Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Friday, July 21, 2017

Source: Garcia deal to Twins not done yet. MLB.com (Bowman) p. 1 Twins top draft pick Royce Lewis embraces the Gulf Coast League grind. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 2 Twins draft picks after Royce Lewis could be on fast track to majors. Star Tribune (Rand) p. 4 Twins 'in final stages' of trading for Braves lefthander Jaime Garcia. Star Tribune (Miller) p. 4 Souhan: Players might get old, but reminiscing about 1987 World Series doesn't. Star Tribune (Souhan) p. 5 Hartman: Twins' 1987 success exceeded expectations of then-GM MacPhail. Star Tribune (Hartman) p. 6 Twins’ top draft pick Royce Lewis is making the transition to pro ball look easy. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 8 Entrance song fits Twins closer Brandon Kintzler’s journey. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 10 Source: Twins nearing deal for Braves lefty Jaime Garcia. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 12 Zulgad: Twins brain trust attempts to balance improving in 2017 while keeping key pieces for future. ESPN 1500 (Zulgad) p. 13 Did the Twins miss the boat by not trading for ex-Marlins reliever David Phelps? ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 14 Preview: Twins vs. Tigers. STATS p. 15 Braves Discussing Jaime Garcia With Twins, Other Teams. MLB Trade Rumors (Todd) p. 16 MLB Trade Rumors: Twins reportedly close to acquiring Braves' Jaime Garcia. CBS Sports (Anderson) p. 17 The Closer Who Doesn’t Strike Anyone Out. The Ringer (Baumann) p. 18

Source: Garcia deal to Twins not done yet Mark Bowman | MLB.com | July 21, 2017 The Braves and Twins have had extensive discussions about a trade that would send left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia to Minnesota. But a Major League source said the two sides had not reached an agreement as of early Friday morning. There is still a chance the teams could complete a trade, but it appears ongoing talks will be necessary to reach an agreement on the players and money that would be exchanged. Garcia is owed approximately $5 million over the remainder of what is the final season of his contract. In exchange for what many have labeled the top rental pitcher available on this year's trade market, the Twins would likely provide the Braves with at least one Minor League player. The level of return for the Braves would be directly influenced by how much of Garcia's remaining salary the Twins would agree to pay. If willing to assume a significant portion of the approximate $5 million cost, the return would likely be a mid-level prospect. Atlanta likely would gain a more highly regarded prospect only if it's willing to absorb a significant portion of what is owed the veteran pitcher. After halting a three-game losing streak with Thursday night's win over the Dodgers, the Braves were 11 games back in the National League East race and 8 1/2 games back in the pursuit to gain at least one of the two Wild Card spots. The Twins are a half-game behind the first-place Indians in the American League Central race and just one game back in the Wild Card hunt. They have put themselves in the thick of the postseason chase despite producing the AL's third-worst starting pitching ERA. Even though the Braves might still have visions of defying the odds by making a serious run at a postseason berth, there has long been reason to expect they would attempt to flip Garcia, who had been acquired as a short-term rental from the Cardinals in December. Garcia has produced a 4.33 ERA over 17 starts this year and distanced himself from the injuries that have plagued him throughout his career. His trade value rose as he produced a 1.49 ERA over five starts from May 21-June 11 but then dropped as he allowed at least five earned runs in each of his final four starts before the All-Star break. Garcia provided a strong seven-inning performance against the D-backs on Sunday. He is currently scheduled to start against the Dodgers on

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Friday. But the Braves scratched Aaron Blair from his start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday in order to have him available if necessary to pitch in place of Garcia. Twins top draft pick Royce Lewis embraces the Gulf Coast League grind Phil Miller | Star Tribune | July 21, 2017 Foundations are being laid here, courses set that could determine the direction of careers down the road. Teenagers drafted or signed by major league organizations may know baseball, but they must be taught how to be professional baseball players. It’s a painstaking, deliberate process that anticipates a payoff years in the making, so there’s nothing urgent about the Gulf Coast League, the lowest rung on professional baseball’s ladder. Hours are spent each morning preparing for games played on quiet back fields each afternoon in the oppressive mugginess, with only a handful of spectators in the bleachers, mostly scouts searching for clues to those futures. For the GCL Twins, it’s an immersive lifestyle, baseball 24/7, right down to the dormitory rooms assigned to each player, named for All-Stars of the past. From the outside, it can seem a tedious, exhausting, sweltering way of life. To Royce Lewis, “It’s an amazing thing. I love it. I’m having so much fun out here, working at my craft every day, it’s a dream come true.” Whew. On sheer enthusiasm alone, the Southern California shortstop, just six weeks beyond his 18th birthday, deserves the No. 1 overall status that the Twins bestowed at last month’s MLB draft. And come to think of it, that thirst for the game is a not-incidental reason the Twins chose him. Lewis has played in 19 games, has 10 extra-base hits in just 72 at-bats, has only one fewer walk than strikeout, remarkable discipline for such a young hitter. The very first baseball he ever hit as a professional disappeared over the left-field fence and was never seen again. (Seriously. The Twins sent someone to retrieve it, but it had apparently splashed into a lake.) But ask a talent evaluator about the overall No. 1, and it’s not Lewis’ hitting skill that he mentions first. “What makes him stand out is his charisma. He’s a very charismatic guy, and that comes through in how he plays,” said Derrick Dunbar, the Twins’ scout assigned to compile reports on other teams’ GCL prospects. “I’ve seen him dancing on the field a couple of times. He’s always smiling, always talking, very engaged with his teammates and coaches. This is the first time I’ve seen him, but it’s been fun to watch him.” Imagine how much fun it must be to manage him. The first time Ramon Borrego met his new shortstop, “He was saying, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s get it. I’m ready.’ His mentality for his age, that was one thing that put me in shock. He was so positive,” the Twins’ manager said. “Playing shortstop, he’s solid right now. Hitting-wise, he’s solid. He’s got really good instinct to steal. Really good instinct for baserunning. He’s the whole package.” Borrego was struck by Lewis’ maturity right away. After Twins’ pitchers accidentally plunked Orioles cleanup hitter J.C. Escarra three times in the season’s second game, then once more the next day, the manager suspected payback might be coming. Sure enough, in the bottom of the inning, Lewis came to bat with two outs and was hit with a fastball in the back. “Royce was a very mature guy. He knows it was on purpose. He went over to first base, he took it very well,” said Borrego, who exchanged some unpleasant words with Orioles manager Carlos Tosca over the incident. “When he sees me [yell at] the manager, he said, ‘Hey, thank you.’ Thank you for what? You’re my player, I’m going to be there for you.” The only thing Lewis doesn’t seem completely comfortable with, oddly, is being a typical teenager. Get this: A California kid who doesn’t Facebook, has never tweeted, only joined Instagram when his agent’s marketing department recommended it. “I’m not that person that likes to put myself out there for anyone or any reason,” Lewis said. “I feel like every time you post a picture, you’re kind of saying, ‘Look at me, look at this, look at what I’m doing.’ And I’m not really about that.” He’s also never owned a car, thanks partly to a couple of failed driver’s license attempts — “I’m really bad at taking tests,” he shrugs — and his far-more-important time commitment to baseball. And how did Lewis splurge when the Twins deposited $6.725 million in his back account, the largest bonus ever paid to a high school player? “I might have bought a shin guard,” he said. “No, I think my parents bought that for me.” That cash is in a trust fund, and Lewis, rather than buy a place of his own near the Twins’ Florida base, chose to live in the Twins’ academy with the other teenage rookies — he rooms with Ricky De La Torre, a 17-year-old Puerto Rican shortstop — and subsist on the standard GCL stipend

