Twins right-hander Chris Paddack is in line to begin a rehab stint on Wednesday, tweets Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. He’ll go three innings in his first game action in 16 months.
Paddack underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career last May. He began working off a mound 13 months later and has gradually built his throwing program since that point. The Twins have maintained throughout that process that they hoped to get him back for the stretch run.
Last week, Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote that Paddack was targeting a bullpen return. That’s not surprising, as a relief role would reduce the amount of time Paddack needs to spend rehabbing as he builds toward a less demanding job. It’s also arguably more beneficial for the Twins generally. Minnesota’s rotation has been among the league’s best, while the bullpen is roughly league average.
Acquired from the Padres on Opening Day 2022, Paddack was limited to five starts during his first season with Minnesota. He has 66 MLB appearances (65 starts) over parts of four campaigns, pitching to a 4.20 ERA through 330 1/3 innings. His production dipped over his three years in San Diego, but he’d run an impressive 20:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his limited time with the Twins before the elbow procedure.
In other injury news, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters that Byron Buxton was staying with the team for treatment on his right knee (relayed by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press). Buxton had started a rehab stint last Wednesday as he works back from a hamstring strain. Knee concerns have bothered him all year, with the Twins keeping him at designated hitter as a result.
Buxton saw his first game action in center field during a brief rehab stint with Triple-A St. Paul before reporting the renewed knee soreness. Baldelli left open the possibility of again trying Buxton in center field once he’s ready to get back to game action.
The Sherriff is back in the saddle.
Meh…
Buxton is injured like Steve Howe was suspended. Constantly.
> that Byron Buxton was staying with the
> team for treatment on his right knee
> Buxton had started a rehab stint last
> Wednesday as he works back from a
> hamstring strain.
He has so many injuries that his injuries have injuries.
Now we can finally see if Paddack is as good as so many people mistakenly believe him to be.
That rookie year with the Padres still having a lasting effect it seems…he was trash for them afterwards.
Hoping for lightning in a bottle.
Twins are playing so well without Buxton, I don’t see any urgency for him to return. Might as well leave him where he is, or move him to the 60 day list and unload him (if they can) in the off season. All that money for a DH who can’t hit when he’s healthy and spends 75% of his time on the IL. What a decision that turned out to be.
Buxton has a full no trade clause, and beyond that, no team would want to take him without the Twins eating a good portion of the contract.
Hence the ‘(if they can)’ qualifier. I am aware of the difficulty of moving him.
The Twins can just DFA and release Buxton, then. Easy enough to get him off the roster. That way, the Twins won’t have to fork over MiLB prospect talent to unload the contract or deal with the no-trade provisions.
I don’t see that as any more or less realistic than a trade.