May 31: The Twins announced that Correa has been placed on the Covid-related injured list. Shortstop Jermaine Palacios has been selected to the roster as a substitute player in his stead and will make his Major League debut in Game 1 of today’s doubleheader in Detroit. Minnesota also tabbed righty Cole Sands as the 27th man for that twin bill, and he’ll make the first start of his big league career in Game 2 today.
Palacios, 25, was signed by Minnesota out of his native Venezuela as an amateur free agent back in 2013. The Twins eventually flipped him to the Rays in the 2018 Jake Odorizzi trade with Tampa Bay, but Palacios struggled throughout the bulk of his two-plus years in the Rays organization. Upon being released in the 2020-21 offseason, Palacios returned to the Twins on a minor league deal and placed himself back on the prospect map with a solid 2021 showing. MLB.com currently ranks him 29th among Twins farmhands, while Baseball America tabs him as the best defensive infielder in Minnesota’s system. Palacios hit .259/.340/.439 in Triple-A last year and is off to a .262/.325/.379 start in 2022.
Sands, 24, was the Twins’ fifth-rounder in 2018 and made his MLB debut with a pair of relief outings earlier this season. The Florida State product has had a rough showing in Triple-A so far, albeit in just five starts. He’s widely considered to be among the Twins’ 15 best prospects, thanks largely to a 2.46 ERA and 28.7% strikeout rate in 80 1/3 innings of Double-A ball last year. Sands hasn’t pitched more than five innings in an appearance since April 13, so he may be in for a relatively short outing today. He did toss three scoreless frames in his last Triple-A appearance a week ago.
May 30: Carlos Correa didn’t play in the Twins’ 7-5 loss to the Tigers today, and after the game, Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters that it was learned mid-game that the shortstop had tested positive for COVID-19. Correa will be placed on the COVID-related injury list at some point prior to the Twins’ doubleheader tomorrow in Detroit.
There have already been quite a few ups and downs over Correa’s first two months with the Twins, as he also spent 10 days on the regular IL due to a contusion on his right middle finger. Correa also got off to a pretty slow at the plate, but is now hitting a lot more like his usual self, with an overall slash line of .279/.344/.407 with three homers in 154 plate appearances. This works out to a 122 wRC+/123 OPS+, only a little below Correa’s career average.
However, Correa is now sidelined for a minimum of 10 days following a positive COVID-19 test. As per league rules, Correa can make an earlier return if he goes 24 hours without a fever, tests negative twice, and gets approval from three physicians (the Twins team doctor, a league-appointed doctor, and an MLBPA-appointed doctor).
Correa joins Joe Ryan and Gilberto Celestino on Minnesota’s COVID list, one sub-section of an overall injured list that is worryingly long for the Twins. Once Correa is officially added, he’ll be the 13th player on the Minnesota IL, and the club will also be short a few more non-vaccinated players for a series in Toronto on June 3-5.
Former first overall pick Royce Lewis had filled in at shortstop during Correa’s previous IL stint, but Lewis himself was just placed on the injured list today after suffering a bone bruise on his right knee after a collision with the center field wall in yesterday’s game. This leaves utilityman Nick Gordon or regular second baseman Jorge Polanco as the likeliest candidates to cover shortstop in Correa’s absence, and third baseman Gio Urshela also has experience as a shortstop.
COVID is a pain in the can
I wholeheartedly concur. I’m home right now with it myself.
I hope and pray you recover without complications!
Hope you’re 100% again soon.
Thanks, all! Hanging in there so far.
so dumb.
I feel like I’m the only person who hasn’t gotten it yet.
You probably had it but like most had no symptoms. Sure, fpr some it can have serious consequences. But most, little.
My doc checked my anti-bodies; said it’s as if COVID doesn’t exist to me. Even the vaccine didn’t take so I gotta get another booster (NOT J&J this time).
I also haven’t had it yet. Oddly.
Javy Baez would never!
(This is a joke, I need humor to hide the pain)
A triumvirate of doctors? I wonder which ones are the least trustworthy. Probably just leave out the team doctor entirely.
I’m going with the doctor MGM Grand supplies.
Correa is now sidelined for a minimum of 10 days following a positive COVID-19 test. As per league rules, Correa can make an earlier return if he goes 24 hours without a fever, tests negative twice, and gets approval from three physicians (the Twins team doctor, a league-appointed doctor, and an MLBPA-appointed doctor).