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of less than $1,000 a month. (He might go apartment-hunting this winter, though, to establish Florida residency for tax purposes. Again, not a typical teen.) His teammates tease him about his big-money bonus, joke about him picking up checks. But Lewis is careful not to be Johnny Bigtime, Borrego said. “Good thing about Royce — he’s very humble. ‘I signed for 7 million?’ — no, he doesn’t show it,” said Borrego, in his seventh season as the Twins’ GCL manager. “He hangs with everyone. He loves the Latin guys. He’s trying to learn Spanish. He doesn’t want to be different.” That means living a life that, for now, is about nothing but baseball. He rises at 6:15 six days a week (there are no games on Sunday), and immediately downs his daily bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. After a shower, he’ll head to the academy dining room for a more complete breakfast, usually omelets, then head to the training room. “I’ve got to get stretched out. Keep my body healthy,” Lewis said. Then comes weightlifting from 8 to 8:40 a.m., a regimen that has had a noticeable effect just in the three weeks he’s been here. After that comes a team meeting, where coaches use video clips to correct mistakes, offer instruction, and hand out praise, too. “They call it a ‘good-vibe video.’ They usually show home runs,” Lewis said. “They showed my home run, which was embarrassing.” After that comes at least 90 minutes in the hot sun, at least half of it spent on infield drills. Ground ball after ground ball, Borrego and his coaches pose game situations and challenge the infielders to make the correct play. It’s a daily lesson that addresses Lewis’ biggest shortcoming. “We need to keep him working defensively. His footwork is too fast,” Borrego said. But the Twins aren’t particularly aggressive about instruction this early in camp, because they want players to be comfortable with the sudden change in lifestyle first. “We don’t want to touch this guy, especially since he’s being so successful. Play your game.” Borrego says he’s convinced Lewis can remain a shortstop, though some scouts insist his future is in the outfield. After the extensive fielding work, the Twins take batting practice, and that’s where Lewis shines. “He’s got bat speed and a good feel for the strike zone,” said Dunbar, the scout. “He’s got some ability to recognize the spin and adjust at the plate. What stands out is his extreme athleticism. He attacks the game, doesn’t let it overwhelm him.” His hitting has been so good, in fact, that Borrego said Lewis is “dominating” GCL pitching. He even suggested to the Twins’ front office after only three weeks that Lewis could handle a promotion — all the way to Class A Cedar Rapids, skipping the next level at Ellizabethton. That’s not the Twins’ plan, according to chief baseball officer Derek Falvey. “For a high school player, the GCL is reasonable. You typically don’t want to rush a guy that young,” Falvey said. “Let him get accustomed to pro ball.” Batting practice finished, the Twins break for lunch at 11, change into their full uniforms, and return to the field for their daily noon game. Afterward, the players are encouraged to rest up, to relax in the dorms. Most are in bed before 10. It’s a lifestyle designed to melt away, almost literally, everything but being a ballplayer, to teach the most important talent in pro baseball: Dealing with the grind. Hitting and pitching are hard enough, but doing it day after day, virtually without letup, is what separates the true stars. At that, Lewis believes he is thriving. “I thought it would be a little harder, to be honest. Not necessarily the level of play, but the grind,” Lewis said. “I didn’t think I’d get used to the weather this quick. The sweat, that’s the only thing that bothers me, sweat going in my eyes. My dad said I should wear a bandanna, but I said no, I’ve got to show off the hair,” he joked. He was going to get noticed anyway, with or without those curls on top, just because of where he was drafted. “To be the No. 1 guy, you’ve got to have ‘it,’ however you define that,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ vice president for player personnel. “It’s going to be next to your name forever.” As long as it’s baseball, that’s fine with Lewis. “The love for this game that I have is truly amazing. If I were to marry anyone other than a woman, it would be baseball. l love baseball,” he said, his enthusiasm gathering momentum as he describes his new life. “I was almost thinking about getting a ring with baseball around it, but that’s just crazy. [I have] the passion for the game, wanting to get to the very best level.”

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Even from the bottom, even from six rungs below and 1,700 miles away, Lewis has Target Field in his sights. Twins draft picks after Royce Lewis could be on fast track to majors Michael Rand | Star Tribune | July 21, 2017 The Star Tribune’s Phil Miller had an excellent look at No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis in Friday’s paper. Lewis has been dominating Gulf Coast League pitching since arriving in Florida, and the prospect seems to be loving every minute of it. That said, Lewis is still just 18 years old and has to clear five more levels before he is playing at Target Field someday. There’s still another (better) rookie league, two Class A levels, Class AA and Class AAA. Lewis’ progress will be checked regularly and meticulously over the next several years as he (hopefully, if you root for the Twins) winds his way toward the majors. Such is life for a shortstop chosen directly out of high school. If you’re looking for a prospect who might arrive more quickly (and who is off to a similarly hot start in the minors), you might want to pay attention to No. 35 overall pick Brent Rooker, chosen in the supplemental first round. The Twins knew that Rooker, 22, was a polished hitter coming out of Mississippi State. So far, he’s shown just that. Rooker started the year at Elizabethton, the Twins’ higher-level rookie league team. The 6-3, 215-pound right-hand hitting outfielder crushed seven home runs in just 22 games, posting a .952 OPS while showing good plate discipline (11 walks). That earned him a recent promotion to Fort Myers — the Twins’ high-level Class A team, which means he bypassed the low-A team in Cedar Rapids. Rooker is 0-for-10 at Ft. Myers so far in three games, with two walks and three strikeouts. That’s far too small of a sample size to say whether he will stick there or not. If he ends up succeeding there this year, Rooker could be on the fast track to at least getting a chance in the majors. Several other high 2017 draft picks are off to notably strong starts as well. Among them: fifth-round pick Andrew Bechtold (third baseman from Chipola JC) has a 1.008 OPS at Elizabethton. Charlie Barnes (fourth round, left-handed pitcher from Clemson) has been dominating Elizabethton. He’s pitched five shutout innings in each of his last three starts, giving him a 1.31 ERA for the year. Long story short: Lewis is the name everyone is focused on right now, but the first draft for Derek Falvey and co. could ultimately be judged on its depth. Rooker could be the first in a wave to make it long before Lewis is ready. Twins 'in final stages' of trading for Braves lefthander Jaime Garcia Phil Miller | Star Tribune | July 20, 2017 The Twins, only a half-game out of first place in the AL Central, might be close to shoring up their biggest weakness: starting pitching. Minnesota “is in the final stages of making a deal” for Braves lefthander Jaime Garcia, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations, and an announcement could come Friday. Garcia is a nine-year veteran, eight of them with the St. Louis Cardinals, who owns a career 3.65 ERA, though it has slipped to 4.33 this season. Garcia earns $12 million this season, and is still owed roughly $4.7 million for the remaining two months. He can be a free agent after the season. The teams are believed to be negotiating over whether the Twins will pay the entire amount. The Twins are asking for an additional Braves player in the deal as well, the source said, though not necessarily a major leaguer. Atlanta is expected to receive a Twins prospect in the deal, which was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. Medical issues are being explored by the Twins as they close in on an agreement. Garcia has had an injury-plagued career, including surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in 2014, and groin and shoulder issues the past couple of seasons. Garcia has never pitched more than 194 innings in a season, and that was in 2011, when he was 24. But the 31-year-old Garcia has not missed a start for the Braves this season, and has nine quality starts among his 17 appearances, including last Sunday’s one run allowed over seven innings in a victory against Arizona. Garcia, traded by St. Louis to Atlanta last winter for pitcher John Gant and two minor leaguers, has seven games of postseason experience, including starts in Games 2 and 6 of the 2011 World Series against Texas. Garcia’s postseason record is 0-3, but with a respectable 3.94 ERA.

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The Twins have used 11 different starting pitchers this season, a group that owns a cumulative 4.91 ERA. Only the White Sox’s and Orioles’ rotations have fared worse. Staff writer La Velle E. Neal III also contributed to this report. Souhan: Players might get old, but reminiscing about 1987 World Series doesn't Jim Souhan | Star Tribune | July 21, 2017 Kent Hrbek and Tom Kelly were the first to arrive. They walked into a large conference room on the lower level of Target Field on Thursday afternoon and did what retired guys do. They talked about golf, and the ailments that keep them from playing more golf. “Can’t walk when I play anymore,” Kelly said. “Gotta ride.” “I’ve played three times in the last three years,” Hrbek said. “[Thursday], I was told to do some weeding, so I laid on rocks and weeded. What’s happening to me?” They put on name tags like they were anonymous attendees at a tech conference and started signing replications of the old Wheaties box celebrating their first title. “I don’t mind,” Hrbek said. “I’ve been signing these for 30 years.” The Twins are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1987 World Series championship this weekend. Thursday night, the boys of that long summer convened. They told all the familiar stories, but the conversations this time around often turned to families and health, grandkids and the departed. Their next stop was Hrbek’s Pub on the concourse level for drinks. “I’ve been in here before,” Randy Bush said. “I’ve been in here before with Hrbek. I’ve been in here before with Hrbek drinking beer. So, actually, this is not really a surprise.” Dan Gladden hopped behind the bar to serve, then the group headed to the field, and announcer Dick Bremer played host. Hrbek and Gary Gaetti recalled blowing a lead and a chance at a division title in Cleveland late in the 1984 season. Gaetti had thrown a ball away. Asked about it then, he said, “It’s hard to field the ball when you have both hands around your throat.” “That’s what made us good,” Hrbek said. “We admitted our mistakes.” Hrbek nodded toward the crowd and said, “I think the guy with No. 10 on his back had a lot to do with it, too.” That would be Kelly, the manager of the championship teams in 1987 and ’91. The Twins will unveil a statue in his honor Friday. Kelly, like many of his former players, chose to live in Minnesota. They were joined Thursday by players who rarely make it back. Les Straker, the pitcher from Venezuela, was a rookie in 1987 and never pitched in the big leagues after ’88. He walked through the door shortly after Hrbek and Kelly, and they greeted him as if he were a Hall of Famer. Former bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek, who has pancreatic cancer, made it back for the second time this season. Juan Berenguer walked in, then Bert Blyleven, Mike Smithson, Tim Laudner, Roy Smalley, Steve Lombardozzi and that team’s hitting coach, Tony Oliva, who turned 79 on Thursday. The men exchanged tug-of-war handshakes, the wives gentle hugs. Bush was a beloved role player on both World Series teams. He’s an executive with the Chicago Cubs now. “How lucky am I?” he said. “I’ve been involved in three Game 7s, and we won all three.

