The Twins announced that they have placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 15-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. His roster spot will go to fellow righty Trevor Megill, who has been reinstated from the COVID IL. Additionally, righty Dereck Rodriguez, who was designated for assignment on the weekend, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A.
Gray, 32, started yesterday’s game against the Guardians but was pulled after throwing just 44 pitches in two innings. Though Gray could technically return on the last day of the season, October 5, it’s quite likely that this will conclude his 2022 campaign.
Acquired from the Reds in a March trade, Gray was very good when healthy enough to take the mound. He made two other trips to the IL, one for a hamstring strain in April and another for a pectoral strain in June. Around those injuries, he made 24 starts and threw 119 2/3 innings with a 3.08 ERA, 24% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate.
That has sort of been the story for the Twins as a whole as well, as they seemed to be the best team in the AL Central for much of the year until mounting injuries dragged them down. They had a lead as big as 5.5 games in late May, but have since slid down to third place, seven games back of the Guardians and three behind the White Sox. Given that their postseason chances are effectively gone at this point, it makes logical sense to let Gray put his feet up for the next little bit as opposed to taking a chance on making his injury worse. Gray joins 17 of his teammates on the IL, bringing the club’s total to 18.
Minnesota’s rotation is now left with Joe Ryan, Dylan Bundy, Bailey Ober and Josh Winder, leaving one spot to be filled. It’s possible that rookie Ronny Henriquez, who threw 73 pitches after Gray’s departure yesterday, could just step in, though that remains to be seen.
Gray is in the final guaranteed season of the extension he signed with the Reds back in 2019, though there’s a $13.1MM club option for 2023. That’s a bargain price for a pitcher of Gray’s caliber, making it a fairly easy decision for the Twins to exercise it and bring him back for 2023.
Methinks Sonny needs better conditioning.
His trainer said hydration and yoga.
Could have been somebody with a diet of Grain Belt and Jucy Lucy burgers.
Pretty sure there’s 57 used book stores in the Twin Cities where he could find Ball Four. And after that, North Dallas 40. I heard that King Charles III has those two books and Cool Hand Luke for inspiration … and there can’t be a more soft-tossing pansy than him.
He got a gig at the end of a contract and high hopes of not landing in Baltimore next year.
Pansy? Really? This is 2022, dude. Keep up.
If it were last year, would you be OK?
No. Obviously you are unfamiliar with the idiom.
So the numbers show Dylan Bundy had a decent season. Any Twins fans care to add color? I was curious as to how he would work out.
Bundy’s velocity at age 29 is down 3-4 MPH from a couple of years ago. Some nights he tops out around 88 MPH. His future would be as a 5th starter on a mediocre team. He takes the ball every 5 days so I assume he has a couple of years left as a Jordan Lyles type, but I’m not sure I’d call about 150 innungs of 92 ERA+ particularly decent. I doubt he will ever pitch any better than this year’s mid/high 4’s ERA.
Bundy takes the ball, sure, but in 27 starts this year he’s only thrown 131 innings, Archer is the same way, and that’s why the bullpen is smoked even when both those guys are going OK. Neither sees a lineup a third time so they each need to be paired with a multi-inning guy. It’s a roster construction thing that could work in a different rotation, but with this year’s Twins team it’s been bad.
Blame goes to the front office though. Bundy is who he is and could help some teams.
This is an average year for him so they got what they paid for. I still wouldn’t call it decent. Only thing he’s got going for him was health and twins may have been better off with Bundy on the IL and any rookie throwing those innings, like they did with Dobnak this year.
Wuff
Twins are outta here
Exercise the team option and then trade him in the off-season. There could be some takers for him.
Twins season is in jeopardy.
I mean it was a good run but it’s about next season now.