The Twins have reinstated Michael Pineda from the 10-day injured list, and the right-hander is scheduled to start this afternoon’s game with the White Sox. Righty Griffin Jax was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
Right elbow inflammation sidelined Pineda back on June 14, though fortunately his elbow issue ended up being relatively minor enough for him to get back to action prior to the All-Star break. (Pineda also had a minimal IL stint in May after a minor procedure to remove an abscess from his thigh.) It also provides time for Pineda to essentially audition for other teams, since the Twins are going to be selling at the trade deadline and Pineda is a free agent after the season.
In terms of bottom-line numbers, Pineda has a solid 3.70 ERA/4.23 SIERA over 56 innings for Minnesota. Pineda has always been good at limiting walks through his career, and his 6.5% walk rate in 2021 is comfortably above the league average. Beyond that, however, there isn’t much to like about Pineda’s Statcast metrics, and his .343 xwOBA is much higher than his .299 xOBA. There are enough teams looking for starting pitchers, however, that Pineda will surely draw interest, and likely some teams will suspect that his overall performance might turn around with a change of scenery.
Wishing Pineada the best in not getting caught with the foreign substance when he pitches lol
What’s the over/under on how many more starts he makes for the Twins? I’m guessing two more after today.
If they’re good starts, I could see him going fast. The Mets could certainly use him.
If they’re good starts, the bidding war begins. I think the timeline ends up being roughly the same if they’re good or average. If they’re poor, I think he lasts till near the deadline.
I don’t know. He’s probably got about three left until he hits the I.L again.
Jax the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it…
Even weaker than the lame joke I was going to make about him being nicknamed Apple.
I’d like to see the Twins get some talent back for Pineda and honestly, I don’t wish any of these guys bad luck on staying healthy out there. It’s miserable to have your body let you down when you’re working hard towards goals.
That said, Pineda is going to have to make a really nice start or two if he’s going to generate much interest at all.
They’ll have to consider today shaking off some rust and look better next start.
Mark- in the last paragraph noting the difference in the x and actual stats, you use xwOBA then just xOBA instead of wOBA, just thought I would catch that for you unless xOBA is a stat I haven’t seen before (likely)