The Nationals wanted to be able to keep Levale Speigner who was selected off of the Twins roster in the Rule 5 Draft and send him to the minors so they traded 28 year old outfielder Darnell McDonald to the Twins so they could.  The 28 year old righty swinging McDonald has played in 73 AAA games this season and he was 84 for 267 (.315 avg, .812 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 2 homers, 41 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.  McDonald will add nice depth in the minors for the Twins as he can handle any position in the outfield defensively.  He has 17 games of major league experience and he’s 5 for 32 (.156 avg, .394 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base.

Torii Hunter looks focused on getting a big pay day at the end of the season as the Twins are benefitting from it.  Hunter has played in 66 games this season and he’s 74 for 245 (.302 avg, .899 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 14 homers, 54 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.  Hunter is providing Justin Morneau with excellent protection in the lineup which is amazing seeing how no one is protecting Hunter in the lineup.  Hunter also is playing his usual all world defense in center field which will surely net him another Gold Glove.  We’ll see if the Twins can afford to keep Hunter after this season as he will be in high demand if he keeps playing like he is right now all season long.

Luis Castillo has really been awesome in his last 24 games.  In those games, he’s 35 for 100 (.350 avg, .779 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  His recent super hot streak has improved his season average to .330 and his OPS to .740.  Look for Castillo to keep hitting well and for him to continue to flash impressive leather at 2B.  He’s the perfect Twins player as he does the little things that help teams win.

The Twins are 6-6 the last two weeks as they’ve been outscored 59-55 by their opponents.  The Twins have wasted some good hitting with poor pitching as of late.  The Twins enter this week with a 30-31 record which has them in 3rd place in the American League Central, 7 games behind the Indians.

The Minnesota Twins better hope that they keep Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer healthy all season long because they have been almost the whole offense this year.  Between the three of them they are hitting .294, have scored 106 runs (41.4% of team total), whacked 34 homers (82.9% of team total) and have driven in 127 runs which is 52.7% of the team total.  The Twins can’t afford for any of these three guys to go into a slump or the Twins offense will suffer.  The Twins also better be careful when Joe Mauer returns because they need him healthy to get on base for the big three.  The Twins also should consider trading some of their stellar relief pitchers for a bat or two.