Twins' Martin Perez gets a pep talk from Johan Santana

KANSAS CITY, MO. – Lefthander Martin Perez spent time with Twins great and two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana during spring training, picking his brain about life as well as pitching.

Once the season began the two had little contact. Santana, who lives in Fort Myers, was busy with his family while Perez got off to a strong start with the Twins.

But Perez has faltered lately, posting a 7.58 ERA over his past four starts, and he reached out to Santana for advice last weekend at Target Field when Santana was one of a few dozen players on hand to celebrate the retirement of Joe Mauer's No. 7.

Opponents are batting .296 off Perez over those past four starts. So Santana and Perez talked about staying aggressive and continuing to use his cut fastball, which he developed during spring training, as a putaway pitch.

"Keep throwing the fastball inside," Perez said. "Don't mess with these hitters."

Having Santana as a mentor is a good match for Perez, since both are lefthanded and like to throw changeups. Out of respect, Perez didn't want to call Santana out of the blue for help, preferring to ask him in person. But now, Perez has permission to reach out to Santana for advice.

"If I need to talk to him, I can call him to talk about games and situations or if I don't feel comfortable," Perez said. "He was a good pitcher, but he's a good human, too. That is important."

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sees a benefit of bringing rehabilitating players along on trips, which flies in the face of the old school view that players will work harder to return if they are left behind. He brought Willians Astudillo on a May trip to New York and Toronto while he recovered from a hamstring strain. It was for chemistry/culture purposes only.

"I think it's good for the team and good for their teammates and good for the players to stay involved in everything that's going on," Baldelli said.

Catcher Mitch Garver left Thursday's game in the seventh inning with a sore left heel and is day-to-day.

The Twins signed shortstop Spencer Steer, their third-round pick in the first-year player draft. Steer, who played at Oregon, received a $575,000 bonus and will head to rookie league Elizabethton to start his pro career.

The Twins have signed their top five picks and nine of their top 10. The one exception is fifth-round pick Will Holland, a shortstop from Auburn. Indications are that the Twins will have to sign Holland for more than $360,000, which is the assigned value of the pick.

The Twins have saved around $530,000 in bonus money, which they can apply to Holland and other undrafted players.

The early indications are that reliever Blake Parker won't be away for the full seven days of his family medical emergency leave.

Players have to remain on leave for a minimum of three days; they can stay there for a maximum of seven. Parker was placed on leave Wednesday.