SAN DIEGO — After being released by the Twins last weekend, Juan Rincon today signed a minor-league deal with the Cleveland Indians.

He will throw a bullpen session today at Progressive Field (the ballpark formerly known as Jacobs Field) and then report to Class AAA Buffalo.

Cleveland has had bullpen issues all season, and they’re hoping Rincon can rediscover his form. He went 2-2 with a 6.11 ERA for the Twins this season.

The Indians also signed infielder Tony Graffanino to a minor-league deal.

SAN DIEGO — The All-Star Game is July 15 at Yankee Stadium. Major League Baseball has been sending weekly voting updates, and today’s shows Joe Mauer overtaking Boston’s Jason Varitek for the AL lead at catcher.

Mauer has 1,178,630 votes. Varitek 1,113,855.

At first base, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis has the lead at 1,482,011, with Justin Morneau running behind him at 1,214,603.

The teams will be revealed on July 6.

Asked for his thoughts Sunday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Mauer, Morneau and closer Joe Nathan are obvious choices. Gardenhire also noted that reliever Matt Guerrier should be up for consideration.

Here’s more on the voting from MLB.com.

As expected, the Twins made a roster move after today’s 5-3 victory over Arizona, activating Nick Punto from the disabled list and optioning Matt Macri to Class AAA Rochester.

Macri batted .367 with one home run and four RBI in 14 games with the Twins.

“He’s done a very good job here,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Not an easy time to have to send a guy down.”

Punto will join the Twins on Tuesday, when they begin a three-game series at San Diego.

Punto will challenge Brendan Harris for playing time at shortstop.

“We’ll mix and match and see what happens,” Gardenhire said. “See how [Punto’s] feeling out there. [Harris is] doing OK out there, been playing pretty good, been swinging OK. Punto brings a little more versatility in the middle, a little more range, but Harry’s been doing pretty good.

“[Punto’s] not coming into an everyday job unless he earns it by going to play.”

Joe Mauer is back in the lineup today, as the Twins go for the sweep against the Diamondbacks.

The Twins are actually using the very same lineup as Saturday, though this time, they’ll be facing Brandon Webb.

Updates to come…

Update (12:20 p.m.): The Twins are expected to make a roster move after today’s game, activating Nick Punto from the disabled list. Punto came out of his rehab stint with Class A Fort Myers in good shape and will likely join the team for Tuesday’s game at San Diego.

Diamondbacks (39-36)

1. Stephen Drew, SS

2. Augie Ojeda, 2B

3. Orlando Hudson, DH

4. Conor Jackson, LF

5. Chad Tracy, 1B

6. Mark Reynolds, 3B

7. Chris Young, CF

8. Chris Snyder, C

9. Justin Upton, RF

Starting pitcher: RH Brandon Webb

Twins (39-36)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, DH

7. Delmon Young, LF

8. Brian Buscher, 3B

9. Brendan Harris, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Livan Hernandez

Metrodome. First pitch: 1:10 p.m.

Are the White Sox for real? I keep asking myself this, especially with ESPN and others hyping their weekend series with the Cubs as a World Series preview.

Full disclosure: Before the season, I picked Chicago to finish fourth, and La Velle had to talk me out of picking the White Sox fifth, behind the Royals. I just didn’t think the pitching was good enough, and I had no idea Carlos Quentin would make the kind of impact he has. Who did?

Game 1 of the Second City Series starts at 1:20 p.m. It’s John Danks vs. Ted Lilly at Wrigley Field, and the battle of lefthanders can be seen on WGN. The series finale will be ESPN’s Sunday night game, with Javier Vazquez vs. Ryan Dempster.

I think a better World Series preview will come between the Angels and Phillies this weekend, but here are five things about the White Sox that opened my eyes:

1. Their bullpen leads the majors with a 2.62 ERA. Last year, through 72 games, their bullpen had a 5.74 ERA. Besides Bobby Jenks (1.91 ERA), this impressive group includes Octavio Dotel (2.70), Scott Linebrink (1.24) and lefties Matt Thornton (2.67) and Boone Logan (2.16).

2. They lead the majors with 45 quality starts, and their starting pitchers rank second with a 3.60 ERA. I thought Jose Contreras was washed up and Gavin Floyd was the perpetual tease. Those two are 6-5 with a 3.24 ERA and 8-3 with a 3.19 ERA, respectively.

3. They are 11-5 since Ozzie Guillen’s meltdown on June 1 and have outscored their opponents 112-65 in that stretch. They are 11-2 at home in that stretch, including their four-game sweep of Minnesota, in which they outscored the Twins 40-15.

4. The White Sox lead the majors in run differential, at +82. They have outscored their opponents 356-274. The Twins, for comparison, are at -14 (347-361).

5. Remember in 2005, how the foursome of Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia never missed a start? This team has that same stability, as Contreras, Floyd, Buehrle, Danks and Vazquez have made all but one start. The White Sox are not rich in starting pitching depth, but if they stay charmed like this, they won’t need it.

Note: I’ll be away from the blog until Sunday morning, but check back then for the Twins’ lineup against Brandon Webb.