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Twins Place Max Kepler On Injured List, Promote Brent Rooker

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11:32am: Twins skipper Rocco Baldelli tells reporters that Kepler is only expected to be sidelined for the minimum 10 days (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park). Kepler might’ve avoided an IL stint entirely had the team been at full strength, but with several players also banged up, they needed to get a fresh body onto the roster.

11:15am: The Twins have placed right fielder Max Kepler on the 10-day injured list due to a left adductor strain and selected the contract of outfielder Brent Rooker from their alternate training site in St. Paul, per a team announcement. The club also added Willians Astudillo as the 29th man for today’s doubleheader and announced that righty Juan Minaya cleared waivers and has been outrighted back to St. Paul.

Minnesota only just got Josh Donaldson and Byron Buxton back from the injured list, but they’ll now see a third key piece of their lineup sidelined for the foreseeable future. An expected timeline for Kepler’s return has not been provided.

Kepler, 27, has slashed .220/.322/.431 with seven homers, five doubles and three steals through 143 plate appearances to begin the 2020 season. He’s played strong defense along the way, checking with a +2.5 Ultimate Zone Rating and +1 Defensive Runs Saved in 259 innings in right. It’s a notable loss for the Twins, as Kepler is batting .246/.333/.502 dating back to Opening Day 2019 and is tied for fifth among all MLB right fielders with 15 Defensive Runs Saved over the past three seasons.

Rooker, 25, will get his first call to the Major League level. The No. 35 overall pick in the 2017 draft has been a steady source of power in the minors, slashing a combined .267/.357/.505 in 1110 professional plate appearances, including a .281/.398/.535 line in 274 Triple-A plate appearances a year ago.

There are questions about Rooker’s defense, as some feel he’s best suited in a first base/designated hitter role. The Twins, though, have played him in left field for much of his minor league career and seemingly hope that he can at least play passable defense there at the game’s top level. Defensive concerns notwithstanding, Rooker is considered one of the Twins’ better prospects, ranking 12th at MLB.com, 14th at Baseball America and 17th at FanGraphs due to his largely to his plus raw power and his consistently strong performances at each minor league stop.

With Kepler sidelined, the Twins can rotate Rooker, Eddie Rosario and Jake Cave through the corners. On the surface, adding Rooker’s right-handed bat would seemingly be a plus for a Twins club that has unexpectedly floundered against left-handed pitching in 2020, but Rooker has actually handled righties better than lefties over the past couple of minor league seasons.

Turning to Minaya, he had his contract selected last week but didn’t make it into a game before being designated for assignment. The 29-year-old  has spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox, where he’s pitched to a combined 3.93 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.98 HR/9 and a 36.8 percent grounder rate in 128 1/3 frames.

Twins Activate Buxton, Pineda; Donaldson To Be Activated On Wednesday

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3:37PM: The Twins officially announced that Buxton and Pineda have been reinstated.  LaMonte Wade Jr. was optioned to the alternate training site in a corresponding move, and righty Juan Minaya has been designated for assignment.

9:07AM: The Twins didn’t make any moves at the trade deadline but will still receive some key additions this week. Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets that center fielder Byron Buxton will be activated from the injured list today, while right-hander Michael Pineda will return from his reduced 60-game PED suspension tonight as well. Third baseman Josh Donaldson will be reinstated from the IL tomorrow, Hayes adds.

The Twins have faceplanted over the past week, dropping six straight games to fall to third place in the American League Central. They’re still in playoff position but are now slotted in as a No. 7 seed under the expanded format, whereas they’d previously been in the mix for the top overall seed in the American League. There’s still time to right the ship, of course, particularly with six more games against the first-place White Sox and three more against the second-place Indians still on the schedule.

Buxton began the season in a 1-for-15 slump but has hit .264 with five homers and a .566 slugging percentage in 15 games since. Unfortunately, he’s only drawn one walk on the year, leaving him with an ugly slash line of .221/.225/.456. He’s been out since Aug. 20 due to shoulder inflammation, but the hope will be that he can continue his power output while showing a bit more discipline to boost that OBP in a meaningful way. Buxton’s glovework remains sound as ever; he’s checked in at +5 Defensive Runs Saved and a +3.0 Ultimate Zone Rating in just 170 innings.

Pineda, meanwhile, will make his season debut when he’s reinstated from the restricted list. The Twins re-signed the big righty to a two-year, $20MM contract over the winter, knowing full well he’d need to miss 39 games under the 60-game PED ban he received late last year. Of course, at the time, the expectation was that those 39 games would represent just 24 percent of the 162-game schedule — not 65 percent of a 60-game schedule.

The 31-year-old Pineda was a key member of the Twins’ staff prior to last year’s suspension, logging 146 innings with a 4.01 ERA and 4.02 FIP. He’ll join a rotation mix that also includes Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Rich Hill and Randy Dobnak.

