Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Thursday, September 22, 2016 Twins coaching staff in limbo as final games approach. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 1 Heavy rains postpone Twins-Tigers game; split doubleheader set for Thursday. Star Tribune (Neal lll) p. 2 Minnesota Twins: Front-office interviews could stop at five candidates. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 3 Minnesota Twins: Trevor May diagnosed with stress fracture in his back. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 4 Tigers-Twins rained out; split twin bill Thursday. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 5 Anibal, Tigers face Dean, Twins in Game 1. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 6 Sano hopes to rejoin Twins' lineup Thursday. MLB.com (Bollinger) p. 6 Molitor likes challenge of managing. MLB.com (Bloom) p. 7 Preview: Twins vs. Tigers. The Sports Xchange p. 8 Three Needs: Minnesota Twins. MLBTradeRumors (Adams) p. 9 Twins coaching staff in limbo as final games approach La Velle E. Neal lll | Star Tribune | September 22, 2016 When a team is having a season like the Twins are, someone has to be held accountable. The Twins are closing in on 100 losses for only the second time in franchise history and have a chance to tie or pass the 102-loss 1982 team. Attendance is not expected to top 2 million for the first time in Target Field history. While the club announced that manager Paul Molitor will return for 2017, the same has not been said for any of the coaches. With all the coaches’ contracts set to expire Oct. 31, the expectation is that changes are coming. What’s not clear is who will make the changes. The Twins are approaching the end of their initial phase of their search for a president of baseball operations. A source confirmed Wednesday that Cubs executive Jason McLeod recently interviewed, and that the Twins are near the end of their list of candidates. Whoever is hired will have say-so in which coaches stay or go. Interim general manager Rob Antony, himself a candidate, will not make those decisions unless he’s hired. “That’s not fair to the person that has that job, and it is not fair or right for the coaches,” Antony said. “So they are kind of in limbo right now, as are a lot of people.” Twins President Dave St. Peter said he and owner Jim Pohlad are sensitive to the situation. “There’s a number of people who are dealing with uncertainty and perceive themselves as in limbo,” St. Peter said. “Clearly, it is our intent to move our search process as quickly along as possible.” The staff consists of pitching coach Neil Allen, hitting coach Tom Brunansky, bench coach Joe Vavra, bullpen coach Eddie Guardado, first base coach Butch Davis, third base coach Gene Glynn and assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez Allen has expressed a desire to return. But the Twins’ staff ERA of 5.11 entering Wednesday was the worst in the AL and second worst in baseball. A club-record 28 pitchers have been used. Of the 12 Opening Day pitchers, seven have either been injured, traded or waived. In addition to the staff underperforming, Allen was arrested May 26 and charged with drunken driving. He was away from the team until July 7 while getting treatment. He knows that is something he can’t get away from. “They could have thrown me to the wolves or under the curb then,” Allen said. “Instead, they chose to help me get my life back on track again. And I’ll always be indebted to them and thankful to them for that. [But] there’s got to be a little something in the background of that situation that has scarred some thoughts. At the same time, if they are willing to go forward with me and give me the opportunity again, I would love that.” Brunansky has seen his offense sail at times, fail at others. The Twins averaged 4.06 runs a game over the first three months but 5.2 in July and August. It was the first month of the season — remember that 0-9 start? — when the offense was particularly anemic, and Brunansky already is plotting a strategy to avoid a repeat in 2017. Provided he returns. “My mind-set is when I come into a year, regardless if you win or lose, you always say, hey, there is always a chance you can be let go,” Brunansky said. “It’s not one where you feel very secure and strong, but you have to be able to deal with reality.” It was business as usual at Target Field on Wednesday, as the coaches met with Antony to go over the 40-man roster. Perhaps the next time they meet with him will be to get an update on their job status. “What I have told the coaching staff is that they should plan on flying back to Minnesota after our last game and be available to me that Monday or Tuesday,” Antony said, “whether it is with me or somebody else. If things are not resolved, I will give them as much direction as possible. And if it is resolved, we can move forward and do a lot more.’’ Heavy rains postpone Twins-Tigers game; split doubleheader set for Thursday La Velle E. Neal lll | Star Tribune | September 22, 2016 The Twins played nearly three innings Wednesday night at Target Field before heavy rains led to a 90-minute delay, then a postponement. It washed out three successful innings by Jose Berrios. The rookie righthander needed 29 pitches to get through the first inning against the Tigers, but he struck out Tyler Collins with a 96 miles-per- hour fastball at the knees to end the inning. Berrios pumped his fist as he came off the field. “It was good for me to get that last out,’’ Berrios said. “It was damage control for me.’’ He then gave up a leadoff double to James McCann in the second but stranded him at third. That made it two consecutive starts in which he didn’t give up a run in the first two innings. In his eight starts before that, Berrios had given up a run in the first or second inning. Then Berrios pitched a 1-2-3 third inning. He was on a roll — although Miguel Cabrera hammered a 0-2 changeup that would have landed in the seats if not for a strong breeze. The Twins have tinkered with Berrios’ windup to help his control, and there’s nothing like scoreless innings for positive reinforcement. And Berrios, who began the night with an 8.88 ERA, needs all the reinforcement he can get as he tries to end a rocky first season on a positive note. Unfortunately for Berrios, the outing officially never happened, because the teams will play two games at 1:10 and 7:10 p.m. Thursday. Lefthander Pat Dean will face righthander Anibal Sanchez in the first game, with righthander Ervin Santana going against Justin Verlander in the second game. “It’s like it never happened, because it’s going to get washed away,’’ Twins manager Paul Molitor said, “but at least in his mind he went out there and competed well for three innings.’’ 2 The game was scoreless in the third, but the Twins had two men on, two out and Max Kepler at the plate when the heavy rain began. Lightning and thunder weren’t far behind. And the forecast called for rain well into the night. May had small fracture Righthander Trevor May was examined by California specialist Dr. Robert Watkins on Monday, when the source of his back problems was found. May has a small fracture in one of the vertebrae, which he said likely occurred late in the 2015 season. It was hard to detect, so May ended up pitching this season without knowing what the problem was. He thinks it would heal, then break again as he resumed pitching. There are conditioning and mechanical adjustments that can be made to help get through the issue, and May will be ready to pitch next year. “It’s just one of those years,’’ said May, who was 2-2 with a 5.27 ERA this season. Etc. Miguel Sano could return to the lineup Thursday after recovering from a sore back. Minnesota Twins: Front-office interviews could stop at five candidates Mike Berardino | Pioneer Press | September 21, 2016 Interim general manager Rob Antony will be the only in-house candidate to receive a formal interview for the Twins’ baseball-operations leadership role, a person with direct knowledge said Wednesday. Antony, who has already interviewed, has handled the day-to-day responsibilities since longtime GM Terry Ryan was fired on July 18. Antony completed three trades by the Aug. 1 deadline that brought in left-handers Hector Santiago and Adalberto Mejia and relievers Pat Light and Alan Busenitz. At least three of Ryan’s top lieutenants received consideration but will not be granted interviews, the person said. Mike Radcliff, vice president of player personnel; special assistant Wayne Krivsky and scouting director Deron Johnson had been considered potential in-house candidates along with Antony, who also stepped in when Ryan was undergoing cancer treatment during the first half of 2014. Krivsky was the Cincinnati Reds’ GM a decade ago. Four outside candidates have interviewed: Jason McLeod (Chicago Cubs), J.J. Picollo (Kansas City Royals), Chaim Bloom (Tampa Bay Rays) and Derek Falvey (Cleveland Indians). It’s still possible that list of outside interviews will grow. McLeod, whose mother is Samoan, is the only minority candidate to interview so far.