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Twins Rumors

Twins Release Addison Reed

By Steve Adams | May 21, 2019 at 9:08pm CDT

May 21: Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tells reporters that Reed has been informed of his placement on release waivers (Twitter link via the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller). He’ll be a free agent once he clears in 48 hours. At that point, he can sign with any club for the prorated league minimum.

May 16: The Twins announced that they’ve designated right-hander Addison Reed for assignment. The veteran setup man had been pitching on a rehab assignment in Triple-A Rochester after opening the season on the injured list due to a thumb sprain, though Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets that Reed’s velocity was topping out at 88-89 mph in recent appearances.

It’s a disappointing outcome for both the Twins and Reed, whose initial two-year, $16.75MM pact with Minnesota looked to be a relative bargain. Reed got out to a terrific start last season, pitching to a 2.36 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 1.01 HR/9 through his first 26 2/3 innings. However, he began to struggle and landed on the shelf due to triceps discomfort and an elbow impingement in July. He struggled in his return while demonstrating the same type of velocity loss Hayes mentioned in reference to Reed’s rehab assignment. He finished up the season with a cumulative 4.50 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.77 HR/9 and a 31.6 percent ground-ball rate.

Minnesota will have a week to trade Reed, release him or pass him through waivers. He’s likely to clear, given this season’s $8.5MM salary, and even if the Twins try to outright him to Triple-A, Reed could reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Austin D. Adams, whose promotion to the Major Leagues was reported last night. Adams’ contract has now been formally selected, per the Twins’ announcement.

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Minnesota Twins Newsstand Transactions Addison Reed

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Twins Place Nelson Cruz On IL, Promote Luis Arraez

By Steve Adams | May 17, 2019 at 12:27pm CDT

The Twins announced that they’ve placed designated hitter Nelson Cruz on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist strain and promoted infield prospect Luis Arraez for his big league debut. Arraez’s promotion was initially reported by Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base (Twitter link).

Cruz, 38, was signed to a one-year deal worth $14.3MM this winter and has jumped out to a hot start, mashing at a .270/.354/.508 clip with seven home runs and nine doubles through his first 144 plate appearances as a Twin. He’s been out of the lineup for the past few days due to ongoing discomfort that he’s played through to this point, and Minnesota has now opted to give Cruz some additional time to let the wrist heal up. There’s no indication that his absence is expected to be particularly lengthy, and because the move is backdated to May 14, he can be activated in a week’s time if he’s ready.

Arraez, 22, is largely devoid of power but has been a hitting machine throughout his time in the minors. Signed as a teenager out of Venezuela back in 2013, he’s never batted below .309 in any season of affiliated ball and carries a lifetime .331/.385/.414 slash line with him to the Majors. His uncanny knack for making contact has led to a tiny 8.4 percent strikeout rate in the minors, which is scarcely higher than his 7.7 percent walk rate. Both Fangraphs (No. 12) and MLB.com (No. 17) rank Arraez in the middle of the pack in a solid Twins farm system, praising his plus hit tool and making note of his extreme opposite-field approach. Arraez was out to a strong start in 2019, hitting .344/.413/.394 through 179 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A.

Defensively, he’s logged the majority of his innings at second base, but Arraez has time at third base, shortstop and left field as well, which points to a possible utility role at the big league level moving forward. His ability to move around the diamond, paired with Marwin Gonzalez’s well-documented versatility, should give rookie skipper Rocco Baldelli plenty of in-game flexibility with regard to his lineup and defensive alignments while Cruz is on the shelf.

Down the line, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Arraez settle in as a versatile, bat-first utility option in Minneapolis, even if his initial promotion to the big leagues is brief. It’s possible, too, that Arraez impresses enough to stick on the roster; as noted here last week, out-of-options utility infielder Ehire Adrianza is struggling a great deal this season (.177/.297/.290).

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Minnesota Twins Luis Arraez Nelson Cruz

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Twins GM Levine Talks Bullpen Market

By Mark Polishuk | May 16, 2019 at 8:25pm CDT

  • “The expectation both within the organization and outside is that the Twins, like so many other teams, must address their bullpen if they want to be real contenders,” The Athletic’s Dan Hayes writes in a look at Minnesota’s relief corps.  The Twins are around the middle of the pack in most relief categories, with Taylor Rogers, Blake Parker, Trevor May, and Ryne Harper all delivering excellent results thus far, though there isn’t a lot of experience within that group.  While Minnesota will surely explore adding a reliever before the trade deadline if the team remains in the race, GM Thad Levine notes that “I think it’s a little too early to see that market take shape,” noting that teams with bullpen assets to sell right now are putting a big asking price on that pitching.
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Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins Notes Adam Plutko Alex Gordon James McCann Jordan Zimmermann Rick Hahn Tyler Naquin Welington Castillo

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Twins Option Trevor Hildenberger, Will Select Austin Adams

By Steve Adams | May 15, 2019 at 10:28pm CDT

The Twins announced following Wednesday’s game that they’ve optioned struggling righty Trevor Hildenberger to Triple-A Rochester. While no corresponding move was announced, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Twins are set to select the contract of right-hander Austin Adams from Rochester. SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson tweeted earlier in the afternoon that Adams was a potential replacement option. Because Adams is not on the 40-man roster, Minnesota will need to make an additional move to accommodate the promotion.