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“I still remember driving to the ballpark for Game 7 in ’87 and thinking, ‘If we lose this game, we’re just going to be one more Minnesota team that didn’t win the big one. You just wanted it to happen so bad for the city.” Gladden remembered upending Al Newman in a game in 1986, when Gladden was with the Giants and Newman played for the Expos. Newman screamed from the dugout that he would get Gladden. Newman was with the Twins when Gladden arrived late in the spring of ’87. Gladden marched to Newman’s locker. “He said, ‘We’re teammates,’ ” Gladden said. “We’ve been teammates ever since.” Then Gladden made the point that talk of “family” for the group is more than an expression. His daughter married Gaetti’s son. “We all still keep in touch,” Gladden said. “We all care about each other.” They’ll spend the weekend together, watching baseball together again. Thursday night, they cracked open fresh beers and vintage stories, and succeeded in preventing Blyleven from taking his pants off on stage. Hartman: Twins' 1987 success exceeded expectations of then-GM MacPhail Sid Hartman | Star Tribune | July 21, 2017 When the Twins promoted Andy MacPhail from vice president of player development to be their general manager in August of 1985, the team had finished over the .500 mark only four times — and no higher than third place in the American League West — since 1970. MacPhail’s first full season as GM wasn’t much better. The team went 71-91 in 1986 and finished sixth in the seven-team West. Still, MacPhail saw something encouraging in the way the team played after naming Tom Kelly the interim manager September 12, and the team finished 12-11. “Tom took over with 23 games to go in 1986 and the energy level of the team really skyrocketed once he took over,” MacPhail recalled. “That was the very attractive aspect of what I knew he would bring to the team. He just had them playing with a lot of energy and focus and their true abilities were more likely to come out.” When the Twins reported to spring training in 1987, however, MacPhail harbored no illusions about how good the team was to become. “I did not anticipate we were going to win the World Series,” he said this week as the ’87 team will gather at Target Field for the 30th anniversary of their first World Series championship. “I was probably looking at us more as a .500-type of team and see where we went from there. We had finished [sixth] the year before. I thought we were better, but I didn’t understand how much better we were.” Home sweet Dome The Twins started out hot in 1987, going 10-4 to start the season before hovering around .500 for a few months. By late May they were 21-22 and 4½ games out of first place. Then the team went 11-4, took sole possession of first place in the AL West on June 10 and never looked back. When asked what stood out most about that Twins season, MacPhail said the greatest benefit might have been the team’s success in the Metrodome. “We were a very tough team to beat at home,” he said. “We had a winning percentage close to .700 at home, and that was in large part due to our fans at home and how loud they got, and how uncomfortable they made that place for our opponents.” The Twins’ 56-25 home record was the best in baseball, two games in front of their eventual AL Championship Series opponents, the Detroit Tigers. The Twins averaged 25,703 in attendance that season, the 11th-best mark in baseball, up from an average of 15,499 in 1986, which was 23rd out of 26 teams in the majors. That’s one of the things that has been missing from this year’s Twins turnaround from a last-place team to a first-place contender. Their

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attendance is averaging 24,541 per game (23rd of 30 teams), barely ahead of their 24,245 average last year when they lost a franchise-record 103 games. Assembling roster When asked if there was any special component that turned around the team in ’87, MacPhail said that after his nearly 35 years in pro baseball, that Twins squad had a special element that is hard to capture. “That was just a team of great character,” he said. “You learn after you have been in this game a long time that certain people rise to the occasion, and we were blessed to have many ballplayers and athletes who really shined at their very brightest when the stage was at the very brightest as well.” MacPhail said the team made some moves before and throughout the season that helped make them a champion, but they weren’t gigantic splashes. “What we did is we improved the bullpen,” he said. “We traded for [Jeff] Reardon, we signed [Juan] Berenguer as a free agent. We had traded for [Keith] Atherton. We traded for [Don] Baylor at the trade deadline, who made a big difference in the postseason. We improved our defense by putting Danny Gladden [acquired in a trade with the Giants near the end of spring training] in left field on that fast AstroTurf surface. … We tried to improve our bullpen and our defense.” That Twins team was below the league average in pitching (4.63 ERA, 22nd out of 26) and hitting (.261 average, 16th of 26), but they were the best fielding team in baseball (.984), with the majors’ fewest errors at 98. When they reached the AL Championship Series, they found an extra gear to defeat the Tigers four games to one after going 4-8 against them during the regular season. Then they used that home-field advantage to win all four World Series games in the Metrodome, including Game 7, against the Cardinals. “When we first played Detroit, who beat us very handily in the regular season, but we won a couple road games there,” MacPhail recalled. “Then when it came to the World Series, whoever was home won. I think part of that was we were used to the designated hitter and we took the designated hitter out of our lineup and played on the road and that was a double whammy for us.” But the reverse hurt the Cardinals, who couldn’t find a way to beat a great Twins team at the Dome. MacPhail, who is working as a front office executive with the Phillies, won’t be at Target Field this weekend for the 1987 anniversary celebration, but he will be here in August to be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. Fleck on Oregon State Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck, who will be featured in a four-part series called “Being P.J. Fleck” on ESPNU beginning Aug. 2, recently talked about what he knows about Oregon State, the Gophers’ second nonconference football game and first road game of 2017. “Oregon State is a phenomenal football team, Gary Andersen is a wonderful football coach,” Fleck said. “[I] got a chance to see Gary in the offseason. They’re really, really talented. Like I said even last week, we have to worry about us. … We can’t worry about anyone else unless we’re the best us we can be.” Jottings • One reason the Wolves might have felt comfortable trading Ricky Rubio to Utah last month is the play of Tyus Jones from last season. Coach Tom Thibodeau talked about what the former Apple Valley and Duke star has been doing this offseason. “Tyus is having a great summer,” Thibodeau said. “That’s the one thing that I really respect about the way Tyus approaches things. He has been in almost every day, all summer long. He is in great shape right now. … He shot the ball extremely well early in the season and dropped off a little bit. I think the conditioning will help him, and he’s in great shape right now.”

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Twins’ top draft pick Royce Lewis is making the transition to pro ball look easy Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | July 20, 2017 Royce Lewis likes to keep things simple. He eats the same Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal upon rising each day at 6:15 a.m. in the Twins’ academy, where the 18-year-old Twins shortstop prospect shares a dorm room with fellow new draftee Ricky De La Torre. Lewis visits the trainer’s room each morning after his second breakfast, usually an omelette, for stretching that keeps his body and his throwing arm healthy amid the grind of his first Gulf Coast League summer. He keeps his $6.725 million signing bonus in a trust fund, living off the standard $250 monthly stipend minor-leaguers get at this stage of their careers. His most significant purchase upon signing was a protective shin guard, and even that came at his parents’ expense. Why, the young man from Orange County, Calif., still doesn’t have his driver’s license after needing four tries just secure his learner’s permit back home. His younger sister is going to beat him to that milestone, he readily admits. “I’m bad at taking tests,” Lewis said with a laugh. “I’ll tell you that right now.” So, when it comes to identifying the most awkward part of this transition to a professional lifestyle, Lewis doesn’t hesitate. That would be opening the first social media accounts of his young life on Instagram and Snapchat. The marketing folks at Boras Corp. explained the benefits to him shortly after the Twins made him the first overall pick six weeks ago out of JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano. “It’s kind of weird, to be honest,” Lewis said. “I don’t love it at all. I handle it myself, but I do get advice for it because I still don’t know what I’m doing on there.” His parents, William and Cindy, have Twitter accounts just to keep track of their famous son’s press coverage, but Royce himself has never dabbled in Twitter or Facebook. “He just never got it — never,” William Lewis said last month. “Some people just focus better doing their own thing and not hearing it, reading it, seeing it, watching it or whatever. It can be detrimental. You don’t want to hear all the extra, tertiary voices around you. Doing it this way helps him focus.” Lewis keeps his posts to a minimum. Away from home for the first time, he uses the new accounts primarily to stay in touch with his friends and extended family back home. The branding part of it feels odd to him. “I’m not the person that likes to put myself out there for anyone or any reason,” he said. “I feel like every time you post a picture, you’re kind of saying, ‘Look at me. Look at this. Look what I’m doing.’ And I’m not really about that, although modern-day times are changing. I kind of have to get with the flow.” A BETTER UNDERSTANDING Eighteen games into his pro career, Lewis is handling the baseball part of his job incredibly well. Batting .329 with three homers and a combined on-base/slugging percentage of .976, Lewis already had nine multi-hit games and had impressed teammates and coaches alike with his energy and advanced understanding of the game. “His mentality for his age, that was one thing that put me in shock,” said Ramon Borrego, in his seventh season managing the Twins’ GCL entry. “From the first day he was so positive, asking questions: ‘Hey, what am I doing right here?’ He’s been playing so hard and so smart. I don’t even need to work much with him. It’s just game situations, game awareness.” Lewis knocked a 3-2 pitch over the fence in his first pro at-bat. Unfortunately, the ball landed in a pond and could not be retrieved. In his third pro game, Lewis was plunked in the eighth inning of an 8-3 win over the GCL Orioles. That was apparent retribution for the wildness of the Twins’ pitching staff, which had hit the Orioles’ first baseman four times in the first few games.

