NEW YORK — The Twins were looking to add a starter ahead of Tuesday evening’s trade deadline. But while plenty of starters were on the move in the past week, the Twins were unable to strike a deal to bolster their rotation.

When the 5 p.m. CDT trade deadline had come and gone, the Twins had made just one addition, trading minor league infielder Jay Harry to the Toronto Blue Jays for reliever Trevor Richards, who is expected to join the team in New York for Wednesday’s series finale.

“When I look at it, at what ultimately transpired, we were in on some conversations about players that moved. But there wasn’t something that felt like it fit for us, ultimately that lined up,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “When I think about where we are now, relative to where we were before, it’s the way I always tend to feel when I’m at this point in the season: A lot of what you’re going to do is already in that room.”

The price for players within the American League Central — both the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers were sellers and traded starting pitchers — seemed to be much higher than the price for teams outside of the division, Falvey said.

And he also indicated that some of the asks from teams for players with little future control were for “some of the best players in our whole system.”

“We couldn’t find overlap and intersection there,” Falvey said. “This was not about something specific financially or otherwise. This was just about being able to find the right deals and teams being willing to deal more directly with us.”

The one deal they did pull off was a deadline day swap for Richards, who is a seven-year veteran who has pitched for four different teams.

Richards, a 31-year-old right-hander who will be a free agent after this season, has a 4.64 earned-run average across 52 1/3 innings this season. While Richards had a 2.57 ERA through June, he has had a tough month of July, giving up 15 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings. He has been historically tougher on lefties than righties, which should be helpful for the Twins.

“We’re adding a very good, proficient arm,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s really a guy that can match up against both lefties and righties. He has got an excellent changeup, and he just pitches. He can go two innings and maybe even more than that if you need him to. He fills a lot of different responsibilities and holes in a bullpen.”

His ability to go multiple innings is one of the reasons the Twins preferred him over Josh Staumont, whom they designated for assignment on Tuesday to create space on the 40-man roster.

Falvey also said he views Justin Topa, who is currently rehabbing from a knee injury and nearing a return, as another deadline addition because he has been out for the entire season thus far.

While the Twins, who are tied second place in the division, weren’t as aggressive as the first-place Cleveland Guardians or Kansas City Royals, the team they are tied with, Falvey said he believes the group within the clubhouse “is going to help elevate us the rest of the way.”

“We’ve competed to this point, put ourselves in a good position. And now we’ve got to go find a way to compete the rest of the way and hopefully finish off an opportunity to really get to where we want to go in the postseason,” Falvey said.

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After hearing from residents concerned about expansion plans at Liberty Classical Academy, May Township officials decided last month to freeze applications for institutional and non-residential uses – and any associated facilities – within the township’s rural-residential zoning district.

Town Board Chairman John Pazlar said the one-year moratorium will give township officials a chance to study and revise the township’s rural-residential district code language, particularly those conditional uses that might be institution or commercial in nature, he said.

The rural township in northern Washington County is zoned one unit per 10 acres, but has been getting applications in recent years “for uses that tend to look institutional or commercial in nature … because of the large amount of undeveloped land out here in proximity to a large metropolitan area,” he said.

The latest application is from Liberty Classical Academy, a private Christian academy, which moved part of its lower-school programming two years ago to the former Withrow Elementary School building in neighboring Hugo.

School officials also bought the neighboring 88-acre Zahler farm for $1.5 million in transactions that occurred in November 2022 and January 2023, according to Washington County property records. Part of the farmland is in Hugo; the rest is in May Township.

Officials from Liberty, which currently splits its students between the former Withrow school and rented space at the Church of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, plan to build an approximately 33,500-square-foot building addition to the existing school and associated parking on the Withrow property. The Hugo City Council approved the expansion plans, which will effectively double the size of the school building, at its June 3 council meeting.

School officials have asked the May Township Board to approve a conditional-use permit for a sewage treatment system and stormwater management facilities that are proposed to be located on school property in the township.

The proposed sewage treatment system, which will service the existing school and proposed addition, also must be permitted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency since it would have a flow greater than 10,000 gallons per day. The new system is being built to handle up to 10,375 gallons per day, said Rebekah Hagstrom, the school’s founder and headmaster, “which is about the equivalent of 16 to 20 homes.”

Township officials have asked Liberty officials for an extension of the township’s 60-day review period on the school’s conditional-use permit application “to extend our review period to run concurrently with the moratorium,” Pazlar said. If school officials reject the request for an extension, the town board on Thursday night will be “compelled to take action on their permit request,” he said.

