Central Notes: Twins, Reds, Senzel,

Before hiring Rocco Baldelli As the 31st manager in franchise history (barely fourth in 33 years), the Twins have had her examined by two contemporary professionals serving the Minnesota Baseball Operations Department as special assistants: LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter, Athlete Andy McCullough. Shortly after Baldelli was hired, Baldelli faced the same difficulties from another pair of special assistants: Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. The legends of the Twins quartet do more than serve as protective types of older brothers to Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine, senior baseball officer. all levels of the Minnesota system. Levine said that of their veteran cabinet, "We did not acquire a single major league player without asking them to do the makeup work on them." Subscribers to The Athletic should read this article in full for a fascinating insight into the workings of the Twins organization. As you do that, we'll see what happens in the Midwest …

• The Reds do not expect to Nick SenzelLabrum ripped to affect his upcoming defensive placement, Mark Sheldon from MLB.com. Said director David Bell, "He is so young that, hopefully, his shoulder – he gets out of it and that will be no determining factor for the position he occupies. I am waiting for a complete recovery. " The organization was impressed by the speed with which Senzel set up camp in the center, enough to let his future defensive home remain a dependent variable. However, in the absence of a clear alternative to the center, Senzel should remain in place in the short term. There are also issues inside, where a handful of options dot the 2020 landscape, though none of the Freddy Galvis, Jose Peraza, Josh VanMeter, or Derek Dietrich hold firmly the minutes of departure.
• Tigers President and CEO Christopher Ilitch spoke with reporters yesterday about the direction of the franchise, according to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. In general, Ilitch gave no new revolutionary. He seemed pleased with the speed of Detroit's reconstruction while focusing on continued progress, the only current mandate of the organization. Of course, he could only congratulate the current level of performance of the Tigers without seeming ridiculous, and it would be pointless to denigrate publicly a team that could be on the way to become a second choice at the top of the overall ranking in three years. The main thing to remember seems to be a general lack of urgency at the level of the big leagues – good news for potential prospectors, frustrating for those who hope to see a competitive product on the ground at Comerica Park in 2020. There seems to be will have at least one more season of slow and steady, as they continue to flesh out an agricultural system increasingly well regarded.