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David Festa Dealing With Compressed Nerve Injury

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September 12th: Festa tells Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune that his issue is related to a compressed nerve and not typical thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms. He expects to be fine for spring training.

September 10th: Twins right-hander David Festa has been on the injured list since late July due to shoulder inflammation. Head trainer Nick Paparesta tells Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that noted surgeon Dr. Keith Meister believes Festa has neurological thoracic outlet syndrome. Festa is going to see another doctor and a formal plan will be mapped out after that.

It’s a potentially ominous diagnosis as thoracic outlet syndrome can significantly alter the course of a pitcher’s career. Back in 2023, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post did a thorough examination of the condition, noting that there are two distinct varieties.

One type is known as venous or vascular TOS. While this is a serious medical condition often involving life-threatening blood clots, it seems to have less long-term impacts in terms of throwing a baseball. Merrill Kelly is the poster boy for recovering from this type of TOS surgery. Kelly went under the knife in 2020 but has since made 132 starts with a 3.59 earned run average. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies recently had a blood clot removed and was recommended for venous TOS surgery.

The second type of TOS is neurogenic, which seems to have a larger impact on throwing ability. Paparesta used the word “neurological” to describe Festa’s TOS, but it’s possible he meant neurogenic. Stephen Strasburg, Chris Archer and Matt Harvey are some of the most famous example of pitchers who were diagnosed with neurogenic TOS and never really seemed to be the same.

Strasburg was one of the best pitchers over the previous decade. He capped things off with an excellent 2019 season. He gave the Nationals 209 innings that year with a 3.32 ERA. He then added another 36 1/3 innings in the postseason with a 1.98 ERA, leading the Nats to a World Series title, winning himself World Series MVP in the process. But nerve issues popped up after that. He underwent TOS surgery in 2021. His repeated attempts to get back on the mound didn’t work. He only made eight appearances after the 2019 season and eventually retired.

Archer tossed 882 1/3 innings over the 2015 to 2019 seasons with a 4.05 ERA and 27.8% strikeout rate. He underwent TOS surgery in 2020. After that, he logged 122 innings with a 4.57 ERA and 20.2% strikeout rate. Harvey had a 2.53 ERA and 26.6% strikeout rate through his first 427 innings but then had TOS surgery in 2016. In the final 446 2/3 innings of his career, he had a 6.15 ERA and 17% strikeout rate.

Festa entered 2024 as one of the top prospects in the league. He made his major league debut last year, tossing 64 1/3 innings for the Twins. His 4.90 ERA wasn’t especially impressive but he struck out 27.8% of batters faced with an 8.3% walk rate.

This year, he has been shuttled back and forth between the majors and minors. He missed much of May, while on optional assignment, due to biceps inflammation. He was placed on the major league IL in July due to shoulder inflammation. Around those transactions and injuries, he has made 11 big league appearances with a 5.40 ERA but decent strikeout and walk rates of 23.1% and 8.3% respectively. He also posted a 2.59 ERA in seven Triple-A starts.

It was reported earlier this month that Festa had a setback and would not be returning this year, with the next step being a visit to Dr. Meister. Further information on Festa’s status will undoubtedly be coming out in the future. He has not yet been moved to the 60-day IL as the Twins only have 37 guys on their 40-man roster. If they fill those spots in the remainder of the season, Festa could eventually be moved to the 60-day IL to open another.

The Minnesota rotation has changed shape in recent months. The club fell in the standings and pivoted to sell mode. They sent out impending free agent Chris Paddack but also brought in young, controllable guys like Taj Bradley and Mick Abel, as well as prospect Kendry Rojas. Some have speculated that they will continue selling this winter, including making guys like Pablo López or Joe Ryan available. Time will tell whether that’s a realistic possibility or not. For now, the 2026 rotation mix includes those guys as well as Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and Zebby Matthews.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Twins Select Cody Laweryson

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The Twins announced that right-hander Justin Topa has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, retroactive to September 9th. Fellow righty Cody Laweryson has been selected to take Topa’s place on the roster. The Twins had just 37 men on their 40-man, so no other corresponding move is required as this brings their count up to 38.

It’s unclear how serious Topa’s injury is but this presumably ends his season. Even with the backdating of the move, he could only come back for the final few days of the schedule. With the Twins buried in the standings, there’s not much motivation for him to rush back. Assuming he’s done, he finishes the year with a 3.90 earned run average in 60 innings. His 18.3% strikeout rate was subpar but his 6.7% walk rate and 47.7% ground ball rate were good figures.

The Twins will have to decide whether or not to trigger a $2MM club option for 2026 or go for a $225K buyout. Even if they go for the buyout, they could still keep Topa for next year via arbitration. Assuming they want Topa back next year, the decision would simply come down to which path they expect to be cheaper.

His injury allows Laweryson to get up to the majors for the first time. Now 27, Laweryson was drafted with a 14th-round pick back in 2019. He worked both as a starter and a reliever as he climbed the minor league ladder but has been working exclusively out of the bullpen in recent years.