Hildenberger, 28, was a significant factor in the Twins’ 2017 Wild Card run when he emerged as a late-blooming rookie and turned in a 3.21 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 in 42 innings of work down the stretch. He largely maintained that pace with a 3.33 first-half ERA in 2018 before cratering in the season’s second half when he allowed 27 runs in his final 27 innings of work.

The 2019 has been a smaller-scale replica of that 2018 campaign; Hildenberger allowed just two runs on nine hits and four walks with 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings in April but has been clobbered for 11 runs in just 4 2/3 innings this month. While he’s never thrown hard, it’s also not a good sign that the righty’s average fastball is down 1.2 mph from last year’s levels (dipping from 89.6 mph to 88.4 mph). In fairness to Hildenberger, he’s been plagued by a sky-high .460 average on balls in play, which certainly hasn’t helped his cause. For now, he’ll look to right the ship in a lower-pressure setting and return to help the club later in the season.

As for Adams — not to be confused with the former Nationals reliever of the same name whom the Mariners acquired earlier this month — it’ll be the 32-year-old’s first big league action since the 2016 season. Adams was a 2009 fifth-round pick of the Indians and spent parts of three seasons (2014-16) in the Cleveland ’pen, meaning Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey, a former Indians AGM, is likely quite familiar with the righty.

He hasn’t had much success in the Majors outside of a 3.78 ERA in 33 2/3 innings with the 2015 Indians, but Adams is currently sporting a 28-to-6 K/BB ratio in 14 innings of work with Triple-A Rochester. He’s been tagged for three homers in that time and has a 4.50 ERA on the whole, but the K/BB ratio and Adams’ whopping 58.5 percent ground-ball rate are genuinely intriguing. Perhaps most intriguing of all is the fact that the Twins and Mariners will square off in a four-game series beginning tomorrow, thus setting the stage for an Austin Adams vs. Austin Adams bullpen showdown.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Austin D. Adams Trevor Hildenberger

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Twins Activate Miguel Sano, Place Mitch Garver On IL

By Jeff Todd | May 15, 2019 at 10:10am CDT

The Twins announced today that third baseman Miguel Sano is heading back onto the MLB roster. He’ll take the place of backstop Mitch Garver, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list after suffering an ankle sprain last night.

Sano, who just celebrated his 26th birthday, has been working back from a heel injury that cost him much more time than had been anticipated. The AL Central-leading Twins also used the opportunity to allow the slugger plenty of time to see pitching in the minors.

It’ll be fascinating to see how Sano responds to MLB pitching. He entered spring camp with a new physique and showing plenty of promise after a rough 2018 campaign. He has posted a .316/.364/.579 slash in his 44 rehab plate appearances.

The Twins will hope that Sano can get back to the high-level offensive output that he showed earlier in his career. He batted .264/.352/.507 and launched 28 long balls in 483 plate appearances in 2017, so it hasn’t been that long since he was a productive bat.

Unfortunately, the move comes in conjunction with the loss of Garver, who was off to a breakout start to the year. His timeline isn’t yet known. Fortunately, the team can still rely upon Jason Castro and Willians Astudillo behind the dish during Garver’s absence.

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Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano Mitch Garver

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Twins’ Mitch Garver Diagnosed With High Ankle Sprain

By Steve Adams | May 14, 2019 at 11:10pm CDT

Twins catcher Mitch Garver exited tonight’s game after a play at the plate and has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). He’ll be further evaluated tomorrow.

Garver was injured on what ultimately proved to be a game-saving play in the eighth inning; Byron Buxton threw out Shohei Ohtani to end the frame in a 4-3 game, but Ohtani slid into Garver’s planted leg. Garver had to be helped off the field and was unable to place weight on his left leg (video link).

While Garver is hardly a household name, any notable injury for the 28-year-old would be a sizable loss for the Twins. He’s off to a blistering start to the 2019 season, hitting at a .329/.418/.747 clip with nine long balls — including a two-run shot that proved to be the difference tonight — through his first 91 plate appearances. Combined with infielder/catcher Willians Astudillo (.290/.303/.484) and a resurgent Jason Castro (.245/.362/.612), Garver has helped to comprise a highly productive trio of catching options for the first-place Twins.

The presence of both Castro and Astudillo on the roster suggests that the Twins wouldn’t need to call up a catcher in the perhaps likely event that Garver requires a stint on the injured list. Minnesota doesn’t have any other catchers on its 40-man roster anyhow, so it seems likely that they’d continue with the Astudillo/Castro pairing, perhaps with Astudillo working in a slightly more conventional role in a two-catcher setup.

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Minnesota Twins Mitch Garver

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MRI Negative On Left Wrist Of Nelson Cruz

By Mark Polishuk | May 13, 2019 at 4:47pm CDT

TODAY: The MRI came back negative, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press was among those to report on Twitter. Cruz is hoping to avoid an IL trip altogether.

