Twins players, staff preparing to scatter for unprecedented All-Star break

Eight major league teams will get a three-day All-Star break next week. Another 20 teams will take four days off. But only two — the Twins and the Angels — have unprecedented five-day midseason vacations coming up.

"It's kind of amazing," Gio Urshela marveled. "That's a long time. We're used to being here every day."

What an opportunity, right? It's not hard to imagine a pitcher throwing a bullpen session on a Maui beach, or perhaps an outfielder, let's pick Max Kepler at random, landing in Berlin in time for lunch on Monday.

"It's an eight-hour flight," the German citizen pointed out, scotching the notion. "Eight hours back, too. Not worth it."

The Twins will scatter after Sunday's game, with Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez headed for the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, and everyone else free to roam wherever they like, responsible only to be in Detroit in time for Saturday night's resumption of the season.

"I don't have any restrictions for the players. I want our players to enjoy this time. It's time everyone in this game has earned," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I think we have guys going to some national parks. Some guys are going to be in some different places."

That includes Baldelli himself. The manager said he is tentatively planning "about an 18-hour trip" to see his favorite band, Phish, perform in Philadelphia.

The standard four-day All-Star break was originally extended to five for the Tigers and Twins due to an Elton John concert scheduled for Monday at Comerica Park; the extra day was to give the grounds crew more time to prepare the stadium, and the teams were to make up the game with a doubleheader on Saturday.

But when the first week of the season was postponed due to the lockout, the Tigers were forced to play a makeup doubleheader in Oakland next Thursday, and Saturday's second-half resumption was cut back to one game.

It didn't affect the Twins' long layoff, though, which Elias Sports Bureau confirms is, along with the Angels' unusual Sunday-through-Thursday layoff, the longest scheduled in-season break that didn't involve teams traveling internationally. And though the time off will be nice, Baldelli has already begun worrying about it, too. He met with his players on Tuesday to discuss it.

"It's definitely a challenge, keeping guys physically where they need to be, when half the team is probably traveling, either home or on a trip. We talked to everyone about our plan, and reminded our guys several times to keep their bodies moving," Baldelli said. "Pitchers are going to have to throw. The position players are going to have to swing. You can't take three or four days and sit around."

Baldelli has scheduled optional workouts for Thursday and Friday at Target Field, before a team flight to Detroit on Friday night. He expects no more than half the team to attend, though.

"It's a good break mentally," Baldelli said. "But we want to make sure they're getting what they need so when they show up to play, we're in the best spot we can be."

Ryan Jeffers has been on an 8-for-24 hot streak since sitting out three games earlier this month because of a bruised right thumb. But hot or not, Jeffers' thumb is still bothering him, so on Friday, the second-year catcher went on the 10-day injured list.

"It's the same thumb. He's getting a lot of different testing done," Baldelli said. "We've seen some different things on the tests. We're calling it a contusion right now. It looks like it's more serious than a typical contusion though."

With the upcoming break, it's possible Jeffers will only miss five games. Caleb Hamilton, a 23rd-round pick in the 2016 draft, was added from Class AAA St. Paul, where he was hitting .252 with 10 home runs. He will be the first Twin ever to wear No. 90.

Sonny Gray was fine, Baldelli said, one day after the righthander was hit on his right triceps by a line drive. "He has a welt on his arm, that's about it," the manager said.