On the most recent FanGraphs list of top prospects in the system, Laweryson got an honorable mention, with the report noting that his deception helps him get better results than one would expect from his middling stuff. He has thrown 44 innings this year between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 46.3% ground ball rate. Laweryson will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Since this is his first time cracking a big league roster, he has a full slate of options.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Twins Place Ryan Jeffers On 7-Day IL, Designate Brooks Kriske

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The Twins announced that catcher Ryan Jeffers has been placed (retroactive to September 5) on the seven-day injured list for concussion-related injuries.  Right-hander Brooks Kriske was designated for assignment in another move, and the two open roster spots will be filled by Triple-A call-ups Pierson Ohl and Carson McCusker.

Jeffers hasn’t played since he left Thursday’s game after taking a foul ball off his mask.  The move to the seven-day IL will allow him at least a full week to recover from any lingering symptoms, and gives the Twins a bit of roster flexibility so they aren’t short-handed behind the plate.  Jhonny Pereda was already called up from Triple-A on Friday, and Pereda and Mickey Gasper will assume catching duties while Jeffers is sidelined.

One of the few experienced Twins players that wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline, Jeffers has hit .262/.353/.394 with nine home runs over 442 plate appearances this season.  This translates to a 111 wRC+, which ranks Jeffers sixth of the 10 catchers who have played enough in 2025 to count as qualified hitters.  Jeffers’ power has dropped rather sharply over the last two seasons, yet the 2025 campaign has seen the backstop post career bests in both strikeout and walk rates.

It was just over a month ago that Kriske was claimed off the Cubs’ waiver wire, as Minnesota was looking to add some arms to a bullpen depleted by the team’s many deadline moves.  Unfortunately, Kriske’s brief time in the Twin Cities didn’t yield many positive results, as he was pounded to the tune of an 11.25 ERA over 12 innings, with almost as many walks (14) as strikeouts (15).  The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman notes that Kriske posted the second-highest ERA of any Twins pitcher in franchise history with at least 10 innings pitched.

Kriske probably won’t get a chance to improve on his standing, if he is released after clearing waivers.  Because teams are always in need of pitching depth, there’s a chance he could be claimed off waivers again, though Kriske’s recent results may not drum up much interest.  He also has a 9.56 ERA over 37 2/3 career innings in the majors, but the right-hander posted far better numbers during his minor league career and during a two-season stint in Japan in 2022-23.  Since Kriske has been outrighted before, he has the right to reject another outright assignment if he clears waivers, and instead opt for free agency.

Twins Outright Noah Davis

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The Twins announced Friday that they’ve passed right-hander Noah Davis through waivers and assigned him outright to Triple-A St. Paul. That’ll be the corresponding roster move for Pablo Lopez’s previously reported reinstatement from the 60-day injured list, which is now official.

Davis landed in Minnesota back in July, coming over from the Dodgers in a cash swap after he’d been designated for assignment. The 2018 eleventh-rounder made four short relief appearances for the Twins and allowed multiple runs in all of them. He’s been tagged for 22 runs in 11 innings between Minnesota and L.A. this season, further inflating the already unsightly 7.71 ERA he logged in parts of three seasons with the Rockies (51 1/3 innings).

Though Davis has been hit exceptionally hard in the majors, he has a more encouraging track record in the upper minors. He’s pitched 176 2/3 innings in Triple-A, logging a 4.79 ERA despite most of his time being spent in an exorbitantly hitter-friendly setting (Colorado’s Albuquerque club in the Pacific Coast League). Davis has pitched 43 1/3 innings between the Triple-A clubs for the Dodgers and Twins this year and turned in a solid 3.95 ERA with a strong 26.1% strikeout rate.

This is the second career outright for Davis — the Rockies outrighted him last September — which gives him the right to reject the assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency, should he prefer to seek a change of scenery.

Twins To Activate Pablo Lopez

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The Twins will activate Pablo López to start tomorrow’s series opener against the Royals, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. He’ll be activated from the 60-day injured list. Minnesota already has two vacancies on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to option a pitcher to create an active roster spot.

López has been out of action for three months. He suffered a Grade 2 teres major strain in his throwing shoulder during his start on June 3. That injury was arguably the turning point of Minnesota’s season. The Twins were seven games above .500 and in possession of a Wild Card spot at the time. Minnesota’s rotation collapsed over the next few weeks. That wasn’t all about López’s injury, as the struggles extended beyond call-up David Festa, but their season never recovered.

The Twins went 9-18 in June. A month later, they traded almost everyone from their bullpen and pulled off the surprising Carlos Correa salary dump. A healthy López would’ve been a target for contenders as well. The Twins had no reason to trade him halfway through an injury, but it’s not out of the question that they hear teams out this offseason.

López was off to what might’ve been a career season. He posted a 2.82 ERA in 60 2/3 frames spanning 11 starts. He fanned a quarter of opponents against a 5.7% walk rate. López has been an above-average starter for a few years but has yet to post a sub-3.00 ERA over a full season. He might have been on that trajectory had he not gotten hurt.