As for Donaldson, he’s played just seven games this year due to a calf strain — an injury that president of baseball operations Derek Falvey recently said the team approached in a deliberately conservative manner given the slugger’s history with calf issues. Donaldson, who inked a four-year, $92MM deal with the Twins in the offseason, opened the season in a 4-for-22 skid, though he belted 37 homers with an even .900 OPS for the Braves a season ago. Marwin Gonzalez has received the bulk of playing time at third base in Donaldson’s absence and struggled at the plate (.225/.299/.324). He’ll likely return to a super-utility role when Donaldson is activated.

Twins Designate Danny Coulombe, Select Juan Minaya

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The Twins announced that they’ve designated left-hander Danny Coulombe for assignment in order to open a roster spot for right-hander Juan Minaya, whose contract has been selected from the alternate training site in St. Paul. Minnesota will also add lefty Lewis Thorpe from St. Paul as the team’s 29th man for today’s doubleheader against the Tigers.

Coulombe, 30, appeared in a pair of games for Minnesota, tallying 2 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and three walks. He inked a minor league contract over the winter after posting excellent Triple-A strikeout numbers with the Yankees and Brewers over the past couple season: 61 in 36 1/3 frames. This year’s small sample of data shows him relying much more on his curveball than his slider — a departure from his past big league work which could help to explain his recent jump in punchouts.

Overall, Coulombe has pitched in parts of six MLB seasons, working to a combined 4.19 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.0 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a 56.3 percent grounder rate. The Twins will have a week to run him through outright waivers or release him, and they can also trade him to another club before Monday afternoon’s deadline.

As for Minaya, he’s spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox, where he’s pitched to a combined 3.93 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 54.6 BB/9, 0.98 HR/9 and a 36.8 percent grounder rate in 128 1/3 frames. Minaya’s control has caused him troubles in the past, but he’ll give the Twins a fresh bullpen arm with some swing-and-miss abilities prior to tonight’s doubleheader.

Twins Place Rich Hill On Injured List

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The Twins have placed left-hander Rich Hill on the injured list because of shoulder fatigue, Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those to report. Hill’s IL placement will be backdated, per manager Rocco Baldelli. The club has also added righty Juan Minaya to its 60-man player pool, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweets.

Consistent IL placements have been an unfortunate part of the package with Hill, a well-traveled 40-year-old who, on a per-inning basis, has surprisingly been one of the game’s most effective pitchers since he revived his career in 2015. Hill’s most recent success, primarily with the Dodgers, prompted the Twins to hand him a $3MM guarantee last offseason. It looked good through one start this year, as Hill tossed five scoreless, two-hit innings in a win over the Cardinals last Wednesday. However, Hill was scratched from his scheduled start against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Reigning AL Central Minnesota ia off to a tremendous 8-2 start this season, but it hasn’t come without a few key problems in its rotation. Before Hill went on the IL, fellow free-agent pickup Homer Bailey and 2019 All-Star Jake Odorizzi landed on the shelf with injuries. Jose Berrios, Kenta Maeda, Randy Dobnak and Monday starter Lewis Thorpe are still around, but it’s unclear who will fill the last spot if the Twins need someone to step up.

Twins Announce Several Minor League Signings

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The Twins organization has agreed to seven more minor league deals with free agents, Triple-A Rochester director of communications Nate Rowan announced Tuesday. Right-handers Juan Minaya, Austin D. Adams, Casey Lawrence, Parker Bridwell, Alec Asher and Joey Krehbiel all agreed to deals with the Twins, as did infielder Calten Daal.

Minaya, 29, spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox and logged significant innings in each of the past three. From 2017-19, Minaya pitched to a 3.89 ERA (4.19 FIP) with 10.4 K/9, 4.7 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 in 118 innings of relief for the South Siders. His average heater was down about a mile per hour in 2019, sitting at 93.4 mph, but Minaya has a steady track record of missing bats while displaying sub-par control.

Adams, 33, made a pair of appearances with the Twins and tallied 14 frames with the Tigers but allowed 13 runs in 16 2/3 frames overall. He struggled in Triple-A as well, but this will be his third stint in the Twins organization, so the club’s decision-makers clearly see something they feel they can work with even if his recent results have been poor.

Bridwell, 28, pitched 121 innings of 3.64 ERA ball with the 2017 Angels, although his secondary numbers never really supported that mark. The righty averaged just 5.4 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 with an elevated 1.41 HR/9 rate and 38.1 percent ground-ball rate in ’17, causing FIP (4.84), xFIP (5.07) and SIERA (5.06) to view him in a less favorable light. Bridwell has an ERA north of 8.00 in a pair of injury-shortened Triple-A seasons since that time.

The 32-year-old Lawrence had a rough season in Japan in 2019 and returns to affiliated ball after just one year overseas. He spent 2017-18 in Seattle, where he soaked up 78 2/3 innings in a long relief/spot-starting role but limped to a 6.64 ERA along the way. Lawrence does have a respectable 3.73 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in 262 2/3 Triple-A innings in his career.

Asher has just three MLB innings since 2017 and, in total, has a 5.42 ERA in 119 2/3 innings between the Phillies, Orioles and Brewers. The former Rangers prospect went to the Phils as part of the Cole Hamels deal several years ago, but he’s yet to find success in the bigs while serving mostly as a fifth starter/long reliever. The 28-year-old spent most of 2019 with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, working to a 3.12 ERA in 37 1/3 frames.

