually trailed late in the game, before rallying in the late innings and then putting the game away with a raft of unearned runs. There was a strong Twins' presence on the Australia roster (no surprise):

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Outfielder Trent Oeltjen, a member of the Twins' organization for most of his career, came out of retirement to play in the qualifier. He had three hits (two doubles) and two RBI in the win over South Africa. Luke Hughes, who once looked like a pull hitter with a chance to have a solid career with the Twins, also had a couple of hits and batted .444 in the three games. Catcher Allan de San Miguel, a long-time catcher in the Twins' organization, homered against South Africa. He recently signed a minor league contract with Kansas City. Beresford played shortstop and Wade played third for the Aussies. Both batted .500 during the three games. Aaron Whitefield, an outfielder who played for the Twins in the Gulf Coast rookie league, was used primarily as a pinch-runner during the qualifier. One more local note: Anthony Phillips, the outstanding shortstop for the St. Paul Saints last summer, went 6 for 13 and scored seven runs during the qualifying tournament for South Africa. Sunday Q&A: Bob Costas, broadcaster and host of Rod Carew special

Michael Rand| Star Tribune | February 13, 2016 Bob Costas, 63, has worked in so many capacities in so many different sports that it’s hard to keep track. Among his most recent efforts: He’s the host of an MLB Network Presents special titled “Rod Carew: The Fight of His Life,” featuring an in-depth interview with Carew following his serious heart attack in September. The Carew special will air for the first time at 8 p.m. Tuesday on the MLB Network. In advance, Costas chatted with the Star Tribune’s Michael Rand. Q Rod Carew can be a private person. How were you able to get the access and get him to open up? A I think part of it is the stage of life. He had a nearly fatal heart attack, and that reminds you of your own mortality. And his own life story includes the tragic death of his daughter, Michelle, when she was just 18. I did an interview at that time, 20 years ago, when he was desperately trying to find a bone marrow donor to match Michelle. Rod and I have a relationship that goes back a long time. We’ve spoken about baseball and his family circumstances. … I think he knew he could trust us at MLBN to render the story appropriately. Q You were, I believe, 17 when Carew won his first batting title. Is he one of those players from your early adulthood that stands out above the pack? A Yes, and when I became a broadcaster after college. I even called a game in the 1980s with Tony Kubek in which Rod played, and by then he was with the Angels. He was one of those players who wasn’t just excellent when you look at the statistics, but he was distinctive. The way he held the bat, his stance — multiple stances. Some guys change from year to year or week to week, he changed from at-bat to at-bat. And the way he could almost direct a baseball. … Most of our conversation was about his health circumstances, but we couldn’t not talk about baseball. One thing we talked about was I said, “I’d like to see teams try some of these shifts on you. You’d hit .500.” Q Carew and the Twins parted ways with some acrimony before the 1979 season, but the special has a lot of footage from TwinsFest this year — and it seemed like the embrace from fans was strong. Did you sense that? A When fans look back, they know that not only was Carew excellent, but he conducted himself in the way you’d hope someone would conduct himself as a public figure and a ballplayer. And now on top of it, he’s fighting a health circumstance. So I think bygones have long since been bygones. Q What’s your biggest takeaway from the time you spent with him? A There are two things, maybe three. One, how optimistic he is. He’s optimistic and grateful. Gratitude is a healthy emotion. He feels grateful for the care he’s received, the outpouring not just from friends but from people he’s never met. Another thing is his wife Rhonda is extremely loving and supportive. … He’s come to accept that at least for a while he has to let others care for him. And the last thing is that I get from him a sense of quiet pride. Not conceit, not at all. Quiet, humble pride. If it’s possible to be humble but in a dignified way be proud of your baseball career, that’s what he is. He’s a sharp baseball mind. We talked about stealing home, why you do it, why it’s a lost art. He likes to talk baseball. He’s still engaged.

