Twins

For the final time during the regular season, Seth and Jeremy will be doing a live Twins Hangouts at 9pm. Please leave your questions below.

On this week's No Juice Podcast -- recorded from JL Beers in Northeast Minneapolis -- Dan Anderson and Parker Hageman discuss the Minnesota Twins' struggles with their first round draft picks, the possibility of Joe Mauer never bouncing back and more.

Click to listen.

The Minnesota Twins bullpen maintains the worst strikeout rate in baseball but on Thursday afternoon, they made a move to improve that area.

After sending Michael Tonkin down to Rochester after Wednesday’s game, they recalled hard-throwing Alex Meyer to replace him. Meyer, who the team received in the Denard Span trade with Washington as a starting pitching prospect, has rediscovered himself as a reliever in the Red Wings bullpen. Since the move Meyer has worked 17 innings in relief and has limited opponents to a .188 batting average while posting a solid 20-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Aaron and John talk about the most depressing losses in Minnesota sports history, project the Twins' rotation and bullpen, check in on Denard Span and Ben Revere, wonder where Josmil Pinto will wind up, sleep well on Casper mattresses, debate arms versus legs, and answer mailbag questions from listeners. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click the Play button below.

We learned yesterday that the Minnesota Twins were going to be calling up infielder Jorge Polanco. Most likely, he will be taking Trevor Plouffe's spot on the roster as he heads to the disabled list with his intercostal strain.

Polanco will likely be the Twins backup at all three infield positions until Plouffe is able to return.

It brings up an interesting topic that we have seen a few times already this season. When should a prospect be called up to sit?

The Twins played their 81st game on Sunday, marking the exact halfway point of the 2016 season. Around this time, I always find it interesting to project some final numbers based on first-half totals.

Let's examine a few noteworthy and surprising on-pace numbers for the Minnesota Twins.

For the first time since adding Joe Mauer in 2001, the Twins are going to be first on the clock when the 2017 draft kicks off. It’s exciting. The opportunity to add the best amateur player to an already strong, young system is an encouraging step for an organization with a new leader.

But before we examine the top five candidates to hear their name called at the top of the draft, we should look at some of the uncertainties that need to be cleared up before the draft happens in eight months.

Part of Minnesota's blueprint for success from 2002 through 2010 was taking advantage of the unbalanced schedule and piling up wins against inferior AL Central opponents. Lately that has been an exceedingly tall order, with the division producing pennant winners in four of the last five seasons.

Most recently it was the Cleveland Indians, who charged through the postseason before coming up just short of a World Series title. Today we kick off our team-by-team 2017 preview of AL Central opponents with a look at the reigning champs.