YESTERDAY: Twins slugger Nelson Cruz left Sunday’s game due to soreness in his left wrist, and he will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the nature of the problem.  (MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park was among those to report the news.)

Cruz’s injury didn’t seem to stem from any specific incident, as the veteran indicated to reporters after the game that he had been dealing with nagging wrist soreness, and the issue became worse after taking a swinging strike.  As Park notes, Cruz’s wrist seemed to be visibly bothering him after swinging at a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Cruz took one further plate appearance in the game but was removed for a pinch-hitter in the seventh.

Even as he approaches his 39th birthday on July 1, Cruz is still producing at a high level, with a .270/.354/.508 slash line and seven homers over his first 144 plate appearances as a Twin.  Cruz’s still-potent bat has been a big reason behind Minnesota’s surprising surge to the best record in baseball, and obviously any type of IL stint for the veteran designated hitter would be a blow to the Twins’ lineup.

If Cruz’s status wasn’t enough of a concern for the Twins, Martin Perez was also an early scratch from Sunday’s game, as the starter was removed after being hit in the left ankle by a Nicholas Castellanos line drive in the sixth inning.  This injury (diagnosed as a left foot contusion) doesn’t appear to be as serious, however, as Perez told Park and other reporters that he doesn’t think he’ll miss his next start.

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Minnesota Twins Martin Perez Nelson Cruz

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Latest On Addison Reed, Miguel Sano

By Jeff Todd | May 7, 2019 at 2:26pm CDT

  • In another update from the Twins organization, it doesn’t sound as if there’s a huge rush to move slugger Miguel Sano back up the ladder. He’s currently working at Double-A. In that case, though, there’s a May 20th deadline to wrap up the rehab assignment.
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Cincinnati Reds Los Angeles Angels Minnesota Twins St. Louis Cardinals Addison Reed Carlos Martinez Miguel Sano Scooter Gennett Shohei Ohtani

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Indians Acquire Adam Rosales From Twins

By Ty Bradley | May 4, 2019 at 12:56pm CDT

Per Dan Hayes of the Athletic, the Indians have acquired IF Adam Rosales from Minnesota for cash considerations.

It’s another stop for the well-traveled Rosales, 35, who spent much of last season at Cleveland’s AAA affiliate, where he slashed .239/.313/.445 with 18 homers in 428 plate appearances. With AAA-Rochester this season, and the aid of a juiced-up new ball in play across the Triple-A level, Rosales is off to a slow start, slashing a meager .194/.263/.222 across the season’s first 20 games.

An 11-year MLB vet, the former Red, Diamondback, Athletic, Ranger, Padre and Indian has had occasional success at the MLB level, most recently in 2016 with San Diego, where he slugged 13 homers in a mere 248 PA (good for a .495 slugging percentage), en route to a very solid 113 wRC+/1.7 fWAR season.  Much of his success – he owns a career 92 wRC+ mark – has come against southpaws, against whom Rosales boasts a respectable .240/.313/.395 line.

Still, the best of Rosales’ days look to be behind him: he’s struggled mightily at the big-league dish the last two seasons as his walk rate’s taken a nosedive and his chase rate has exploded. Opportunities seems scant at Progressive Field, though the club does continue to scour the landscape for help against left-handed pitching, against whom the team’s posted an AL-worst 58 wRC+.

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Cleveland Guardians Minnesota Twins Transactions Adam Rosales

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Twins Select Mike Morin

By Steve Adams | May 2, 2019 at 10:28am CDT

The Twins announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Mike Morin and placed left-hander Adalberto Mejia on the 10-day injured list due to a calf strain. Minnesota had an open 40-man roster spot, so an additional corresponding move to accommodate Morin’s selection isn’t required.

It’s an early birthday present for Morin, who’ll turn 28 tomorrow. The former Angels, Royals and Mariners righty signed a minors pact with the Twins in the offseason and has thrown well in the early portion of the season with Triple-A Rochester, notching a 3.00 ERA with a 12-to-3 K/BB ratio in 12 innings of relief.

Morin had a terrific rookie campaign with the Angels back in 2014 when he logged a 2.90 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 0.46 HR/9 and a 43.9 percent ground-ball rate. That strong season has been far and away the best of his career to this point, as Morin has limped to a combined 5.56 ERA in 115 MLB frames since that time. He’s persistently maintained strong K/BB numbers and done a good job keeping the ball in the yard, however, and fielding-independent metrics have continually suggested that his bottom-line results should be better than they are. Morin has been plagued by a slightly elevated BABIP but more notably a 56.4 percent strand rate that is nearly 20 percent south of the league average.

Morin is out of minor league options, so the Twins won’t be able to send him back down unless they first pass him through waivers. He’ll replace Mejia, a former top prospect who has struggled perhaps more than anyone on the Twins’ staff to this point in the season. Through 11 1/3 innings, the lefty has been torched for 11 earned runs on 11 hits and nine walks with 11 strikeouts. Twins relievers, on the whole, rank 21st in the Majors with a 4.78 ERA and 4.62 xFIP (but 13th with a more palatable 4.21 FIP).

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Adalberto Mejia Mike Morin

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