Following the Twins’ 3-0 loss to the Tigers tonight, Minnesota announced that infielder Jonah Bride has been designated for assignment. No corresponding move has been made yet, but several members of the Twins beat speculated that Royce Lewis will be activated from the 10-day injured list prior to the team’s next game on Tuesday in Miami.
By coincidence, Bride came to the Twins from Miami in a trade back in April. This is the third time Bride has been designated in his career, and the previous two DFAs resulted in trades — from the A’s to the Marlins in February 2024, and then the swap that brought Bride to the Twin Cities.
Multiple injuries around the Twins’ infield created the need for Bride’s versatility, and he ended up appearing in 33 games with Minnesota mostly at third base, but with a few cameos as a first baseman, second baseman, and even four outings as a mop-up pitcher in blowouts. While Bride hit better with Minnesota than he did in Miami, he still has only a .170/.248/.188 slash line over 125 total plate appearances with both clubs in 2025.
A veteran of four big league seasons, Bride seemed to have a bit of a breakout with the Marlins in 2024, hitting .276/.357/.461 over 272 PA. It could be that rebuilding Miami never saw the 29-year-old Bride as more than a stopgap, however, and Bride’s lack of minor league options also reduced his flexibility in terms of roster shuffles.
That out-of-options status is why the Marlins and now the Twins have had to designate Bride and expose him to waivers before attempting to send him to the minors and outright him off their 40-man rosters. Bride doesn’t have a past outright on his record or the necessary MLB service time to reject an outright assignment, should he clear waivers this time and the Twins move him to Triple-A.
Headline: Twins dump Bride over performance issues
If Bride’s sister were to marry Buddy Groom’s son, her name would be ….. eh nevermind.
Steve Martin has entered the chat!
King Felix meet King Tut
Twins trade BRIDE for deGroom, extended Dicky Lovelady
And R.A. Dickey comes out of retirement.
Always the bride, never the groom.
The problem Bride had was that he was almost more useful as a pitcher (-0.3 WAR) than a hitter (-0.2.)
I caught one of his at-bats tonight and wondered how he was on the team. I must not have been alone.
Who???
He’s a 3B/mopup relief pitcher
He is in no way anything like a real pitcher. He’s a guy who can be injured and not be missed, he’s a guy with a 58mph mild knuckleball, and he’s only a pitcher because the Twins are coming out of one of the worst stretches of pitching in the last ten years at the MLB level (ie 9 games in June where they allowed 9 or more runs).
Didn’t realize money-ball fat assistant got hitched
Headline one day:
Bride pounded hard, outperformed by deGroom, and relieved with Dicky Lovelady
That would be a quick recovery for Royce, given his track record.
Scrap heap addition who couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag. Starting both Bride and Vasquez against Skubal was Rocco conceding defeat from the get go.
I think it’s a good move. Skubal had won 9 in a row. Even at full strength, the Twins concede.
The trouble with Jonah was the inability to constancy hit. There was something there last year as he was pretty productive for the Marlins. There may be a team out there who could figure out what he needs to do. Still only 29 and can play multiple positions. He may be traded to someone who needs a 3b with some potentional.