Minnesota Twins: 12 Games to Determine If the Twins Are Buying or Selling

The revolving door to the Minnesota Twins roster just keeps spinning. After Sunday's 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, the Twins announced that Scott Baker was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Baker, the Twins' best starter this season, left after pitching only five innings in a win over Tampa Bay on July 5 due to a strained right elbow. To replace Baker, who was scheduled to start one of the two games against the Indians on Monday, the Twins called up Scott Diamond from Triple-A Rochester.

The strength of the Twins' turnaround has been their starting pitching. Since June 1, Minnesota starting pitching has gone 22-9 with a 3.11 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.  Diamond, making his major league debut, will only be the seventh different pitcher to take a start this season. 

The Twins have now won their fifth series in a row and face division-leading Cleveland and Detroit in back-to-back four game series before moving on to the AL West to face division-leading Texas in yet another four game series.

These next 12 games will be crucial for the Minnesota Twins.

If the Twins can continue their winning ways, they could find themselves within three games of the AL Central lead before they leave the Target Field for Arlington.

If that happens, the Twins will be looking to bolster their roster. Since Ron Gardenhire has been manager, the Twins have tended to be sellers more often than buyers as the July 31st trade deadline approaches.

Notable acquisitions include Shannon Stewart from Toronto in 2003, Orlando Cabrera from the A's and Carl Pavano from the Indians in 2009 and Matt Capps from Washington just last season.

The Twins could use some help in the bullpen, as Joe Nathan and Capps have been going through their own little revolving door taking turns as the closer. Currently, Nathan is in and Capps is in limbo, as Glen Perkins has taken on the set-up role.

With the expected returns of Denard Span, Jason Kubel, Justin Morneau and Kevin Slowey from the disabled list, the Twins will have plenty of options to make a deal. Along with the recently ineffective Capps, any and all of these could be on the trading block if it helps the Twins win their seventh division title in 10 years.

The 12 games over the next three series will determine which direction the Twins will go. Either way, the Twins roster will be taking on a different look.