Brendan Harris News

A A A Plouffe should make it to the majors at some point in 2010 or 2011 as an infield utility man, but is unlikely to lock down a starting job with the Twins.

The Twins have until 10:59 p.m. CT on Saturday to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players, and at least one of those players is considered a possible non-tender candidate.

The Twins entered the Winter Meetings with two significant needs to address. The first of those was met on Monday night with Carl Pavano's decision to accept arbitration, providing the club with the veteran starter it had desired.

New offseason. Same old problem. "If we started today, Brendan Harris would be my starting third baseman," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

What do Brendan Harris and Gene Larkin have in common? In a perfect world, the answer would be simple: nothing .

It's hard not to respect a guy like Harris after reading that. He definitely went up a few notches in my book.

Joe Crede was on the Twins' radar at this time last year, though not much was made of it publicly, General Manager Bill Smith said.

If youa TMve heard it once, youa TMve heard it a thousand times. A The Twins need another infielder and they need a legitimate hitter to handle the two-hole in the lineup.

It's looking like third base is this year's version of last year's left field, in which there are a whole lot of free agents out there and not as many teams needing help at the position.

Twins take 3B Brian Buscher off 40-man roster Eds: APNewsNow. MINNEAPOLIS The Minnesota Twins have moved third baseman Brian Buscher off their 40-man roster and assigned him to Triple-A Rochester.

It's hard to understand why Phil Hughes threw Vladimir Guerrero that 1-2 fastball after the Angels slugger had just swung and missed so miserably at the curve.

It may have been worry, it may have been discipline, it may have merely been routine.

The Yankees' Brett Gardner slides safely into third base ahead of the tag by the Twins' Brendan Harris in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the ALDS.

About forty-five minutes after Mariano Rivera induced the weak groundout from Brendan Harris that ended this American League Division Series, a few Twins fans lingered in some hidden corner of the Metrodome, testing, for one last time, the stadium's acoustics.

Nick Punto's aggressiveness and a late stop sign by third base coach Scott Ullger cost the Twins a shot at tying the game in the eighth.

It was against the Twins , when Rivera came in with runners on first and third and gave up a game-tying home run to Delmon Young.

The move means Tolbert will be ineligible if the Twins are able to rally past the New York Yankees and advance to the American League Championship Series.

The Minnesota Twins have been here plenty of times before, beating a path through chilly October mornings into their Teflon-topped funhouse of a stadium and knowing they need to find within these walls a way to prevent their season from ending.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire put Jose Morales, who hit .311 in 54 games, into the lineup at DH against Andy Pettitte.

Despite closer Joe Nathan's struggles in Friday's Game 2, giving up the tying two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez, the Twins aren't fretting about the four-time All-Star. Manager Ron Gardenhire called it 'stunning' when Nathan blows a save like he did in New York.