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Lewis just put his head down and took his base. “I got hit in the back,” he said. “I just kind of took it and went to first. Part of the game. Our team’s a little wild from the pitching standpoint.” Borrego wanted to make sure Lewis understood what was going on, but there was no need for explanation. “I was just the next batter up,” Lewis said. “There were two outs and no one on base, and that’s kind of a great situation to do it if you’re going to do it. It happens and it’s the game, and I got a better understanding of how it works.” That incident and other eye-opening moments already have convinced Borrego he won’t be managing Lewis for much longer. In fact, the seasoned skipper who helped the likes of Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler break into pro ball has already recommended to his bosses that Lewis be promoted. Not to rookie-level Elizabethton, mind you, but all the way to Class A Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League. “When I had Buxton, I said, ‘Why are we keeping this guy? He needs to go somewhere,’ ” Borrego said. “It’s the same thing with Lewis. It’s the same case. I said, ‘Hey, get ready to get him out of here.’ He’s been dominating the league. The way he’s been playing, you say, ‘Wow. This kid doesn’t need to be here.’ That kid’s ready to go play in CR right now.” EFFORTLESS LEADER Lewis insists he isn’t getting itchy for a new challenge. He’s too busy soaking up all the knowledge and experiences he can with his first pro team. “It’s an amazing thing. I love it,” he said. “I’m having so much fun out here working at my craft and baseball every day. It’s a dream that’s finally come true. I’m able to do that now.” He will wait until after the season to shop for a condo in the Fort Myers area, acknowledging that “California taxes are a hassle.” Aside from establishing Florida residency, he said, “I’m probably just going to not buy anything.” He pretty much lives at the Twins complex, making the short walk over to Hammond Stadium to watch the Miracle play Florida State League games at night. Should he need a ride around town, Lewis will use Uber or bum a lift from one of his teammates. He has learned to deal with professional autograph hounds by personalizing his signature. “If you’re coming out to see me, you’re putting in all the work,” he said. “If you want to really sell it, then what’s the point?” He asked Twins player-development officials if he could enroll in Spanish-language classes, but for now he must rely on Borrego and his roommate, De La Torre, and other Latino teammates for usable phrases in his second language. “I wish I could speak Spanish so I could understand what they’re saying,” Lewis said. “I’m learning a little bit. I’m trying. I’m working on it. I’ve got Ricky. He’s teaching me.” Teammates will ask him, “Que lo que?” — What’s up? “I’m always saying, ‘Tranquilo,’ “ Lewis said. “Just chillin’.” Whether it’s greeting groundskeepers and office staff as he makes his rounds each day, or doing his part to help the female janitor clean up in the cafeteria — “I’m really good buddies with her” — Lewis is immersing himself in his new surroundings. “This kid is amazing,” Borrego said. “He treats everybody equal. He talks with everybody. He’s trying to be a leader, but he’s not trying too hard.” On and off the field, Lewis is taking things as they come with a cheerful determination. “I thought it would be a little bit harder, to be honest,” he said. “Not necessarily the level of play, but the grind and the weather. I didn’t think

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I’d get used to the weather this quick. The only thing that bothers me is the sweat going into my eyes.” His father suggested he wear a bandanna, but that was quickly vetoed by the young man with frosted curls atop his otherwise close-cropped hair. “I said, ‘No, I’ve got to show off the hair,’ ” Lewis said with a laugh. Not even a month into his pro career, Lewis is tranquilo indeed. Entrance song fits Twins closer Brandon Kintzler’s journey Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | July 20, 2017 Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted In one moment Would you capture or just let it slip? — “Lose Yourself” Mariano Rivera and “Enter Sandman” became synonymous, but that hard-driving entrance song from Metallica was chosen by team personnel for the former New York Yankees closer. Same for Trevor Hoffman and “Hells Bells” out in San Diego, where Padres fans would rock to AC/DC upon Hoffman’s entrance without giving the lyrics much thought. Not so for Twins closer Brandon Kintzler. Each time the opening strains of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” pump through the Target Field sound system, Kintzler’s entire career passes before his eyes. “I think it works great for me,” Kintzler said. “I mean, the words mean a lot to me. It’s not just an entrance song.” As Kintzler embarked on a slow-developing career that took him to a pair of junior colleges, a 40th-round draft selection by the Padres, surgery, two releases and 2 1/2 seasons kicking around a pair of independent leagues, including a stint with the St. Paul Saints, the song only grew in significance to him. “It’s about getting opportunity,” he said. “You’ve got to get the opportunity to succeed in big roles like that and you’ve got to take advantage of it. I know those opportunities for me don’t come very much, so the second the Twins were willing to give me a chance to close, you’ve got to take it and run with it. Otherwise, that opportunity might never come again.” THE MOMENT ARRIVES His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready Kintzler, signed to a minor-league deal in the offseason, had been with the Twins for just over a month when he was surprisingly given a chance to pitch the ninth inning with a 7-5 lead over the Miami Marlins on June 8, 2016. Standard-issue rock music accompanied him as he trotted into a situation normally reserved for his friend Kevin Jepsen, who was struggling mightily at the time and would be released less than a month later. Armed with heavy sink on his two-seam fastball, Kintzler reminded himself to keep breathing as he got leadoff man Martin Prado to ground out to second on a full count.

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Christian Yelich followed with a grounder to third before Marcell Ozuna lined a long single to the gap in right center. That brought up the dangerous Giancarlo Stanton as the potential tying run. Blow this lead, squander this opportunity, and Kintzler might have never been entrusted again with such a responsibility. Stanton struck out on four pitches, swinging through Kintzler’s best fastball to end a 21-pitch outing as the last-place Twins improved to 18-40. Back at his locker after his first career save, Kintzler was lightheartedly asked if he had any preference on a possible entrance song. He didn’t hesitate. If given a choice, he’d go with “Lose Yourself.” Sure enough, 11 days later, Kintzler came on to face Alex Rodriguez with two on, two out and the potential tying run at the plate in the eighth inning of a 6-3 game against the New York Yankees. Again, it took Kintzler just four pitches to strike out his famous foe. Like Stanton, A-Rod went down swinging. Kintzler never looked back. FUTURE CAN WAIT You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go Having converted 17 of 20 save chances last season, Kintzler has since converted 26 of 29 in 2017. On pace to challenge Joe Nathan’s Twins-record 47 saves in 2009, Kintzler has played a major role in the Twins’ surprising ability to hang close to the Cleveland Indians atop the American League Central standings. Free agency awaits him this offseason, this time with the promise of his first-ever multiyear deal, but Kintzler won’t let his mind wander that far. “I’m not going to worry about free agency,” he said. “I know if I take care of business with the Twins and we win, all that other stuff will come. I’m not thinking about the future ever again.” In the meantime, fans at Target Field have become quite familiar with “Lose Yourself,” which has become as close to a guaranteed-victory anthem as there is in the game. “I think the way (Eminem) explains his life and how you have to take part in the moment, that’s really what I had to do,” Kintzler said. “I literally got one shot to be a closer. I don’t think I’d ever get it again. I tried to take advantage of it. That song means everything to me, really.” In addition to watching “8 Mile” more times than he can count, Kintzler has made a point of reading interviews with Eminem (nee Marshall Mathers) to understand more about the song that has propelled both of them to unimaginable heights. While Kintzler grew up in in a family of modest means in Las Vegas, where his father, Rick, still operates a mobile oil-change business, Eminem’s Detroit-area youth carried challenges of its own. “I’ve actually researched, just to go back and read every meaning that he talks about,” Kintzler said. “The beginning of that song is awesome. I haven’t seen him in concert, but I would like to. I’d like to meet the guy.” ‘BACK WITH A VENGEANCE’ You only get one shot, do not miss your chance … This opportunity comes once in a lifetime A decade ago, in between helping his sister run a Cold Stone Creamery, Kintzler worked as an all-hours limousine driver for the Wynn Las Vegas casino. Among those he drove: country music superstar and baseball dabbler Garth Brooks.