It’s not really a minimum of 10 days if he can come back earlier
Hope he can survive.
Whats dumber is making a prospect play at the same position his entire life, then move him to a position hes barely played before as soon as he gets to the highest level. Royce Lewis has no business being in the outfield, he should be replacing Correa here – this incredibly stupid “player versatility” trend has long been proven to not be better than having 9 everyday guys and needs to be let go.
Let guys play where they are supposed to and trade them if the team already has a guy there. So sick of watching stupidity league-wide, whether its the White Sox sinking their chances by having 3 first basemen in the everyday lineup (Abreu, Sheets, Vaughn), or the Twins losing Royce Lewis because he has no OF instincts because hes played SS his entire life, both are the dumbest ways to run a baseball team and the idiots at the top need to knock this off and make more trades to actually create a fully-balanced team with actual position players who know what they’re doing.
Yeah because you know more than Ivy League guys who all run baseball teams. Didn’t you say the A’s weren’t going to trade everyone?
A lot of words
Very little insight
Idk. Rays seem to have thrived off having guys that can play multiple positions last few years. Same with Dodgers Cardinals Brewers. But you for sure know better than they do.
What’s the better choice? Keep him in the minors in a position where he’s blocked. It’s been on the radar for a while that he would maybe need to move positions as his abilities at SS were not as good in the upper minors.
MN falls for Boras’ feint, and forfeit a draft pick and Millions to bail out Correa from his FA situation. When Correa goes on the IL, Lewis proves that he was ready all along, but they send him down, anyway. When they bring him back up, they play him out of position, and gets injured (cuz anybody can play OF). Now, Correa goes to the Covid list, and they don’t have a real SS. Hard to feel sorry for their situation.
Well, that’s a take.
Twins only forfeited a 3rd rounder for a signing most saw as a win/win for team and player. They sent Lewis down because Correa is, well, kinda good, and they want Lewis to play everyday–including a lot at shortstop. For those who say he has no time in CF, check out his playing time in the ’19 AFL. Injuries suck, but they aren’t often directly the result of roster decisions.
I thought it was a very good signing, and still do.
Huh?
Lewis played 5 games in CF in the ’19 AFL.
This qualifies him as a ML CF in 2022?
My point is everyone in the Twins organization and Lewis has known for years they may play him at positions besides SS in order to get him on the roster. In 22 games in the AFL that year, he played a total of 7 innings at SS. He played CF for 5 games, LF/RF for 5, and the rest split between 3rd and 2nd. It simply isn’t a new plan.
Not only that Dan but he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities due the lost season and torn acl
I think it was a good signing – certainly an opportunistic one. But, I do agree with Stymee, I’m no fan of what they did with their future star SS, playing him in CF. I get the logic, but {knowing} Correa’s proclivity towards injury, probably wasn’t the best contingency planning.
After the torn ACL, I think the plans were always to have him find a backup position.
Covid sucks. Call it flu, call it a cold, call it monkey pox, call it a death knell – it still sucks.
I don’t like Correa, at all. But, I really hope it’s the mild, cold-like version, or he remains asymptomatic altogether and is able to return to the field, healthy.
The three-doctor review is somewhat puzzling, but I guess you need a tiebreaker. One would think results would be clear enough for two doctors to agree, but instead of a third doctor, perhaps an intense competition of rock-paper-scissors for the tiebreaker?
I’m guessing the 3 doctor review is to be able to dismiss the allegations of any collusion to sideline a player. I like the politics and gambling involved in the game like I love brain surgery without anesthesia. It’s probably a union mandate.
Bingo. The team doctor could be accused of either putting a sick player out there because they think he can help them win or sidelining a guy because he’s close to a bonus or option vesting.
Being short handed already, I wonder which Twins are unvaccinated and unable to make the Toronto trip, as mentioned in the article. Hopefully it doesn’t include Ursela, Gordon or Polanco.
Correa and Lewis being absent is tough timing with 9 games against AL East teams coming up.
Since the inseption of the covid 19 pandemic the Twins have been hit harder than any other professional sports franchise, I just think it’s a tiny bit unlucky….
Prayers up for Royce Lewis’ n max keplers right knee (s)
didn’t he test positive for being overrated as well?
No that would be your humors diagnosis
I think they should make him take another one. Correa probably cheated on the test.
l’m rather surprised no one here called him Carlos Corona.