The Week That Was 7/23 – 7/29

• It was a busy week for the Wolves as the front office made five roster moves. President of Basketball Operations David Kahn started the flurry of moves on Tuesday night by shipping guard Wayne Ellington off to the Memphis Grizzlies in return for forward Dante Cunningham. The next day, the Boston Celtics rescinded a qualifying offer to Greg Stiemsma, making him an unrestricted free agent and allowing him to sign with the Wolves. On that same day, the Timberwolves announced that the team had signed Russian guard Alexey Shved. Friday afternoon the Wolves announced they completed a three-team trade that sent Wes Johnson and a future lottery protected first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns, the Suns sent Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick to the New Orleans Hornets, the Hornets sent Brad Miller to Phoenix, and three future second-round picks to Minnesota. The trade freed up cap space for the Wolves as they announced later that day that they had signed former Utah Jazz and New Jersey Nets forward Andrei Kirilenko. Kirilenko and the Wolves agreed on a two-year deal worth $20 million, with a player option in the second year of the deal.
  
• The Twins opened up this week in Chicago as they took on the White Sox. Franscico Liriano’s performance on Monday night would be a sign of things to come for the Twins. Liriano pitched two and 2/3 innings giving up seven earned runs on seven hits, including three home runs, one walk and two strikeouts. The south-siders outscored the Twins in the three-game series 26-10. Friday the Twins began a six-game home-stand as they took on the Indians. Scott Diamond’s performance Friday night was the exact opposite of Liriano’s on Monday night. Diamond threw a complete game shutout, scattering three hits and striking out six. It was the first complete game of Diamond’s career and the first shutout for the Twins this season. The Twins swept the tribe out of Minnesota, outscoring Cleveland 28-6 during the three-game set. The Twins begin a three-game series with the White Sox on Monday night.
• Following Saturday night’s 12-5 win over the Cleveland Indians, the Twins announced that they had traded Franscico Liriano to the Chicago White Sox. It appeared Liriano’s trade value wasn’t as high as many thought it was as the Twins received infielder Eduardo Escobar and pitcher Pedro Hernandez, which many considered to be C-level prospects. Escobar played 36 games for Chicago this year — mostly played at third base — hitting just .207/.281/.276. Per BaseballAmerica.com, Esobar’s glove will, “buy him at-bats for the rebuilding Twins.” Hernandez owns a 3.42 career ERA and a 1.24 career WHIP in five-plus minor league seasons. Hernandez, who has a “plus changeup and plus control,” according to BaseballAmerica.com, projects to be a back of the rotation pitcher.
• Remember Lew Ford? The former Twin made his return to the big leagues in nearly five years today with the Baltimore Orioles. The left fielder went 0-3 in his debut with the O’s, but rather than making the highlight reels with his bat, Ford made them with his arm today when he threw out speedy Oakland Athletics center fielder Yoenis Cespedes trying to stretch a single into a double. In five seasons with the Twins, Ford hit .272/.349/.402. Baltimore called him up after he hit .331/.390/.550 in Triple-A this year.
• The Vikings finally signed first round draft pick Matt Kalil on Thursday morning. At the time of the signing, Kalil was the highest draft selection — fourth overall — to not be signed to a deal. Kalil’s deal will be a four-year deal worth upwards of $19.7 million. The deal, which is fully guaranteed, includes a signing bonus of $12.8 million.

Wolves Update

• As reported yesterday, the Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies agreed on a trade that would send shooting guard Wayne Ellington to Memphis in exchange for forward Dante Cunningham.
• The Boston Celtics rescinded a qualifying offer to Greg Stiemsma, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent and to sign with the Wolves.
• It’s official, the Wolves announced this morning that the team has signed Russian free agent guard Alexey Shved. The terms of the contract are not immediately known.
• According to Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski, the Wolves are involved in a three-team deal that would help clear cap space for Andrei Kirilenko’s return to the NBA. In the deal, which includes the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Hornets, the Suns would send Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick to New Orleans, the Wolves would deal Wes Johnson and future lottery protected first-round pick to Phoenix, the Hornets would trade Brad Miller to the Suns, and the Wolves would receive two future second round picks from New Orleans.
• Kirilenko, who has been playing overseas since the beginning of last year’s lockout, has a buyout in CSKA of Moscow contract that would allow him to return to the NBA. The Russian forward has been searching for a contract that would pay him around $8 million per year.

The Week That Was 7/9 – 7/15

• Fresh off their All-Star break, the Twins stumbled out of the gate and fell flat on their face this weekend as they were swept by the Oakland Athletics.  The A’s, whose inept offense looked like 1927 New York Yankees “Murders Row”, outscored the hometown nine 24-10 in this weekend’s three-game series at Target Field.  The one bright spot for the Twinkies was pitcher Francisco Liriano’s performance on Friday night.  Frankie threw eight innings, scattering just four hits, walking one batter, and fanning 15 A’s. Liriano made one mistake when he gave up a grand slam to A’s left fielder Jonny Gomes, which would be all the A’s would need Friday night.  The Twins open up a four game series against the Baltimore Orioles at home on Monday night.  Scott Diamond is set to take the bump for the Twins. 
• It was a busy week down on 600 1st Avenue. NBA free agency began Tuesday night and since then Timberwolves General Manager David Kahn has already made a few moves to open up even more cap space to sign Portland Trail Blazer restricted free agent forward Nicolas Batum.  The Wolves amnestied Serbian big man Darko Milicic, waved forward Martell Webster, and traded the remaining year of retired center Brad Miller’s contract to the New Orleans Hornets for a conditional second round draft pick. The Wolves front office was trying to orchestrate a sign-and-trade with the Trail Blazers for Batum, but both sides could not come to an agreement. According to ESPN’s Ric Bucher, the Wolves offered three future 1st round draft picks and dangled forward Derrick Williams, the number two overall pick in the 2011 draft.  Once Webster cleared waivers Sunday night the Wolves signed Batum to an offer sheet which is said to be a four-year deal at $46.4 million, with bonuses that could bring the contract to $50 million.  Since Batum is a restricted free agent, Portland has 72 hours to match the Wolves offer sheet to retain the free agent. Portland has said all along that they  intend to match the Wolves offer to keep Batum. The deadline for the Blazers to match the offer sheet is Wednesday at 10:59 p.m.