Twins deal Graham to Yankees, prepare to face Indians

The Twins have agreed to send righthander J.R. Graham to the New York Yankees in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Which means the Twins won't get much in return for the hard-throwing-yet-erratic righthander.

It ends a strange courtship with Graham, whom the Twins selected in the Rule 5 draft prior to the 2015 season. They were required to keep him on the major league roster the entire year, and did so. Graham was effective at times as he flashed that big arm but still had a ways to go to be a reliable major league reliever.

He didn't make the club out of spring training and was sent to Class AAA Rochester. No problem there. Graham could work on his breaking pitches while harnessing that 97 mile an hour fastball of his. But he struggled at Rochester before being called up to the majors in an emergency. He entered a May 4 game against the Astros with the bases loaded and nearly gave up a grand slam to Jose Altuve, the ball landing just short of the center field wall for a two-run double.

The Twins needed a spot on the 40-man last week when they wanted to shake up the roster, and Graham was DFA'd. Seems like the Twins went through a lot to keep Graham on the roster to just give up on him in May. But the sides are moving on.

It's raining here. And there's no rain clouds on the radar. The locals are telling me that it's supposed to be rainy and cold all afternoon. Darn lake effect. But it's a fitting backdrop for the Twins as they could run their losing streak to nine games with a loss to Corey Kluber and the Indians.

Twins

Twins

Joe Mauer, 1B
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Miguel Sano, RF
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Byung Ho Park, DH
Brian Dozier, 2B
Eddie Rosario, LF
Juan Centeno, C
Danny Santana, CF

Ervin Santana, RHP

Indians

Carloa Santana, DH
Jason Kipnis, 2B
Francisco Lindor, SS
Mike Napoli, 1B
Jose Ramirez, 3B
Marlon Byrd, RF
Yan Gomes, C
Tyler Naqin, CF
Rajai Davis, LF

Corey Kluber, RHP