"The Twins have released reliever Luis Ayala after failing to work out a deal.

There was legitimate interest from Pittsburgh, and there are indications that Eric Hinske's name came up in the discussions. But once Hinskie was dealt to the Yankees, trade talks with the Pirates were dead.

Hinske makes sense because Twins manager Ron Gardenhire mentioned to us a couple weeks ago that he wouldn't mind having a veteran off the bench who could hit a little and could handle not playing regularly."