School officials believe all conditions of the conditional-use permit application have been met, and they expect the town board to vote on Thursday night, Hagstrom said.

“We were before the town board in May 2023 – a full 14 months ago – and they did not have any concerns at that time other than lighting,” she said. “Putting a moratorium in place in the face of a CUP application that has been well known to them since May 2023 is like changing the rules in the middle of a game, and it certainly isn’t a fair way to treat an applicant who cares about bringing an outstanding educational option to the community and who already owns all of their land and did all of their due diligence ahead of time.”

Neighbor concerns

An architectural rendering of Liberty Classical Academy’s plans for an approximately 33,500-square-foot addition to its existing school in Hugo. The school, which serves students from pre-kindergarten through second grade, is located on the former Withrow Elementary School property. (Courtesy of Liberty Classical Academy)

Neighbors who live in the area have expressed concerns about the school’s plans for future expansion, including an increase in traffic and the proposed subsurface sewage treatment system.

Pazlar, who has served on the town board for 25 years, said the topic has generated considerable public interest.

“We’ve had a volume of emails that I have never seen before and crowds at the town hall that exceed the size of any crowd I’ve seen previously,” he said. “They’re not necessarily opposed to the school, in fact, I think they have found the school to be a good neighbor. For many of them. I think the concern is what’s the right size in a rural-residential area.”

The moratorium, he said, gives township officials an opportunity to study whether that rural-residential zoning aligns with two important things: “One is what are the expectations of our citizens in terms of or what should be allowed in a rural-residential area, and does that code language align with our comprehensive plan?”

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The only piece of land in the township that is zoned commercial is the property owned by the Withrow Ballroom, he said. “That was done a long time ago as an accommodation for a business that had been around for 100 years,” he said.

The Metropolitan Council’s vision for May Township “for decades to come is to remain rural,” he said.

“People will tell you the reason they moved to May Township is its rural character, and they expect the town board to consistently defend that,” he said.

One member of the township’s three-man board, Don Rolf, will abstain from voting on Thursday due to a conflict of interest, said Town Clerk Bobbi Hummel. He works for Pope Design Group, the same firm hired by Liberty Classical Academy, she said.

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As rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy and veteran quarterback Sam Darnold navigate training camp with the Vikings, head coach Kevin O’Connell has made it very clear that he has no interest in talking about the depth chart.

That said, O’Connell confirmed on Tuesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center that McCarthy would indeed get some reps with the first team soon enough, which, even if it were the plan all along, will open to door for speculation about where he stands in comparison to Darnold.

When will it happen?

“We’re moving along on our install, and things are starting to stack,” O’Connell said. “As we get to a place where we figure out that sweet spot for J.J.’s comfort, as well as Sam’s trust and understanding and what we’ve coached up to this point, we can start doing that.”

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) throws during the team’s minicamp at TCO Performance Center in Eagan on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

After turning some heads in the spring, Darnold earned the right to work with the first team when the Vikings reconvened in the summer. He has been up and down in training camp so far, showcasing his incredible arm talent on deep passes downfield, as well as his propensity for turnovers on interceptions over the middle.

Meanwhile, as much as McCarthy struggled through some growing pains in the spring, he has looked noticeably more comfortable in the summer. He has been zipping the ball around the field with confidence, and he hasn’t had any issues relaying the playcalls in the huddle.

You could argue that McCarthy has actually been more impressive than Darnold, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise that O’Connell wasn’t willing to go there.

“As far as rep counts and performances so far, both guys have done a lot of really, really good things,” O’Connell said. “I also think both guys have made some mistakes with the football, learning mistakes, where they’re trying to either see if they can squeeze a ball in over the middle before the safety can step in front, or maybe not taking a chance down the field in a 1 on 1 where maybe that’s our best option.”

In an effort to make sure veteran quarterback Nick Mullens doesn’t get left out, O’Connell, unprompted, praised him for being able to perform at a high level despite a decreased workload.

“You guys have seen him step in, almost cold, and go out and throw a ball over the middle for a big gain,” O’Connell said. “He has already demonstrated his ownership of our system.”

As for McCarthy and Darnold, the most interesting part of the discussion will come in the preseason, with an exhibition game between the Vikings and the Las Vegas Raiders coming up in about a week and a half.

Typically, in the past, O’Connell has decided not to play his starters in the preseason. Asked if Darnold would play in the preseason, O’Connell refused to bite, simply replying, “I have a very clear-cut plan of how we’re going to handle the playing time of our entire team.”

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