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To this point, it seems Kintzler is the only active closer with “Lose Yourself” as his entrance song. “A lot of times these closers are guys that were supposed to be closers or whatever, so they like to have crazy songs,” he said. “But for someone that probably wouldn’t ever be a closer, that song means everything. Maybe those guys just didn’t feel that way.” He said he purposely doesn’t listen to “Lose Yourself” as a hype song before games or in the bullpen, preferring to save it for those moments just before he must face opposing hitters at the game’s highest level. “I don’t want to ever lose the meaning of it,” he said. “I don’t want to wear it out, so when it does happen it gives you a quick reminder. When no one wants you and you make your way back, you come back with a vengeance. That’s what I think means more to me.” On the Friday before the All-Star Game, roughly 12 hours after Twins manager Paul Molitor called him with news that he would be headed to Miami after all, Kintzler entered a game against the Baltimore Orioles with a 9-6 lead and an incredible sense of gratitude as he warmed up to his favorite song. “That was the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard,” he said. “The fans were awesome that night. When I came running in after they announced I made the game, I had chills down my back.” He thought back to that morning’s phone call from Molitor as he sat at breakfast with his wife Melissa and young son Knox. When Kintzler heard the news, he nearly dropped the phone. “I was just like, ‘Man, life’s crazy,’ “ he said. “When you put your mind to something and you put your head down and go, you never know what could happen.” Source: Twins nearing deal for Braves lefty Jaime Garcia Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | July 21, 2017 Determined to improve a starting rotation that ranks among the worst in the American League, the surprising Twins were closing in on a trade Thursday night for veteran left-hander Jaime Garcia, according to a person with direct knowledge. Garcia, who recently turned 31, has gone 3-7 with a 4.33 earned run average in 17 starts for the Atlanta Braves. Due roughly $4.79 million the rest of the season on an expiring contract, Garcia would move into a rotation that has already lost Phil Hughes and lefty Hector Santiago due to injury. The Braves would pick up less than half of Garcia’s remaining obligation, the person with direct knowledge said, but that figure was still being discussed along with which player or players the Twins would surrender. Medical reports were still being evaluated as well, but the deal was said to be “very close to final.” While Hughes is dealing with a recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome in his throwing shoulder, Garcia made it back from 2014 surgery for the same ailment. He also underwent shoulder surgery to repair labrum and rotator-cuff issues in 2013 while with the St. Louis Cardinals. Garcia would become the second member of the Braves’ first-half rotation to land with the Twins, joining 44-year-old Bartolo Colon, who cleared waivers and signed a minor-league deal with the Twins on July 7. While Garcia is making $12 million this year, the Braves remain responsible for all but the pro-rated minimum salary toward the $12.5 million they guaranteed Colon last offseason. Colon, who failed to record an out in the fifth inning on Tuesday, is tentatively scheduled to make a second start on Monday at Dodger Stadium. In addition to Colon, Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios, the Twins’ current rotation also includes rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia and right-hander Kyle Gibson. While the Twins have received just two quality starts in their past nine tries, Garcia turned in eight quality starts in a span of 10 outings through mid-June. He then went on a four-start downturn that saw him post a 9.41 earned run average with an 0-2 record, .988 combined on-base/slugging percentage allowed and five home runs in 22 innings. Garcia, who has seen his nine-inning strikeout rate dip to 6.88, rebounded to allow one earned run in seven innings on Sunday in a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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A native of Mexico with a career groundball rate of 56 percent, he previously pitched parts of eight seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 13 games in back-to-back seasons at the start of the decade. He posted a 2.43 ERA in 20 starts as recently as 2015 before slumping to a 4.67 ERA with a 10-13 mark last season with the Cardinals, who traded him to the Braves for two minor leaguers last offseason. Garcia has made seven postseason starts, including two solid World Series outings (1.80 ERA) in 2011 against Thad Levine’s Texas Rangers. Levine was hired as the Twins’ general manager last October after 11 seasons with the Rangers. Garcia worked seven shutout innnings in an eventual 2-1 loss for the Cardinals in Game 2 that year, then worked three innings of two-run ball in a Game 6 start that the Cardinals won 10-9 in 11 innings. Garcia angered the Cardinals with his quick decision to undergo TOS surgery during the 2014 season. “He’s been a hard guy to count on,” Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said at the time of Garcia. “He’s been a hard guy to keep on the field.” Twins starters have posted a 4.91 cumulative ERA, which ranks 24th in the majors and third-worst in the AL, ahead of only the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox. While the Twins, who recently took two of three from the New York Yankees, remain a half game behind in both the AL Central and AL wild-card standings, the Braves have fallen nine games out of the wild-card hunt in the National League. The teams previously matched up on a deal in May for utility man Danny Santana that brought the Twins minor-league lefty Kevin Chapman, who has since been released. Zulgad: Twins brain trust attempts to balance improving in 2017 while keeping key pieces for future Judd Zulgad | ESPN 1500 | July 21, 2017 Twelve days from baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, approximately an hour of the “Mackey & Judd” show Thursday morning was spent discussing what it might take for the Twins to pry coveted righthander Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics. These conversations can be great fun this time of year, especially with the Twins sitting only a half-game back of slumping Cleveland in the American League Central. Should the Twins consider packaging outfielder Eddie Rosario, top prospect Nick Gordon and maybe one other piece? What about Rosario and a top pitching prospect, such as Stephen Gonsalves or Fernando Romero, along with another prospect? Gray likely would not make the Twins a World Series contender for 2017, but the argument for considering this type of move is that he would provide a significant boost to the rotation and remain under team control through the 2019 season. The reality is that Gray likely will end up going to a 2017 World Series contender like the Houston Astros for a significant return of young talent. The Twins, who two weeks ago picked up Bartolo Colon off the scrapheap and gave him a start Tuesday, are now reportedly closing in on a deal with the Atlanta Braves to acquire 31-year-old lefthander Jaime Garcia. The trade will send prospects to the Braves, according to the Star Tribune. While the identity of those prospects is not yet known, it’s safe to say that Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey wouldn’t be parting with anyone he considered to be an essential part of the future for his ball club. Garcia would help bolster a Twins rotation that features Ervin Santana, Jose Berrios, Adalberto Mejia and little else. Minnesota has used 11 different starting pitchers and that group has combined for a subpar 4.91 ERA, placing them ahead of only the White Sox (4.98) and Baltimore (5.85) in the American League. Garcia, who spent his first eight seasons pitching for St. Louis, has battled injury issues in the past and went 10-13 with a 4.67 ERA in 32 games and 30 starts in 2016 for the Cardinals. Traded to the Braves last December, Garcia is 3-7 with a 4.33 ERA in 17 starts pitching in the final season of a contract that is paying him $12 million. After a four-start stretch in which he gave up 23 earned runs and had a 9.41 ERA, Garcia rebounded with a seven-inning performance in

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which he surrendered one run, four hits and struck out seven while walking three in a 7-1 victory last Sunday against Arizona. The Twins’ unexpected success this summer, coupled with Cleveland’s inability to pull away in the division, has created an interesting and unexpected situation for Falvey and general manager Thad Levine. Instead of having the freedom to attempt to deal Santana to add to the farm system, the Twins find themselves trying to make moves to strengthen the roster for 2017 while not subtracting any important pieces for the coming years. This annoys many fans who consider Falvey and Levine to have picked up where former general manager Terry Ryan left off. This is silly considering the Twins’ new brass already has shown itself to have a much different approach from the previous administration. While Falvey and Levine likely would admit they are pleasantly surprised to see the Twins this close to first place, it has changed their expected plan as the trade deadline nears. The question Falvey and Levine have had to deal with in recent weeks is exactly how much they want to alter that plan? Getting a guy like Gray would create a big splash, but would come at a substantial price. Getting Garcia isn’t going to cause as much excitement but shows a willingness to address a weakness without abandoning the long-term plan. Did the Twins miss the boat by not trading for ex-Marlins reliever David Phelps? Derek Wetmore | ESPN 1500 | July 21, 2017 The Twins are 48-46, currently a half-game out of a wild card spot in the American League. That’s one game ahead of the Seattle Mariners (48-48), as of this writing. The Twins bullpen has some bad numbers this year. The Twins bullpen has two guys who’ve been reliable all season and have very good numbers to show for it. The Twins bullpen could use another late-inning, high-leverage reliever. All of these statements are true. Another true statement: The Marlins just traded reliever David Phelps to the Mariners for a handful of prospects from the low minors. Did the Twins miss a good opportunity to upgrade their bullpen? Let’s establish a few things first, before we attempt to answer the central question of this piece. 1. The Twins are in contention. They entered Thursday’s day off with a 48-46 record, which is second in the A.L. Central, a half-game worse than the Cleveland Indians (and 1.5 games better than the Kansas City Royals, the division’s other contender). They’re also just one half-game behind the Yankees in pursuit of a Wild Card spot. So, yeah, despite their flaws they’re legitimate contenders on July 20. 2. They’re probably buyers. The guys who make the important decisions for the Twins have told other teams that they’ll be ‘measured buyers,’ according to an ESPN report. We’d have to speculate what that means. It probably means that they’ll add something to help make the 2017 team better. It also probably means they aren’t giving up all of their top prospects to make that happen. I think we can interpret that to mean that the Twins aren’t interested in getting a lot better for the next two months. But they’re going to try to get better. 3. They want player who will be around after this winter. Sure, they’d like to improve their current club. But based on the most recent public comments, it does appear that improving their 2018 team (and beyond) is a higher priority. 4. David Phelps is good. OK, now to the point of the piece. The Twins reportedly had interest in Phelps, a good reliever on a team looking to sell. Did the Twins make a mistake by not grabbing Phelps, or miss their chance to upgrade their bullpen on the trade market? Well, there are still other good relievers out there. A.J. Ramos, Brad Brach, Brad Hand, Kirby Yates, George Kontos, Jerry Blevins, and maybe others. Those are all relievers on bad teams that should be looking to sell at this year’s deadline. I don’t know that all of them will get traded. I would guess that some of them will. We should also say that Phelps isn’t the first reliever dealt. The Yankees snagged David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle from the White Sox. The Nationals landed Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson in a swap with the A’s. Phelps just feels like the kind of guy that could have headed to Minnesota if the pieces fit.

