Twins Notes: Bard, Colabello, Morneau, Hamburger

Here’s a look at the latest on the Twins..

• The Twins “are in the due diligence phase” on Daniel Bard, whose brother Luke is a Minnesota farmhand, 1500ESPN.com’s Darren Wolfson tweets. Injuries have plagued the 28-year-old’s 2013 campaign, as he’s pitched just one inning in the majors this year and has a 6.46 ERA in 15 1/3 minor league innings. Still, Bard has two years of arbitration remaining and posted a 3.33 ERA in 73 innings for Boston as recently as 2011, so he may be worth a claim.
• Chris Colabello’s opposite-field power could help him earn the Twins’ first base job following the departure of Justin Morneau, Berardino writes. Colabello, 29, has managed just a .193/.270/.360 line in 126 plate appearances for the Twins this year, but was hitting .352/.427/.639 for the club’s Triple-A affiliate before being called up in May.
• The Twins have signed well-traveled right-hander Mark Hamburger to a minor league deal, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Hamburger, who was originally signed out of an amateur tryout camp by the Twins in 2007, managed to catch on long enough with the Rangers to pitch eight major league innings in 2011. However, the 26-year-old hasn’t pitched in the majors since. He’ll have to serve a 50-game suspension for testing positive a second time for a drug of abuse before he can play a game, Berardino notes.