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Ranking the teams: 24 through 19

David Schoenfield | ESPN | February 15, 2016 21. Minnesota Twins Big offseason moves: Signed Korean 1B/DH Byung Ho Park; traded OF Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for C John Ryan Murphy; OF Torii Hunter retired; lost RHP Mike Pelfrey to free agency. Most intriguing player: I can't wait to see if Miguel Sano will hit 40 home runs and I can't wait to see if Byron Buxton will take over center field and run with it, but Park's transition from South Korea to the States will be fascinating. The 29-year-old hit .343/.436/.714 in Korea with 53 home runs in 140 games, but that's an offense-minded league (the league averaged 5.46 runs per game compared to the MLB average of 4.25) and Park still struck out 161 times. The .343 average was also a career high (he hit .318 in 2013). If it works out, the Twins could get 70 home runs from the middle of their lineup; considering they've had just one 30-homer season since Justin Morneau's heyday back in 2009, it could be a new-look Twins team. I'm just the messenger: On the pitching front, it's kind of the same old story: Twins starters just don't strike out many batters. The rotation ranked 26th in strikeout rate in 2015, which at least was an improvement from 28th in 2014 and 30th and last in 2013. Yes, Twins pitchers throw strikes; still, the rotation ranked last in the American League with its 4.68 ERA and the big addition was … nobody. Yes, prospect Jose Berrios, who posted a 2.87 ERA between Double- and Triple-A, will be ready at some point (he may be ready now, but the Twins will start him in the minors to save on service time), but the Twins could have used another impact starter. As for the bullpen, it ranked last in the majors in strikeout rate and 21st in ERA, although it did do a nice job of protecting late-inning leads. Where I could be wrong: If the young guys mature quickly -- not only Sano and Buxton, but Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler and Tyler Duffey and Berrios. A full season from Ervin Santana could help and Phil Hughes' ERA needs to go a run back in the other direction. The final word: I like the direction the Twins are going but I think they'll take a small step backward from 2015's 83-win season. That record was built on one hot month -- they went 20-7 in May but weren't above .500 in any other month. They haven't done much in a division where the Tigers and White Sox both made major offseason upgrades. Their true talent level probably wasn't that of an 83-win team: They exceeded their BaseRuns win total by 10 (only the Cardinals and Royals at plus-11 were higher). Maybe Buxton goes all Mike Trout on us (poor first impression and then lights it up in his full season), but I think he's going to have some growing pains at the plate. Based on his strikeout rate in Korea, I'm not sold on Park as a big contributor. They lack an ace. I feel bad being critical here; they're just a year away. AL Central Notes: Sano, Indians, Gurriel, Tigers

Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors | February 14, 2016 On this day in 2005, the Twins signed Johan Santana to a four-year, $39.75MM extension in the wake of the southpaw’s Cy Young Award season. The deal not only gave the small-market Twins some cost certainty through Santana’s arbitration seasons and his first free agent year, it also proved to be a nice bargain as Santana put up sterling numbers from 2005-07 (including another Cy Young in 2006). He didn’t finish out that deal in a Twins uniform, however, as Santana was traded to the Mets in February 2008. Here’s the latest from around the AL Central… The Twins’ signing of Miguel Sano is chronicled by Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a transaction that the team hopes will not only help the Major League roster if and when Sano becomes a star slugger, but one that also cemented the Twins as players on the international market. Minnesota encountered several obstacles in its pursuit of Sano, including a lengthy investigation into his age and the team’s willingness to go beyond its international spending comfort zone to land a prospect that seemingly everyone in the Twins organization believed was an elite talent. The Indians have scouted Yulieski and Lourdes Gurriel and will check in on the two Cuban stars, though Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn’t think the Tribe has the money it will take to land either player. Hoynes also addressed several other Tribe-related topics as part of this mailbag piece. The Tigers like drafting hard-throwing college pitchers, yet as ESPN’s Keith Law tells George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press, nobody who fits that description is likely to be available when the club makes the ninth overall pick in June. Law suggests that the Tigers could opt for a high school pitcher instead (such as Forrest Whitley or Greg Veliz) or they could possibly go for position player talent instead with Puerto Rican shortstop Delvin Perez.

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Central Notes: Brewers, Tigers, Mauer

