When the Twins’ front office traded away 10 players for a cache of prospects, management made it clear it’s looking beyond this season. Rocco Baldelli is not.

When he was asked if he would manage what is now a young team unlikely to make the playoffs, Baldelli quickly rejoined, “Well, we’re going to try to contend, first and foremost.”

“I wouldn’t say, ‘We’re not contending,’ ” Baldelli said before Thursday night’s game against first-place Detroit, the first of a four-game series at Target Field. “I would say we intend to win as many games as we possibly can, and if we can get ourselves in contention, that’s what we’ll be looking for — to aim towards.”

That was a longshot before the trade deadline, when team president Derek Falvey and general manager Jeremy Zoll traded away several of the players who were supposed to help the Twins win the American League Central Division, including star shortstop Carlos Correa, setup man Griffin Jax and hard-throwing closer Jhoan Duran.

On July 28, the Twins were six games under .500 and 6½ games out of a wild card spot with six teams ahead of them. Now Baldelli has a wildly different team, composed mostly of young players still trying to gain a foothold in the majors — some from the Twins organization, some trade partners’ systems, and some of whom are getting their first real taste of the majors.

That’s currently compounded by injuries to starters Pablo Lopez and Simeon Woods Richardson.

On Aug. 1, Baldelli called the team together before a series in Cleveland and told them the last two months won’t just be about evaluating prospects or getting them major league innings.

“I told our guys, ‘I don’t care who you are, you’re playing for something important,’ ” Baldelli said. “That was part of the first message when I stood in front of the team the day after the trade deadline. I told them that and I meant it. That’s not BS. It’s a fact.”

That included, the manager stressed, veterans Joe Ryan, Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers and Bailey Ober. And if Lopez weren’t hurt, “I probably would have told him the exact same thing if he was there.”

If anything is clear after the past 20 or so days — on top of the trade deals, the team on Wednesday officially ended its bid to sell — it’s that the future remains unclear.

Everyone is playing for something. Winning remains the goal.

“We have different players, and we’re gonna have to win games differently,” Baldelli said.

Briefly

With Lopez (shoulder) and Woods Richardson (stomach ailment) still on the injured list, the Twins are on pace for another bullpen game on Friday night, likely with Jose Urena taking the first few innings. … Catcher Christian Vazquez, on the IL with an infection in his left shoulder that sent him to the hospital, was at Target Field early Thursday, but Baldelli didn’t have an update on his status.

By SARA CLINE and BARBARA ORTUTAY

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana sued the online gaming platform Roblox on Thursday, alleging the wildly popular site has perpetuated an environment where sexual predators “thrive, unite, hunt and victimize kids.”

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The lawsuit, filed in state court by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, alleges that Roblox has failed to implement effective safety measures to protect child users from adult predators.

“Due to Roblox’s lack of safety protocols, it endangers the safety of the children of Louisiana,” Murrill said in a news release. “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety.”

The company has faced lawsuits and backlash for not doing enough to protect kids on its gaming services. Last month, a lawsuit was filed in Iowa after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly introduced to an adult predator on the platform, then kidnapped and trafficked across multiple states and raped.

In Louisiana, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said his office has had multiple cases involving Roblox. In one, police allege a man used voice-altering technology to pose as a girl on the platform. Ard said there have yet to be any arrests made related to the gaming site.

Ultimately, Murrill said she believes Roblox should be shut down.

An email seeking comment was sent to the company Thursday.

The free online gaming platform has more than 111 million monthly users. Its website describes Roblox as “the ultimate virtual universe that lets you create, share experiences with friends, and be anything you can imagine.”

Roblox doesn’t allow users to share videos or images in chats and tries to block any personal information, such as phone numbers. However, as with other gaming platforms and social media sites with similar policies, people find ways around such safeguards.

Roblox, which according to its website has “a zero-tolerance policy for the exploitation of minors,” doesn’t allow children under 13 to chat with other users outside of games unless they have explicit parental permission. Because the platform does not encrypt private chat conversations, the company can monitor and moderate them.

However, Murrill said there is no age minimum or substantial age verification process once a user signs up. As a result, young children, teens and adults posing as children can sign up, she said.

The company says on its website that age verification “is a new feature that is currently in testing on Roblox.” Last month, it launched a feature that requires teenagers aged 13 to 17 to send a video selfie to verify their ages if they want to chat freely with people they know, called “trusted connections.”

Amid mounting criticism in recent months, the company has implemented additional measures that it says will keep their young users safe.

In August, Roblox told AP that it was rolling out an artificial intelligence system to help detect early signs of possible child endangerment, such as sexually exploitive language. Roblox said the system led it to submit 1,200 reports of potential attempts at child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the first half of 2025.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman who spit on the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital during a videotaped interview pleaded guilty on Thursday to assault charges.

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Emily Gabriella Sommer, 32, of Washington, D.C., is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 10 for assaulting then-acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Jr. and two law-enforcement officers who arrested her several days after she spit on Martin. Sommer pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting public officials, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office.

A trial for Sommer had been scheduled to start next Monday. Instead, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb accepted Sommer’s guilty plea and will sentence her.

On May 8, a Newsmax reporter was interviewing Martin on a sidewalk outside his office when Sommer approached him.

“Are you Ed Martin? You are Ed Martin,” Sommer said before lunging at him and spitting on his left shoulder, according to prosecutors.

As she walked away, Sommer swore at Martin and called him “a disgusting man.”

“My name is Emily Gabriella Sommer, and you are served,” she said.

Sommer later took credit for the spitting incident in a message replying to a social media post by Martin.

The encounter occurred on the same day that President Donald Trump pulled Martin’s nomination to remain U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin faced bipartisan opposition in the Senate after a turbulent stint in the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office. A key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his support for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Martin roiled the office with a series of unorthodox moves, such as firing and demoting subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases. Trump replaced Martin with former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who was confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 2.

When U.S. Marshals Service deputies went to arrest Sommer at her apartment on May 22, she spit in a deputy’s face and kicked him, prosecutors said.

“How is that spit? Taste good? I was just getting over a cold sore. I hope I gave you herpes,” Sommer told the deputy, according to prosecutors.

Sommer also kicked a second deputy during her arrest and told another deputy, “I would put a bullet in you if I had it. I would put a bullet in every one of you right now,” prosecutors said.

During her initial court appearance in May, Sommer repeatedly disrupted the hearing with outbursts. Deputies picked her up and carried her out of the courtroom after one of her interruptions prompted a magistrate to suspend the hearing. Sommer later apologized to the magistrate for her courtroom conduct.

By BEN FINLEY and COLLEEN SLEVIN

DENVER (AP) — A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there’s no reason to be spooked — the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus.

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The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns.

Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including “Frankenstein bunnies,” “demon rabbits” and “zombie rabbits.” But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fueling scientific research nearly 100 years ago.

The virus likely influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations. The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists’ knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.

The virus in rabbits was named after Dr. Richard E Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.

News about the rabbit sightings in Fort Collins, 65 miles north of Denver, started getting attention after residents started spotting them around town and posting pictures.

Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency has been getting calls about the rabbits seen in Fort Collins.

But she said that it’s not uncommon to see infected rabbits, especially in the summer, when the fleas and ticks that spread the virus are most active. The virus can spread from rabbit to rabbit but not to other species, including humans and pets, she said.

The growths resemble warts but can look like horns if they grow longer, Van Hoose said. The growths don’t harm rabbits unless they grow on their eyes or mouths and interfere with eating. Rabbits’ immune systems are able to fight the virus and, once they do, the growths will disappear, she said.

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.