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I don’t study prospects nearly as closely as I used to. In part I think I got frustrated by the idea that memorizing the 250 or so best prospects in the minor leagues didn’t always translate very well when it came to knowing who would provide teams the most value over the next 5-10 years. Maybe I just didn’t have the adequate space in my brain. But in any case, I don’t know hardly enough about the prospects going back to the Marlins in the Phelps trade to fairly assess what I think of the haul. So I’ll rely on Baseball America to give the overview. The prospects going to Miami: Brayan Hernandez, 19, signed in the 2014 international signing period. Baseball America writes that “it’s been a slow climb for the toolsy-but-raw centerfielder.” Brandon Miller, 22, a former 6th-round pick and Division II pitcher, whom BA considers one of the top pitching prospects from the Mariners’ system. BA also says he has an “elite spin rate” on his fastball, and could be a “back-end starter as long as his changeup continues to develop.” Pablo Lopez, 21, a right-handed pitcher that BA thinks could climb through the minors by getting ground balls and not walking many hitters, despite the fact that he “doesn’t miss many bats.” Lucas Schiraldi, 23, a right-handed pitcher with “size and stuff, but poor command.” None of the four players made Baseball America’s Top-100 prospects list that published a few weeks ago. That’s the haul the Mariners gave up to get Phelps. People who study prospects much more closely than me seem to think it’s not very much to give up for 1+ year of Phelps. But it’s hard to say that from my corner with any real sense of conviction. The real haul this week, in my opinion, was for the Yankees. They got a nice package from the White Sox that include very good relievers Robertson and Kahnle, and also had third baseman Todd Frazier. It’s hard to compare that deal straight-up to the Phelps trade. In part, again, because I don’t have a deep working knowledge of the minor leagues involved. In the Yankees-White Sox trade, I also think salaries, team control, and the package element affected the price paid by New York. So while it’s easy for me to sit here and say that if I’m the Twins, I would have loved to add Robertson or Kahnle or both, I recognize that it’s not that simple. Nor is it as simple as saying the Twins should have jumped in the water to acquire Phelps. One thing we can say: The cost to acquire relievers — even non-rental relievers — is starting to be established. The Twins should be paying close attention. Preview: Twins vs. Tigers STATS | July 21, 2017 As the winds of change blow through major league baseball before the upcoming trade deadline, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins are becoming very active participants. The two teams who start a weekend series in Minnesota on Friday might look different before the end of the weekend. Detroit and Minnesota are very familiar with each other, but the Tigers made themselves known as sellers this week when they traded slugging outfielder J.D. Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. “We’re still in conversation with other clubs on several players,” Detroit general manager Al Avila told MLB.com this week. “So we’ll just have to take it a day at a time.” The Twins, just a half-game behind Cleveland in the American League Central, are buyers and appeared to have purchased a new starting pitcher. Multiple reports said Minnesota traded for Atlanta Braves left-hander Jamie Garcia a day before facing the Tigers. Garcia is just 3-7 with a 4.33 ERA, but the 31-year-old owns a 3.65 career ERA. The Twins have used 11 starting pitchers this year and have sought any kind of help behind Ervin Santana, Jose Berrios and the emerging Adalberto Mejia. Minnesota had 44-year-old Bartolo Colon start a game this week. There will be no worries about the starting pitcher on Friday against Detroit. Santana (11-6, 2.99 ERA) will be making his second start since pitching in the All-Star Game. He is 9-4 with a 3.08 ERA in his career against the Tigers. In his last outing, Santana earned a win against the Houston Astros by allowing two runs in six innings, even as he struggled with fastball

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command. “It was tough, especially when you don’t have command of the fastball,” Santana told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “You come in with sliders, but you also have to come in with the changeup. You don’t want to be throwing changeup all night, so I just tried to mix it up. I just tried to make an adjustment every time.” Minnesota is coming off a series win at home against the New York Yankees for the first time since 2008. The Twins are 8-5 in their last 13 games at home after starting the season with the worst home record in the AL. “We bunched them together,” Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said of the team’s offense in the series-clinching win Wednesday. “We’ve had a little trouble getting some clutch hits here since we’ve come out of the break, and we put three together in a row.” This time around, Minnesota won’t be facing Martinez, a big blow to Detroit’s potent lineup. “Now, you can get a left-handed bat in the lineup,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told MLB.com. “But let’s be honest: J.D.’s right-handed bat against a righty is better than most left-handed bats against a righty. In that sense, you’re not going to replace the offense. We’ll probably cover a little bit more ground in right field, but the offense won’t be replaced.” Detroit has lost two games in a row after a 16-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. The Tigers’ defense committed three errors in a four-run first inning for Kansas City. “It was an ugly inning, maybe the ugliest inning we’ve had defensively since I’ve been here,” Ausmus told MLB.com. Ausmus will look for improved defense behind Friday’s starter, Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 6.08), who will be making his sixth start of the season after moving into the rotation on June 19. He has a 3.99 ERA as a starter this season but gave up five runs in six innings to the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start. Sanchez has faced the Twins three times this season as a reliever, yielding eight runs in three innings. In his career, Sanchez is 5-4 with a 3.65 ERA against Minnesota. Braves Discussing Jaime Garcia With Twins, Other Teams Jeff Todd | MLB Trade Rumors | July 21, 2017 9:32am: Teams besides the Twins are still talking to the Braves about Garcia, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter). It isn’t known who the other clubs in the mix are, though earlier today, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweeted that the Astros and Royals were two of the the teams that had previously shown interest in Garcia. Kansas City, however, now appears to be more focused on acquiring a right-handed starter. TODAY, 7:14am: No deal has been finalized between the two sides as of this morning, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports. THURSDAY, 8:24pm: Minnesota is “very likely” to take over all of Garcia’s remaining salary (about $4.7MM), per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (via Twitter). 7:42pm: For what it’s worth, Garcia is still in a Braves’ uniform tonight, Kevin McAlpin of the Braves Radio Network tweets. Of course, that doesn’t mean the deal isn’t nearing completion; he isn’t scheduled to start until tomorrow. 6:44pm: It’s possible the Twins will be receiving an additional player in the deal, per LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune (via Twitter), though it seems that’d likely be a lower-level player of some kind. 6:12pm: It seems the swap is done except for the formalities. It’s being finalized right now, tweets Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, while MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger adds on Twitter that the sides are currently waiting on medical assessments. Atlanta will be receiving a minor-league player in return, he adds. 5:51pm: Minnesota is closing in on a deal for Garcia, Rosenthal tweets. 5:46pm: Amidst ongoing rumors that Braves starter Jaime Garcia may be dealt in short order, the Twins are engaged in discussions on the veteran southpaw, according to Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (via Twitter). It’s not apparent at this point whether other teams are still