Charlie Wilmoth | MLB Trade Rumors | February 13, 2016 Former Brewers GM Doug Melvin says he’s sleeping better in the six months since he ceded the team’s GM job to David Stearns, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes. Now a senior advisor, Melvin has continued to work in player development with the Brewers, but he’s also taken more time for himself. “It’s like the difference between a coach and a manager. When you’re a coach, you have your certain responsibilities. You’re available. But when you’re the manager, you feel responsible to 25 players, plus the coaches and the trainers and everybody,” says Melvin. As a GM, he says, “[you feel a total responsibility. Pro scouting, amateur scouting, international scouting, player development, the Major League team — there’s always something to think about.” Here’s more from the Central divisions. Tigers owner Mike Ilitch is the closest thing the game has to a modern-day George Steinbrenner, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. After adding Justin Upton and Jordan Zimmermann this offseason, the Tigers have four players signed to nine-figure contracts. Of course, the ends of those kinds of contracts can create roster flexibility issues of the sort the Yankees have dealt with in recent years, and Sherman notes that the Tigers already have $122MM committed for the 2018 season for Upton, Zimmermann, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Victor Martinez. Twins star Joe Mauer says lingering concussion symptoms caused him to have blurred vision while hitting the past two seasons, Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press writes. The vision issues were caused by sunlight, Mauer says he will try hitting with sunglasses in an effort to improve his ability to pick up pitches. “If you’re just a little off, you’re fouling off pitches you should be driving into the gap,” says Mauer. “In the big leagues, you don’t get too many more opportunities to see good ones to hit.” Mauer adds that he does not want his concussion issues to be an “excuse” for his performance the last two seasons, in which he’s seen a dramatic decline in offense. (He’s hit .270/348/.376 the last two years, compared to a previous career average of .323/.405/.468.) Mauer is still signed for the next three years at $23MM per season, so he could provide a big long-term boost to the Twins if he were to get back on track. MLB player Byung-Ho Park adjusts to life in Fort Myers

David Dorsey | News-Press | February 16, 2016 Byung-Ho Park, also known as “Park Bang” for his propensity to unleash home runs, has been putting on powerful batting practice displays at CenturyLink Sports Complex, his new home away from home. The native of South Korea will be transitioning to a different culture with different food and a foreign language off the field. On the field, he will be making perhaps an even bigger leap, especially after hitting a career-best 53 home runs last season in the KBO League of Korea and 52 homers for the Nexen Heroes in 2014.Park, 29, will be adjusting in more ways than one as a newcomer to the Minnesota Twins this spring training. Park led the KBO in home runs and RBI for four consecutive seasons, 2012-15. He holds the record for most RBI in a single KBO season, driving in 146 runs last year. “The pitchers who play in the big leagues are the best pitchers in the world,” Park said through translator J.D. Kim. “I haven’t seen those pitchers yet. So I can’t say, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ I’m going to take things day by day and learn the pitchers.” Twins pitchers and catchers don’t have to report until Sunday, and position players aren’t required to arrive until Feb. 26, meaning Park arrived to Fort Myers more than two weeks early. The 6-foot-1, 236-pound Park signed a four-year, $12 million contract with the Twins as a first baseman and designated hitter after the Twins bid $12.85 million through the posting system, winning the rights to negotiate with Park and the Nexen Heroes of Seoul, South Korea. Park will enter the realm of Major League Baseball a year after his former Nexen teammate and shortstop Jung-Ho Kang achieved success with the Pittsburgh Pirates, finishing third in National League Rookie of the Year balloting in 2015. “We were very close teammates, playing for the same team in Korea,” Park said. “Then Kang went to the big leagues. Unfortunately, he got injured toward the end, but he had a special season. It definitely made me want to come over here. “When you’re a ballplayer, you always want to play with the best against the best. You can’t get any higher than Major League Baseball. I’ve always wanted to play in the big leagues.” Park will have help making the transition. In the Twins clubhouse, he won’t be expected to be a leader, not with the presence of veteran first baseman

