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Twins Designate Jordan Luplow For Assignment

By Leo Morgenstern | September 18, 2023 at 5:04pm CDT

The Twins have reinstated center fielder Michael A. Taylor from the 10-day injured list, the team announced. To open up a spot on the 28-man roster, outfielder Jordan Luplow has been designated for assignment.

Taylor had been on the IL with a hamstring strain since September 3. Willi Castro covered center in his stead, with Andrew Stevenson making the occasional start (in addition to some late-game appearances as a defensive replacement). Castro has hit well over the last two weeks, posting an .827 OPS in 56 trips to the plate, and Stevenson boasts a plus glove, but the Twins will be happy to have their regular center fielder back in the lineup. Not only is Taylor a Gold Glove winner, but he is enjoying his best offensive campaign in years. The 32-year-old has an OPS above .700 for the first time since 2017, and his 99 wRC+ is just shy of league average. The righty was hitting especially well before his hamstring injury took him down, slashing .257/.318/.574 with 10 home runs since the All-Star break.

Meanwhile, Luplow was also hitting well with the Twins, so his DFA comes as a bit of a surprise. In 26 games, he had a .751 OPS and a 111 wRC+, with a particularly impressive 13.2% walk rate. However, nearly all of his production came against left-handed pitching. Facing southpaws, he was rocking a .927 OPS, while against righties that number was a meager .473. It’s understandable why Minnesota did not want to guarantee a roster spot to a player with such drastic splits, especially with the switch-hitting Castro also on the roster. Still, the fact that the Twins chose to keep Stevenson instead of Luplow suggests they’re prioritizing defense over offense on their bench.

This is the third DFA of the season for Luplow, who began the campaign with Atlanta. He was DFA’d by the Braves and claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays in April. The 29-year-old played only seven games for the big league team in Toronto, spending most of his time in the organization at Triple-A. He was DFA’d again in August and claimed by the Twins, with whom he played 26 games at the MLB level.

With the trade deadline long since passed, the Twins will have to put Luplow on waivers in the coming days. If he is claimed, he would not be eligible to join his new team’s postseason roster, but he could help a contending team in need of a right-handed bat over the final two weeks of the season. The team that claimed him would only have to pay the remaining portion of his $1.4MM salary – approximately $104K. If he clears waivers, Luplow will have the option to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, although he is just shy of the five years of service time required to reject the assignment without forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed salary.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Jordan Luplow Michael A. Taylor

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View Comments (13)
Post a Comment

13 Comments

  1. PiratesFan1981

    2 years ago

    Reunion in Pittsburgh

    Reply
    • Robertowannabe

      2 years ago

      Emphatic No! Need someone better to roam the outfield.

      1
      Reply
  2. et123123

    2 years ago

    Any friend of the Gate 14 Podcast is a friend of mine.

    2
    Reply
  3. martras

    2 years ago

    It’s not like Luplow was going to make the playoff roster, but it really is a bit surprising Stevenson wasn’t DFA’d first. The only thing Stevenson is good for is late innings defensive replacements and pinch running.

    3
    Reply
    • WrongM

      2 years ago

      If they had wanted to prioritize that righty hitting matchup role (and in the seemingly likely event that Buxton isn’t off the IL by the end of the regular season) Luplow certainly could have made the postseason roster.

      Reply
      • martras

        2 years ago

        He was never going to make the postseason roster. He’s not good and you can’t play the platoon matchup role a full series in advance.

        It’s honestly as surprising to me Gallo wasn’t DFA’d, though.

        Reply
  4. 3768902

    2 years ago

    We hardly knew ye

    Reply
  5. CBA_Enjoyer

    2 years ago

    Pretty sure Luplow surpassed 5 years of service time last week.

    Reply
    • martras

      2 years ago

      4.108 according to fangraphs. Needs a couple months yet.

      Reply
      • CBA_Enjoyer

        2 years ago

        FanGraphs updates their service time in the offseason. He started the season at 4.108 and now has over 5 years of service time.

        Reply
        • martras

          2 years ago

          Ahhh. So it’s closer. Doing some math…

          Apr 7-Apr 17, 11 days (Toronto)
          Jul 19-Aug 1, 13 days (Toronto)
          Aug 4-Sep 18, 46 days (Minnesota)

          108 + 11 + 13 +46 = 178 or 7 days over 5 years

          Reply
  6. FossSellsKeys

    2 years ago

    I’m honestly pretty surprised by this. He had done the one thing they got him to do which was hit lefties. The twins have been brutal against left-handed pitching all year, and they’re going to face some lefties in the playoffs. Wouldn’t he make more sense as a pinch hitter against a lefty than having Gallo anywhere near the roster? I guess they’re going to go with Stevenson as a pinch runner instead but I feel like having somebody to bat against an LHP is going to come up and they’re not going to have a guy.

    Reply
    • martras

      2 years ago

      Stevenson won’t make the playoff roster.

      1
      Reply

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