Souhan; Polanco and Sano Are Bright Spots [PODCAST]

The Twins lost 9-6 to the New York Yankees Wednesday night to fall to 13 games under 500.  Star Tribune Sports Columnist Jim Souhan joined me on WJON today.  He says 2nd baseman Jorge Polanco looked aggressive at the plate and powered a pair of home runs.  Miguel Sano had 3 hits including a home run Wednesday night.  Jim says when Miguel Sano hits the ball the other way like he did last night he's showing he's seeing the ball well.  Sano leads the Twins with 12 home runs and 30 RBIs.  Jim says Sano's OPS is the same as what Rod Carew's career OPS was.  He says that shows that Sano can be effective at the plate despite all the strikeouts and low batting average.

The Twins aren't expected to activate outfielder Byron Buxton from the injured list until maybe the weekend.  He was held out of last night's game in St. Paul due to wet field conditions.  Jim says the Twins want Buxton to play at least 3 rehab games and he's only played one so far.  Kenta Maeda threw 4 innings with 1 earned run allowed for St. Paul Wednesday night.  Jim says Maeda will likely be activated to replace Randy Dobnak in the rotation.

The Vikings are holding an organized team activity in Eagan this week.  Jim says quarterback Kirk Cousins is saying all the right things in regards to being a mentor to rookie quarterback Kellen Mond.  He says being a mentor to Mond doesn't mean that much.  Souhan says publicly Cousins will say and do the right things to support Mond.  Jim says the Vikings have done a good job selecting impact players in the middle rounds of the NFL draft in recent years.  He says the Vikings have increased their odds of doing well in the middle rounds in recent years by acquiring more picks in the 3rd-5th rounds.

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