Krehbiel, meanwhile, has just three big league innings to his name but has averaged just under 11 strikeouts per nine innings in his minor league career. Daal, 26, is a middle infielder who never cracked the Majors after seven seasons in the Reds organization. He’s consistently posted solid batting averages but limited on-base percentages and well below-average power numbers.

Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

White Sox Place Eloy Jimenez On IL, Select Ryan Goins

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The White Sox announced today that they have placed outfielder Eloy Jimenez on the 10-day injured list. The club identified his injury as a “right ulnar nerve contusion.”

To fill the open active roster spot, the South Siders have selected the contract of infielder Ryan Goins. A 40-man slot had already been created when righty Juan Minaya was designated for assignment; the club announced that he has been outrighted to Triple-A.

It’s not known yet how long Jimenez will be sidelined, but it doesn’t sound as if the young slugger is at risk of a particularly lengthy absence. As for Goins, he’s back in the majors for the first time since 2018 after slashing a sturdy .322/.406/.531 in 316 plate appearances at Triple-A.

White Sox Designate Juan Minaya For Assignment

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The White Sox have designated righty Juan Minaya for assignment, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Minaya, a former Astro farmhand, was reasonably effective for the club this season, posting a 3.90 ERA with a decent 27/12 K/BB in 27 2/3 mostly low-leverage innings. ERA estimators were far less impressed, though – his 29.4% grounder rate was among the league’s lowest, leaving a projected HR/9 well north of the 1.30 total he allowed this season. The 28-year-old’s velocity also dipped nearly two full miles per hour from his career-best 95.4 MPH mark in ’18, and his slider effectiveness had diminished substantially.

Minaya’s DFA makes room for the return of righty Dylan Covey, himself somewhat of a chink in the already-frail armor of the White Sox rotation. The team’s bullpen’s also struggled, making the Minaya move a bit of a head-scratcher. Only a dominant Aaron Bummer has separated himself; Alex Colome and Evan Marshall have gotten outs with iffy peripherals, with the former sporting a comically low .124 BABIP.

White Sox Select Juan Minaya, Move Jon Jay To 60-Day IL

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The White Sox have selected right-handed reliever Juan Minaya from Triple-A Charlotte and transferred outfielder Jon Jay to the 60-day injured list, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets.

Minaya has returned to Chicago’s 40-man roster less than two months after the team outrighted him to the minors. The 28-year-old has struggled to a 5.51 ERA/5.99 FIP in 16 1/3 innings in Charlotte since then, but that didn’t stop the White Sox from bringing him back to their unspectacular bullpen. White Sox relievers rank toward the bottom of the majors in strikeouts, whereas Minaya specializes in fanning opposing hitters. Minaya has struck out 12.67 hitters per nine in the minors this year, and he put up 10.28 K/9 (against 4.83 BB/9) with the White Sox from 2016-18. He also pitched to a passable 3.93 ERA/4.04 FIP during that 100 2/3-inning span.

Jay, meanwhile, still hasn’t suited up for the Sox since they signed the contact-hitting veteran to a a one-year, $4MM guarantee over the winter. The 34-year-old went on the 10-day IL on March 26 with a hip issue, and his move to the 60-day version means he won’t come back until at least late May. There’s no timetable for his return, though, per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, who reports Jay is headed to extended spring training to rehab.

White Sox Outright Juan Minaya

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Right-hander Juan Minaya has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte by the White Sox, thus opening a spot on the team’s 40-man roster. The Athletic’s James Fegan tweets that Minaya’s velocity has dipped “noticeably” in recent outings, and the righty has struggled through a series of poor relief appearances this spring (11 runs in 4 2/3 innings). Beyond Minaya, the Sox also reassigned non-roster invitee Randall Delgado to minor league camp, ending the former D-backs right-hander’s bid to make the Opening Day roster.

Minaya, 28, has been a consistent presence in the White Sox’ bullpen over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 3.89 earned run average while averaging 10.9 strikeouts and 4.9 walks per nine innings pitched. He briefly served as the team’s closer in 2017, tallying nine saves in that role, and has generally been a solid reliever for the Sox — albeit an erratic one in terms of control. Minaya averaged 95 mph on his heater last season and has posted an 11.5 percent swinging-strike rate across the past two years, though it seems some of that velocity has disappeared in camp.

Minaya’s subtraction from the 40-man roster doesn’t necessarily indicate that the White Sox are on the verge of any sort of signing. Veteran righty Ervin Santana, in camp with the White Sox on a minor league contract, is widely expected to claim a spot in the rotation and now has a clear path to be added to the roster. If that indeed plays out, he’ll reportedly earn a $4.3MM salary in 2019.

As for Delgado, the 29-year-old was a useful bullpen piece himself for the Diamondbacks from 2015-17 when he notched a 3.79 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over the life of 209 2/3 innings. (He also mixed in six starts along the way.) A significant oblique strain wiped out more than half of his 2018 season, however, and he managed just 11 1/3 innings with more walks (six) than strikeouts (five) before being designated for assignment.

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