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involved or whether an agreement could be nearing completion. Garcia is probably one of the better rental starters on a market that doesn’t have many of great interest (pending the availability of Yu Darvish). I’d generally concur with MLBTR’s readers, who rated him alongside Jeremy Hellickson, and behind Trevor Cahill and Marco Estrada, in a poll yesterday. Over his 106 innings this year, Garcia has pitched to a 4.33 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 along with a healthy 54.7% groundball rate. At times, previously, he has shown a fair bit more, but that sort of output likely represents a reasonable expectation moving forward for Garcia, who the Braves acquired over the winter after a long run with the Cardinals. Those looking for upside will note that Garcia does carry an 11.5% swinging-strike rate that is more reminiscent of his prime-level work. And it’s important to note that he has been plenty durable recently after experiencing several seasons marred by shoulder troubles. While Garcia doesn’t necessarily excite, he should represent a sturdy option for a club that needs good innings down the stretch. That’s the case for Minnesota, which finds itself firmly in the AL Central (and AL Wild Card) hunt despite a generally underwhelming overall performance — particularly from its pitching staff. The Twins just lost Phil Hughes back to the DL, where Hector Santiago also resides. Neither has been effective when healthy, and the same holds of Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia — whose palatable 4.22 ERA isn’t supported by the peripherals. That leaves just two reliable rotation pieces in Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios. The Twins did just add former Braves hurler Bartolo Colon, though it’s anybody’s guess what he’ll provide. While the Minnesota front office has focused more on the possibility of acquiring a controllable starter, it has acknowledged that rentals could also be pursued in the right circumstances. “We’re probably not going to be inclined to spend lavishly on short-term assets,” GM Thad Levine explained recently, “but we would be very open to spending aggressively on assets that we could use to propel our team forward this year and for years to come.” Garcia would help shore things up for the rest of the season, but he’ll head to free agency thereafter. If Levine’s statement still holds, then, it seems reasonable to anticipate that the Twins won’t be sending a big package to acquire Garcia — who, it should be noted, is earning at a hefty $12MM rate this year. Taking on some salary now, though, may be the preferred route to boosting the team’s chances at earning a surprise postseason spot, particularly if the demand for the few available top-end controllable pitchers is as great as it seems. MLB Trade Rumors: Twins reportedly close to acquiring Braves' Jaime Garcia R.J. Anderson | CBS Sports | July 21, 2017 The Minnesota Twins are just a half-game back in the American League Central, giving them a better-than-expected shot at a postseason berth. The Twins' front office seems intent on making the most of the opportunity while it lasts. To wit, the Twins are reportedly close to finalizing a trade with the Atlanta Braves that would bring Jaime Garcia to the Twin Cities. The talks are seemingly far enough along for the Braves to scratch their scheduled Triple-A starter Aaron Blair, who would seemingly take Garcia's place in the rotation when his spot is due up on Friday: Jon Heyman ✔ @JonHeyman twins will be acquiring jaime garcia. not finished, but just finalizing. 6:11 PM - 20 Jul 2017 · Queens, NY Rhett Bollinger ✔ @RhettBollinger Source confirms the #MNTwins are in the final stages of trading for Braves lefty Jaime Garcia. It's for a Minor Leaguer. Waiting on medicals 6:11 PM - 20 Jul 2017 Chris Cotillo ✔ @ChrisCotillo Braves scratched Aaron Blair from AAA start tonight, potentially to take the spot of Jaime Garcia in the rotation tomorrow night. 5:26 PM - 20 Jul 2017 86 86 Retweets 130 130 likes An impending free agent, Garcia would give the Twins a much-needed rotation boost. On the season, he's managed a 100 ERA+ and a 2.03

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strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Twins have taken to starting Braves castoff Bartolo Colon, which gives you an idea of why they're interested in making a bigger move to bolster their starting five. It appears the deal will go down sometime on Friday -- and that the Braves won't be eating all of what remains on Garcia's salary: Mike Berardino ✔ @MikeBerardino I'm told #mntwins and #Braves aren't expecting to complete Jaime Garcia deal tonight, but it's "very close to final." 8:33 PM - 20 Jul 2017 30 30 Retweets 38 38 likes Mike Berardino ✔ @MikeBerardino I'm also told #Braves will be sending along less than half remaining $4.79 million on Garcia's contract, which indicates modest player cost. 8:39 PM - 20 Jul 2017 We'll find out for certain soon enough. The Closer Who Doesn’t Strike Anyone Out Michael Baumann | The Ringer | July 20, 2017 When the Minnesota Twins hold the lead in a close game at home, the Target Field DJ puts Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” on the loudspeakers, because it’s the closer’s entrance music. That tradition dates back at least to Major League and Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn sauntering out of the Memorial Stadium bullpen to the Troggs song of the same name. Major League came out in 1989, just as managers like Tony La Russa were starting to use the save rule as a tactical crutch and pitchers like Dennis Eckersley were making the one-inning closer into a mythical figure. The save situation and the ninth inning became mystified, and the term “closer mentality” started creeping into the baseball lexicon, signifying an ineffable macho quality, a reckless courage found in cowboys or test pilots, that supposedly not all pitchers had. Closers who survive long enough come to be defined by their entrance music: Mariano Rivera is Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” just as surely as Trevor Hoffman is AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.” (Considering how closer mythology came to value aggression, it’s ironic that the two all-time saves leaders were generally considered to be nice, level-headed guys.) Not long after the introduction of the one-inning closer and entrance music, intimidation became part of the job. Some closers, like Rivera, were intimidating just by virtue of being excellent. Others had to find another way, whether it was shouting at hitters, perfecting a glare, occasionally throwing a 98 mph fastball high and tight, unbuttoning a jersey, or acting like a lunatic off the mound. Atlanta’s John Rocker did a little bit of everything. But when the bullpen door at Target Field swings open with a save on the line, what comes out is not your typical closer. Brandon Kintzler is the beneficiary of the custom by which any male athlete who’s 5-foot-9 or taller gets rounded up to 6-foot in the media guide. His hair’s a little shaggy, and his face is covered in a few days’ growth, like a teenager who went away to camp for the summer and is letting everything grow out while his parents can’t nag him to get a haircut. Except Kintzler, two weeks short of his 33rd birthday, has a little gray creeping into his hair and beard. There’s a long tradition in baseball writing, dating at least to Greg Maddux, of saying that pitchers who lack Syndergaardian stature “look like your accountant” or some other white-collar worker. But that doesn’t work for Kintzler, who simply looks too happy to be a grown-up with a normal job. He’s more like that teenager on summer vacation, giving long answers through a big smile. Kintzler is in his eighth big league season and his second with the Twins. In that season and a half with Minnesota, he’s saved 43 games with a 161 ERA+ in 95.2 innings. He’s three months from free agency and the big contract that often comes with it, and last week, he appeared in his first All-Star Game, in which he pitched a perfect fifth inning en route to a 2–1 American League victory. “There was stuff going on all the time — you never had a chance to breathe, but it was worth it,” Kintzler said. “When we took the team photo, you get a chance to talk to everyone for like five minutes, and when we stood on the line, everything moves fast, but you get to acknowledge everyone with the crowd going nuts. Then I had four innings to sit in the bullpen and enjoy it before I pitched, and afterwards a lot of guys left

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but I hung out in the dugout. You never know if you’re going back.” Kintzler has the confidence of a pitcher with eight years of big league experience, but also the perspective of a player who didn’t exactly take a traditional path to the All-Star Game, thanks to years in the independent leagues and injuries to his shoulder, knee, and elbow that threatened his career. Unlike the American League teammates for whom the All-Star Game was routine, Kintzler was aware that he was in a novel situation and grateful for everything, including that the Cleveland coaching staff blocked out the fifth for him. “It meant a lot,” Kintzler said. “Obviously, for guys like me it could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.” Last Tuesday in Miami, Kintzler threw 11 pitches, nine of them for strikes. While he didn’t generate a swing-and-miss, Kintzler did induce ground ball outs from Zack Cozart, Charlie Blackmon, and The Mighty Giancarlo Stanton in order. That’s Kintzler in a nutshell. The modern closer is supposed to be a strikeout machine, with Craig Kimbrel, Kenley Jansen, and Aroldis Chapman chasing and surpassing the 50 K% mark like it’s the four-minute mile. But while Kintzler pitches mostly off of his fastball, a 94 mph sinker, he’s the furthest thing you could imagine from a strikeout machine. Among the 27 pitchers with 10 or more saves this year, Kintzler ranks tied for dead last in strikeout rate at 15.6 percent. Kintzler’s K/9 of 5.44 would’ve been borderline unsurvivable even for a starter a decade ago; for comparison, both Kimbrel and Dellin Betances are striking out more than three times as many batters per inning as Kintzler. Instead, Kimbrel is the best current version of the traditional closer: A hard-throwing fastball–breaking ball guy who uses his breaking ball as a chase pitch. Kintzler throws his sinker 73.5 percent of the time and is more concerned with getting ahead in the count than with missing bats. Nevertheless, Kintzler is third in baseball in saves, and among pitchers with 10 or more saves, he’s seventh in ERA+ and 11th in opponent OBP. “If a strikeout comes, then I’ll take it, but I like to make the hitter uncomfortable by being in attack mode,” Kintzler said. “I like to force them to swing, because a lot of guys like to go up there and take some pitches, and they get in good counts. But if I force you to swing early in the count, I can expand the zone and force you to swing at a lot of balls.” It’s an approach that’s worked so far this year — Kintzler has posted a 206 ERA+ and is holding opponents to a .228/.275/.315 slash line — but it wasn’t always the plan. Kintzler inherited the closer’s role in Minnesota from Kevin Jepsen, a second-rounder, who inherited it from Glen Perkins, a first-rounder. The Yankees picked Kintzler in the 40th round out of Pasadena City College in 2003. Kintzler thought he could do better, so he transferred to Dixie State College of Utah (it’s complicated) but once more dropped to the 40th round, this time getting picked by the Padres. Kintzler spent two good but unspectacular seasons in the San Diego organization, never rising above low-A, before a shoulder injury cost him the entire 2006 season and his spot with the Padres. In 2007, Kintzler landed with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League. “I thought it was going to be a piece of cake when I went down there,” Kintzler said. “I was 22, I got rookie of the year or whatever, I thought I’d get signed in a heartbeat.” In fact, it took Kintzler nearly three years of indie ball, two in Winnipeg and a third with the St. Paul Saints, to get back into the MLB pipeline. By this point, Kintzler had no illusions about his chances, but he wouldn’t let himself think about a career outside baseball. “Going into my third year of independent ball, you start thinking, ‘What else can I possibly do? Is this going to be it?’” Kintzler said. “I wasn’t sold on ‘Do I need a backup plan yet?’ as much as I was sold on ‘I need to give everything I’ve got to this one situation,’ and then figure it out after that.” Kintzler posted a 2.79 ERA in 80.2 innings for St. Paul, which earned him a job with the Milwaukee Brewers, who sent him to Double-A for nine appearances by the end of the 2009 season. Kintzler made his major league debut on September 10, 2010, at the age of 26. “After I got signed out of there, then I made it to the big leagues the next year, I realized you’re a lot closer than you think you are,” Kintzler said. “I never thought [I’d make the] MLB All-Star Game. I never really thought I’d make the big leagues. I just needed to get healthy to give myself a chance to do it.” At this point in his career, Kintzler was throwing the sinker and a four-seamer, but his out pitch was a sweeping, mid-80s slider. On May 14, 2011, Kintzler went on the DL with a stress fracture in his elbow and missed the rest of the season. When he started throwing again, he couldn’t