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Joe Mauer and emerging leader and second baseman Brian Dozier. Park won’t even be counted on to lead the Twins in power hitting, not with the emergence of Miguel Sano late last season. Park also will have Kim with him throughout 2016, plus the full-time assistance and part-time presence of Jay Han, who works for Octagon, the Chicago-based sports agency that represents Park. Han, who graduated from Indiana University and like Kim is bilingual, said the biggest transition for Park, who knows some English, would be adjusting to the food. Park already has dined at Koreana, a Korean restaurant in Fort Myers, and he was informed about Mr. Mees, another Fort Myers restaurant that cooks Korean food. Park is also familiar with Outback Steakhouse, which has a large presence in Seoul. As for other cultural differences, there’s a book, Korea Unmasked, that explores what makes Korean culture unique. It describes how strangers are less likely to engage in conversations in Korea than they are in the United States, which also might take Park some getting used to, said Han, who also assisted Kang in his transition from South Korea to the Pittsburgh Pirates. “He’s very humble,” Han said of Park. “He’s very friendly. I think he’s going to be good with everyone. He’s very nice. Sometimes too nice.” Said Kim: “He’s loving everything. It’s an interesting culture here. Everybody is extremely polite. So far, everything has been great on the field and off the field, too.” Another big difference for Park will be his level of fame. In Korea, he’s like Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper or New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez in terms of being recognized, said Kim Seek and Seung-Ho An, two Korean newspaper sportswriters who are in Fort Myers writing about Park. “He has the home run title for four years in a row, so the fans love him,” Seek said. But if Seek were going to compare Park to a current major league player’s abilities, it would be fellow right-handed slugger Albert Pujols, who hit 40 home runs last season for the Anaheim Angels. “You can see his swing is like Albert Pujols,” Kim said. Tommy Watkins, a Fort Myers native and the Double-A hitting coach for the Twins, said Park has looked good in batting practice. “He’s hitting some over the fence, but right now his swing is nice and smooth and even,” Watkins said. “It’s early right now, but he looks good. The scouts do a good job of scouting out the talent.” Mike Radcliffe, the Twins vice president of player personnel, is one of those scouts. He has seen Park numerous times since his high school days, but the evaluations became more serious over the past two years, as the Twins knew Park would become eligible for the posting system in 2015. “We had nine different guys see him before the signing process,” said Radcliffe, who has been to South Korea in four of the past six years. “It’s a different style. They swing hard and often over there. There’s a transition. We try to assimilate what the Korean statistics would mean in the American language. But we think his swing is Americanized, if you will. He has less movement in his body, from head to toe. He will see velocities he hasn’t seen much of before. But we think the transition will be good, if you will. There just aren’t too many situations to compare him to.” Connect with this reporter: David Dorsey (Facebook), @DavidADorsey (Twitter). Byung-Ho Park's baseball statistics in South Korea with Nexen Heroes 2015: 140 games, .343 average (181-for-528), 53 homers, 146 RBI, 10 stolen bases 2014: 128 games, .303 average (139-for-459), 52 homers, 124 RBI, eight stolen bases 2013: 128 games, .318 average (143-for-450), 37 homers, 117 RBI, 10 stolen bases 2012: 133 games, .290 average (136-for-469), 31 homers, 105 RBI, 20 stolen bases

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2011: 51 games, .265 average (49-for-185), 12 homers, 28 RBI, two stolen bases Minnesota Twins Reach Out to Minority Communities to Increase Fanbase

Joe Mazan | KTSP | February 15, 2016 Spring training starts in week for the Minnesota Twins and this year, the Twins will try to reach more Minnesota fans than ever before. The Twins are partnering with several nonprofits serving minority communities around the metro to increase their fan base. The team says 50 games will be broadcast on a new Spanish radio station this season. The Twins also plan to build a new baseball field for little league players on St. Paul's east side. "It's no surprise the demographics are changing throughout our community; like any business we're reaching out to people trying to be inclusive to all communities, make sure that our message just doesn't get to our typical baseball fans," Bryan Donaldson with the Minnesota Twins said. "We're reaching out to new baseball fans and getting people excited about the game and people who may not have grown up with the game, like diverse communities." The Twins need to increase their attendance. Back in 2011, the team ranked the fourth highest in the majors; last season, it dropped to 17th. USA Today not hopeful of Twins’ chances in AL Central

Adam Uren | Bring Me the News | February 15, 2016 Between now and Opening Day on April 3, you’re going to see a lot of predictions made about how the upcoming baseball season will go for the Twins. Having a bash on Monday at predicting the final standings was USA Today, and the newspaper’s projections don’t make for happy reading for Twins fans. It has the Twins, who finished last season 2nd in the AL Central just a few wins shy of a Wild Card spot, finishing dead last behind the White Sox, Royals, Indians and Tigers this upcoming season. While being vague on how it arrives at its win totals and admitting making such predictions is a “foolhardy endeavor,” the newspaper says the Twins won’t improve on last year’s 83-79 record and will finish 80-82 in a fiercely competitive league. It does, however, apologize to Twins fans, saying it “wouldn’t surprise us if they produce an MVP (Miguel Sano) and Rookie of the Year (Jose Berrios)” in spite of the low ranking. It should be pointed out that USA Today’s record isn’t great. Last year, its baseball reporting staff predicted the winners of each division ahead of the new season, and each of them picked one of the Indians, White Sox and the Tigers, who ended up finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th behind the Royals and Twins. The Twins fare better in Bleacher Report’s predictions, with the sports website having them finishing third behind the Royals and Tigers with a record of 84-78. The site says the likes of Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton and Eddie Rosario mean the Twins are “flooded with upside,” but concerns are raised over the pitching rotation, noting the lack of an “ace-like” starter to lead the line. Another sports website, Athlon, also has the Twins finishing third behind the Royals and Tigers.