The Twins have signed 31-year old switch hitting shortstop Chase Lambin to a minor league deal. Lambin played in 136 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 123 of 488 (.252 avg, .741 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 15 homers, 58 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. He has now played in 946 games in 9 years in the minors and he is 844 of 3,134 (.269 avg, .791 OPS) with 455 runs scored, 102 homers, 437 RBIs and 44 stolen bases. Lambin was likely just signed for organizational depth.

The Twins have re-signed 28-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Justin Huber. Huber played in 121 games in AAA-ball for the Twins in 2009 and he was 120 of 440 (.273 avg, .838 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 22 homers, 76 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He also played in 1 game for the Twins in 2009. In parts of five years in the majors, Huber has played in 72 games in which he was 36 of 161 (.224 avg, .580 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 2 homers, 15 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He will try to win a bench job with the Twins next spring.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Danny Valencia finished in 3rd place in the voting for the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award behind Rangers’ closer Neftali Feliz and Tigers’ CF Austin Jackson. Valencia played in 85 games for the Twins last season and he was 93 of 299 (.311 avg, .799 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 7 homers, 40 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. 3B has been a Black Hole for the Twins lately so they are very excited about Valencia and his future.

27-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano tied with Detroit’s Justin Verlander for 11th in the Cy Young Award Voting in the A.L. this year. Liriano pitched in 31 games (all starts) for the Twins last season and he was 14-10 with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. He has now pitched in 108 games (89 starts) in his 5 years with the Twins and he is 38-32 with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. The Twins just hope that Liriano stays healthy in the future as he’s just plain nasty.

Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire has won the A.L. Manager of the Year Award. He did so by leading the Twins to a 94-68 (58%) record during the regular season. The voting came in before the playoffs so the Twins meek playoff effort (0-3 to the Yankees) wasn’t considered in the voting. Gardenhire has managed the Twins to a 802-656 (55%) record during the regular season in his 9 years in charge. But he continues to be awful in the post season where he is 6-21 (22.2%). The Twins decided to overlook his consistent playoff failures by rewarding him with a 2-year contract extension.