April 17: The Twins officially placed Wallner on the IL today, with Bride taking his spot on the active roster.
April 16: The Twins announced that they have acquired infielder Jonah Bride from the Marlins. Miami, who designated Bride for assignment yesterday, will receive cash considerations in return. Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those to report the move prior to the official announcement. The Twins have had an open 40-man spot since righty Scott Blewett was designated for assignment a few days ago. It was reported earlier today that outfielder Matt Wallner is heading to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain, which will open an active roster spot. Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune was among those to relay the Wallner news.
Bride, 29, has a pretty good track record of minor league performance. Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, he has stepped to the plate 1,166 times on the farm with a 17.1% walk rate, higher than his 16% strikeout rate. That helped him produce a combined .289/.421/.489 batting line and 137 wRC+ in that time.
That got him some brief major league opportunities with the Athletics in 2022 and 2023, but he didn’t hit will in those, slashing .192/.296/.232. He was acquired by the Marlins going into 2024 and seemed to show some promise. He got into 71 games for the Fish last year, hitting 11 home runs and walking at an 11% pace. That led to a .276/.357/.461 line and 123 wRC+.
But he got out to a rough start here in 2025, with a .100/.200/.100 line and 33.3% strikeout rate through 45 plate appearances. Now out of options, he got bumped off Miami’s 40-man roster this week when Jesús Sánchez returned from the injured list.
Though the Twins are going to put Wallner on the injured list, they need more help on the infield, particularly on the left side. In terms of outfielders, without Wallner, they have Byron Buxton, Harrison Bader, Trevor Larnach and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. on the active roster and prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez on optional assignment.
The infield mix is pretty banged up, however. Shortstop Carlos Correa was removed from yesterday’s game with some left wrist soreness. He told Nightengale that he’s been dealing with it since late last year. He’s out to a rough start this season, hitting .164/.227/.246 thus far.
Correa didn’t start this afternoon’s contest, with Willi Castro plugging in at short. However, Castro was removed with some tightness in his right oblique, per Hayes. Correa was subbed in defensively in the ninth but the Twins were not planning to let him hit if that spot in the order came around, per Matthew Leach of MLB.com. The Twins walked off the Mets in the tenth, so manager Rocco Baldelli didn’t have to figure out a plan for what to do once Correa’s spot in the order came up.
The Twins are already without Royce Lewis, who is on the IL with a strained hamstring. They optioned the struggling José Miranda to the minors recently and he got hurt almost immediately after in a strange accident. Per Nightengale, Miranda was shopping at Target and dropped a case of water. He caught it and suffered a left hand strain in the process, getting placed on the minor league seven-day IL. Austin Martin is also on the minor league IL, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com, getting put on the shelf with a right hamstring strain on April 11.
The Twins have Ty France and Edouard Julien at first and second but shortstop and third are more up in the air with Lewis, Correa, Castro, Martin and Miranda all banged up or out of commission. Bride has played all of the non-shortstop infield positions, so he will give them another guy capable of playing third. Perhaps Brooks Lee will then cover shortstop while Correa and Castro get some time off to heal up.
The Twins are off tomorrow, so they have a bit of time to assess how things go before the weekend, but Bride was available and fits nicely with their current predicament. As mentioned, he is out of options, but he has less than two years of service time. That means he can be affordably retained well into the future if he manages to hold onto a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of John Jones, Imagn Images
Did he say yes?
Twins are father of the Bride it seems.
I guess that they thought that he was the best man for the job…
sounds awful.. they have enough at AAA
They actually don’t. Did you ready the article?
Where’s Buddy Groom?
They got themselves a whale of a player!
…I thought I’d make reference to his first name to change things up.
Cash Considerations would be a cool name for a free swinging 14th round draft pick who has great speed.
Kash Konsiderations
Of course the Marlins took cash instead of ANY player. I knew that before I even clicked the article.
I dunno. They made the playoffs two years ago with a roster that most deemed awful. So things happen.
Oh boy. How exciting. Watch out Yankees and Dodgers the Twins are coming for ya!
Typical Twins. They don’t want to call up any prospects for a cup of coffee, so get a junk piece. At least the Poorhouse Pohlads shelled out some cash.
Thankfully there is time for the Uniform Guy to craft a suitable
BRIDAL GOWN !!
Marlins have some good young players. Definitely a better group than last year and though they are not likely really a contender they could be a 75 win team, which would be a step in the right direction
Twins paid cash for a male order Bride
Cheaper to go the McDonalds and get Bake McBride. Better hitter
Bride will be DFA’d again faster than you can say “Annulment”…
DFA’d for a mail order bride?
The jokes just write themselves for this one
Made two accounts so you can’t block us both
I was thinking Detroit would have interest since he plays 3b,1b,of. He has a nice swing and can hit but needs someone to work with him. Good luck to you Jonah.
Twins are betting on a reclamation project to stabilize their lineup, potentially at a fraction of the cost of pursuing a bigger name.