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get a feel for his slider. The elbow healed, but the out pitch didn’t, leaving him with just the sinker. It’s possible to get by as a closer on just the fastball — Rivera did it, and Jansen is doing it — but it’s not easy. Most top closers need a breaking pitch or, less common, a changeup to keep hitters off-balance. “It’s depressing,” Kintzler said of waking up without his slider. “You go out there knowing you’re a one-trick pony, but you’ve just got to make it happen and learn how to pitch with one pitch.” So he did. Kintzler returned to make 14 appearances for the Brewers in 2012, then 71 in 2013 and 64 in 2014. In 2014, he threw his sinker 72 percent of the time and posted a 117 ERA+, which brought him over three years of service time and resulted in his first million-dollar salary in 2015, a huge deal for someone who maxed out at $1,250 a month in indie ball. But sometimes pitcher injuries spread from one part of the body to another, as the body tries to compensate for the injury by putting more stress on a different joint, and after pitching in pain for two years, Kintzler finally had surgery after the 2014 season to repair a torn patella tendon. “You don’t get time to adjust if you’re trying to get outs,” Kintzler said. “The Brewers were trying to rush me back from an elbow surgery, and I didn’t have time to rehab properly, to learn to throw again. Then my knee went as I was coming back from that, so my body never really got to adjust.” The knee injury caused him to miss June and July of the 2015 season, and when he could pitch, he did it mostly in the minor leagues. At season’s end, the Brewers cut ties with the then-31-year-old, and Kintzler signed a minor league deal with the Twins. By May 2016, armed with his sinker and not much else, he was back in the big leagues. intzler knows how unusual it is for a closer in this day and age to strike out so few batters, but he believes his approach is quite well-suited to attack hitters whose swing planes are designed to put the ball in the air. To compensate, Kintzler likes to get on top of his sinker to force it down at the last second and make it difficult to elevate. “These guys can adjust to balls that move to the side, but everyone’s trying to lift, so if I create a ball that moves down at the end, that makes them top the ball,” Kintzler said. “That’s why I don’t try to throw a two-seamer, I try to drive a two-seamer.” Kintzler pitches with the motion you’d use to put a box of cereal back on the top shelf of the pantry, pitching arm extended well over his head, fingers pushing down on the baseball with the aim of fooling the hitter not completely, but just enough to keep him from making solid contact. “Guys want to hit homers and they want to be the hero,” Kintzler said, “so I take that to my advantage.” Going out and looking for weak contact is a bit of a high-wire act, as Sam Dyson proved during his disastrous season-opening stint with the Rangers. After saving 38 games in 2016 and making Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, Dyson all of a sudden couldn’t get on top of the ball anymore, and before you could say “José Mesa” he’d racked up three blown saves, three losses, a 27.00 ERA, and a win probability added of minus-2.587 in his first six appearances of the 2017 season. Dyson was eventually traded to the Giants and couldn’t get his ERA below 9.00 until July 1. The example is not lost on Kintzler. While his predecessor Perkins became famous for embracing data-driven analysis, Kintzler doesn’t want to know much about the hitters he’s facing or his own Statcast numbers. Instead, he operates by feel and tries to get information back on every pitch, making sure he’s following his mechanics and not getting around the side of the ball. “If I’m getting too quick over the rubber — meaning I’m leaving the rubber too early or getting a little jumpy — I know that it’s going to run a little bit, so I get very quick feedback on what’s happening,” Kintzler said. Six years after his initial elbow injury, Kintzler says he’s starting to get a feel for his slider again, and he’s using his changeup more, which gives him more options and more room for error. “I can move my fastball to many different parts of the strike zone, which makes it, really, three or four pitches,” Kintzler said. “Now that my slider’s coming back, I feel like I’ve got weapons now. My changeup’s been pretty good. Feels like I can make a few more mistakes.” But how many mistakes?

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All kinds of oddball pitching acts have thrived as closers over the years, including numerous low-strikeout sinker ballers. Dyson was a superb high-leverage reliever for two and a half years before his 2017 collapse, and last year, Zach Britton allowed just four earned runs in 67 innings. But both Dyson and Britton are bigger than Kintzler, throw harder, strike more people out, and get more ground balls. Britton’s 2016 K% was almost double Kintzler’s this year. Kintzler aims to throw strikes and induce grounders and weak contact, and he’s good at those things, but not outstanding, by modern relief standards, at any of them. Among 170 qualified relievers in 2017, Kintzler has the 18th-lowest walk rate, and he ranks 35th in ground ball rate and 63rd in soft contact rate. Despite his gaudy save totals and ERA, Kintzler is still playing with fire. FIP, which doesn’t credit pitchers for inducing weak contact, was never going to like a pitcher who doesn’t strike anyone out, but DRA, which is more sophisticated, has Kintzler at 4.24, almost double his actual ERA. To be blunt, every meaningful statistical indicator points against Kintzler continuing to be a top-end closer. And yet Kintzler’s allowed only one run (unearned), seven hits, and one walk in 12 innings over the past month. He’s converted his past 11 save chances, and hasn’t needed more than 17 pitches to retire the side since May 28. He might be headed for a Dysonesque collapse, but he isn’t there yet. If identified as such early on, the modern closer usually doesn’t take long to make it to the back end of a big league bullpen. Chapman made it to the major leagues the year he signed with the Reds, while Kimbrel took less than two years. Kintzler looks at that process the way you’d expect a 40th-round pick and three-year indy league veteran to look at it. “I don’t think they appreciate the grind,” he said of the fast-moving pitching prospects. “They think, ‘Well, I went to the minor leagues.’ They haven’t gone through the minor leagues. Until you’ve been in the bushes, you don’t know. Until you’re taking home food from a minor league game so you can eat the next day, you don’t know what it’s like to grind.” That grind seems to be the key to Kintzler’s odd blend of self-confidence and self-awareness, the mix of “I know this works” and “I never expected it to.” Having spent his early 20s in the wilderness and having endured severe injuries to three different parts of his body, baseball has nothing to threaten him with anymore. He has nothing to fear. When a torn labrum limited Perkins to just two innings last year, the Twins planned to use Jepsen as the closer, then altered the plan when Jepsen struggled early, handing the ninth inning to whomever of Kintzler or lefty Fernando Abad fit the matchups better. “I figured they’d let [Jepsen] get his feet under him again, and with righties coming up they gave me the inning and I did well,” Kintzler said. “They gave me the next situation, and Abad had the next one after that. … I just tried to run with it, because I knew it would probably never happen again.” Kintzler saved 17 games from Jepsen’s demotion in June through the end of the season. Abad saved one, and was traded to Boston on August 1. Becoming a successful closer was the last significant hurdle on a 13-year journey from junior college to the All-Star Game, and Kintzler still has a hard time accepting it. “I don’t take myself very seriously, because you’ll get humbled really fast in this game,” Kintzler said. “I know that when you blow a save it’s by far the worst feeling in baseball, and it’s hard to recover from. And the second you say, ‘I’m a big league closer,’ someone comes up and ruins the game for you.” Kintzler knows how little wiggle room he has, and how steep the drop is if he falters. But he knows the grind too well to do anything but look over the edge and smile.