The Twins have just announced that tickets to Tuesday’s A.L. Central tiebreaker (if needed) will go on sale immediately following today’s game against the Royals.

Keep in mind that the Dome switches over to football on Monday for the Vikes-Pack game,  The Twins ask that fans pick up tickets at the Twins Box Office between 8 a.m. and the start of the football game. The Twins are discouraging fans from buying tix at the Dome on game day

First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets will be available through the team’s website and by phone, as usual: That’s 612-33Twins 1-800-33Twins and at www.twinsbaseball.com.

Update: I will be on Rosen’s Sports Sunday tonight around 10:30, talking Twins!

Now includes a few quotes from Sano. 

The Gulf Coast League might be the place the hang out for awhile next year - if you like to follow prospects. The Twins intend to have three of their international bonus babies on their rookie league team there.

Shortstop Jorge Polanco, from the Dominican Republic, will be there after signing a $750,000 bonus in July. German outfielder Max Kepler, who signed for $775,000, is already attending South Fort Myers High School and is in line to play for the GCL team, too.

Joining them will be infielder Miguel Angel Sano, a 16-year old (0r 17…or 18?) who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds and has pleny of raw power. Sano (photo on right) is considered the jewel of the international crop and, on Wednesday, signed with the Twins for a bonus of $3.15 million, the second-largest bonus given to a Latin American prospect and most to a position player. (not counting Cubans).

“It was not so much about the money,” Sano said through an interpreter. “I’m just glad I signed with the Twins.”

Add these three players to a Twins’ draft class that’s led by University of Missouri righthander Kyle Gibson (who is scheduled to pitch two innings on Friday in his first time on the mound as a pro) and the Twins feel they had a pretty good year on the amateur front. 

The Twins, looking at their minor league system, realized that they had a lot of players who, on the 2-through-8 scouting scale, would end up as threes or fours.

“In order to be a contender, you have to have guys who are sixes, sevens and eights, the top of the scale,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ senior vice president in charge of player personnel. You have to try to get the guys you think have a chance to be good.

“Sano. Kepler, Polanco, Gibson, all those guys, in our mind, have a chance.”

In order to get good prospects, the Twins had pony up the dough. And they have. After spending $7.1 million on the draft, they’re handing out $5.6 million in bonuses to international prospects.

Rob Plummer, Sano’s agent, said the Twins have been in contact with him and the family for about a year. Signing him was a matter of timing. Several teams were in on Sano, and Pittsburgh seemed to be his likely destination. But, based on this and this, things broke down between the family, the team and the agent.

Radcliff and the Twins Latin American scout, Fred Guerrero. kept in contact with the Sano camp, and it paid off when the Twins made their offer - along with the understanding that Plummer, could not shop it around. The Pirates likely would have topped the offer if they had been given the chance. Plummer gave the Twins a lot of credit, saying two days didn’t go by without someone checking in with him or the family. Guerrero, by the way, has known Sano since he was 13. “He gets along great with the whole family.

“People were expecting the amount to be over $4 million, and people assumed that I was just going to sign with Pittsburgh,” Sano said. “My dream was to play baseball. It wasn’t about a business.”

Another key: Twins ownership stepped up. Jim Pohlad was said to be as excited as anyone with the organization when told about Sano. “Let’s go get him,” Pohald said.

The deal is contingent on Sano getting a Visa. That process will begin next week when Sano goes to obtain a tourist Visa so he can come over next month for a physical. That’s not expected to be a problem. He’ll need a P-1 Visa to play in the U.S., which will be the big test for him, and the Twins, in the coming weeks.

The Twins are confident Sano will avoid any red flags. The Twins asked MLB to help verify his identity earlier this summer, and they feel they’ve done their due diligence. They hope the worst thing that could happen is that he’s 17 or 18 years old, and that won’t scare them off. “We are not concerned,” Radcliff said.

When you’re dealing with kids, you never know how a prospect will develop. But it’s better to spend the money now that to try to sign mediocre players for $6 million to fill holes on the major league team that the farm system couldn’t. The Twins deserve credit for being diligent, setting high goals and, finally, spending the cash to finish off what the scouts start.

“You can’t get in the game,” assistant GM Rob Antony said, “if you stay on the sidelines.”

They’ll be able to see some of their work pay off next spring training when the Gulf Coast League team reports for duty.

The Twins have recalled infielder Matt Tolbert, who began the season at Rochester before being called up in May and hit .178 in 48 games before being sent back to Rochester.

He hit .288 in 56 games with Rochester.

Tolbert recently returned to action for Rochester after recovering from a sore knee. He was scheduled to be called up on Sept. 1 but the injury held him back.

No word on if the Twins will call up anyone else. In my opinion, outfielder Jason Pridie and third baseman Danny Valencia should be at the top of the list, but there have been no indications that they are being considered.

Valencia is a candidate to start at third next season but Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said earlier in the week that Valencia wasn’t playing great at Rochester and he wasn’t keen on using someone with no experience when the club is fighting for the postseason.

Pridie could pitch run and be a late-inning defensive sub. Tolbert, however, played 20 games in the outfield at Rochester and could be an option.

Joe C. is headed to Cleveland and will check in this afternoon with updates from Progressive Field.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired righthander  Kevin Mulvey from the Twins on a waiver claim for cash considerations. Mulvey is expected to join the Diamondbacks, who needed another pitcher after trading Jon Garland to the Dodgers yesterday.

In a related move, Twins sent cash, and not a player, to the D-Backs for righthander Jon Rauch.

So, if you read between the lines, Mulvey ends up being the player to be named later in the Rauch deal. The money is a wash.

Mulvey was 5-8 with a 3.93 ERA with Class AAA Rochester this season. He was one of four players the Twins received for Cy Young winner Johan Santana before the 2008 season.

In other news, Class A Fort Myers righthander David Bromberg was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Year. Fort Myers manager Jeff Smith was named manager of the year.

Joe C. is covering tonight’s game, so jump on over to his blog later this afternoon. 

The Twins have swung a deal with Arizona for righthander Jon Rauch in exchange for a player to be named later. And they have signed lefthander Ron Mahay, who was released by the Royals.

Rauch was 2-2, 4.14 with two saves in 54.1nnings with the D-Backs, allowing 17 walks with 35 strikeouts.  His 305 appearances since the beginning of the 2006 season are the most in Major League Baseball.

To make room for Rauch, the Twins outrighted righthander Philip Humber to Class AAA Rochester.

Rauch got off to a terrible start but has posted a 2.84 ERA since May 25.

He was scheduled to make $2 million this season, so it looks like the Twins will be on the hook for about $400,000, maybe less, the rest of the season. The D-Backs picked up a $2.9 million option for 2010, so it looks like Rauch will pitch in Target Field too.

We’ll have more on this later.

Mahay had a 4.79 ERA in 41.1 innings with the Royals before he was desginated for assignment this week. Those who has seen him pitch recently say his velocity is the same as it was a year ago but his stuff might not be as sharp.

Even so, Mahay, and Rauch, are upgrades over some of the inexperienced arms the Twins have relied on recently.