The Twins finally have pulled the plug on Mike Lamb’s season. The Twins pretty much handed him the starting job at 3B in spring training and he lost it quickly. Lamb played in 81 games for the Twins this season and he was 55 for 236 (.233 avg, .598 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer and 32 RBIs. Some team will likely give Lamb a chance in September as a piece off of the bench where he used to excel. He was a complete bust for the Twins in 2008.

The Twins have acquired 37-year old lefty reliever Eddie “Everyday” Guardado from the Rangers for 21-year old righty reliever Mark Hamburger. Guardado has pitched in 55 games (0 starts) with the Rangers this season and he was 3-3 with 4 saves, a 3.65 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Guardado has now pitched in 851 games (25 starts) in his major league career and he is 44-58 with 187 saves, a 4.27 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Guardado pitched the first 11 seasons of his major league career with the Twins and he had 116 saves with them. Look for him to slide right into the set-up role in front of closer Joe Nathan. Hamburger pitched in 27 games in rookie ball (all in relief) and he was 1-2 with 13 saves, a 4.17 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He had 40 whiffs in only 36 innings so he has decent stuff, but, he was a small price to pay if Guardado helps get the Twins back to the playoffs.

24-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano has been great since his return to the major leagues. Getting rid of Livan Hernandez and bringing up Liriano is looking like a stroke of genius by the Twins’ front office. Liriano has started 3 games in August for the Twins and he is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. His recent surge has made his season numbers not so awful as he has now started 6 games for the Twins this season and he is 3-3 with a 4.97 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. There’s no reason to think that Liriano won’t pitch well the remainder of the season and help the Twins try to beat out the White Sox for the division.

The starting pitching of the Twins is the real reason that they are tied for first place with the White Sox right now and rookie Nick Blackburn has been a big part of that success. The 25-year old righty was the Twins’ #1 prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America and he’s showing why. Blackburn has started 24 games for the Twins this season and he is 9-6 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has only walked 24 batters in 144.2 innings this season buying into the Twins’ philosophy of throwing strikes and that’s a good thing because he has allowed 164 hits this year. Watching Blackburn pitch he really reminds me of a young Brad Radke and that’s a good thing.

The Twins have signed 32-year old switch hitting outfielder Bobby Kielty to a minor league contract. Kielty has played in 33 games in AAA+A+Rookie Ball this season and he is 26 for 108 (.241 avg, .783 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 3 homers and 24 RBIs. Kielty has a reputation of lighting up lefty pitching so the Twins will probably bring him up if he shows something in the minors for the Twins. Kielty has played in 599 games in his major league career and he is 456 for 1,792 (.254 avg, .756 OPS) with 257 runs scored, 53 homers, 253 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. This was a good low risk signing for the Twins.