Minnesota’s sell-off and fall down the standings raised some question about whether it’d be prudent to shut López down entirely. The veteran righty remained committed to making it back for a few turns through the rotation. That’ll allow him to go into the offseason with more confidence than he would have had coming off a season-ending shoulder injury. It’ll also give opposing clubs a few looks as they consider whether to make a big push to try to pull López in an offseason trade.

López is wrapping up the second season of a four-year, $73.5MM extension. He’ll make $21.5MM per season between 2026-27. That’s below market value for a #2 caliber starter. López would have trade value if the Twins shop him, but they could prefer to hold him as a veteran anchor of a young rotation while looking ahead to a potential deadline deal in 2026. Joe Ryan, who is down to his last two seasons of arbitration control, will also be one of the offseason’s top trade candidates.

Twins’ David Festa Suffers Season-Ending Shoulder Injury

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Twins starter David Festa is done for the season after suffering a setback while working back from a shoulder injury, relays Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star-Tribune. Festa is headed for a consultation with noted orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister.

The 25-year-old Festa has been out since the middle of July. Minnesota sent him to Triple-A St. Paul for a rehab start on August 28. Festa struck out five over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. It seems he came out of the appearance with renewed shoulder pain. That’ll shut him down for the year. The Twins will hope there’s nothing structurally amiss that’ll impact his availability for 2026.

Festa is in his second big league season. He has missed bats at an above-average rate but given up a few too many home runs, contributing to a 5.12 ERA through his first 25 appearances. Festa surrendered 5.40 earned runs per nine across 53 1/3 frames this year. The 6’6″ righty was one of Minnesota’s better pitching prospects before his debut. He’s one of a handful of mid-20s pitchers whom the Twins hope will be long-term rotation pieces.

Zebby Matthews, Simeon Woods Richardson and deadline acquisition Taj Bradley are in the current starting five. Mick Abel, acquired from Philadelphia in the Jhoan Duran deal, has been hit hard in his first two appearances as a Twin and was optioned back to Triple-A yesterday. Festa is on the 15-day injured list, so the Twins can transfer him to the 60-day IL if they need to open a 40-man roster spot before the end of the season. He crossed the one-year service line this season and is under club control through at least 2030.

Twins Outright Erasmo Ramirez

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Aug. 27: Ramírez has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

Aug. 26: The Twins have sent long reliever Erasmo Ramírez outright to Triple-A St. Paul, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Minnesota designated the veteran righty for assignment on Sunday when they called up Taj Bradley. Ramírez has more than enough service time to elect free agency but could prefer to accept the Triple-A stint as depth for a young Minnesota pitching staff.

Ramírez was called up at the beginning of August to backfill the bullpen after the Twins’ deadline sell-off. He pitched nine times, tossing 11 innings with three earned runs allowed. Ramírez only punched out five of 42 batters faced. He missed bats on 7% of his offerings while averaging 89 MPH on his cutter.

The 35-year-old Ramírez has carved out a lengthy career based on his plus control and ability to absorb plenty of innings out of the bullpen. He spent the first three months of this season on the minor league injured list. Ramírez surrendered 10 earned runs with 15 strikeouts and four walks in 15 Triple-A frames before being called up. If he accepts the outright, he’ll remain on hand in St. Paul for a month. He’ll be a free agent at the beginning of the offseason.

José Ureña Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander José Ureña has cleared waivers and elected free agency, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The righty had been designated for assignment by the Twins a few days ago when they recalled Mick Abel.

Ureña, 33, is a well-known commodity at this point in his career. He throws hard but doesn’t get a ton of strikeouts. He will keep the ball both in the strike zone and on the ground at a decent clip. The results won’t be astounding but he can take the ball and eat some innings. He hasn’t had a stint on the injured list longer than a couple of weeks since 2021.

A team usually grabs him when they need a fresh arm, either because they are facing a few injuries or a tough part of the schedule, but it’s rare for him to stick with one club for long. As a veteran with years of experience, he has the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency, a right he is clearly willing to exercise. From the start of 2022 to the present, he has leaned into journeyman mode, pitching for the Brewers, Rockies, White Sox, Rangers, Mets, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Twins. Those last four clubs were all this year.

From 2019 to the present, he has logged 495 1/3 innings with a 5.09 earned run average. His 14.9% strikeout rate in that span is well below average but his 9.1% walk rate is right around par. His ground ball rate is down to 31.7% here in 2025 but he usually has that figure around 50%.

Teams won’t be super excited by Ureña but he should land somewhere. The fact that he cleared waivers likely suggests he’ll be limited to minor league offers. Teams always want depth, especially in this age of frequent pitching injuries. With the trade deadline having passed, it’s harder to find external additions.

Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images

Twins Promote Taj Bradley, Designate Erasmo Ramirez

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The Twins announced that right-hander Taj Bradley has been called up from Triple-A St. Paul, and will start today’s game against the White Sox.  In the corresponding roster move, Minnesota designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for assignment.

Though many of the Twins’ trade deadline moves were about cutting salary or moving impending free agents, the one-for-one deal that sent Griffin Jax to the Rays for Bradley was more of a pure baseball move.  Tampa Bay wanted to upgrade its bullpen with a controllable reliever, and Bradley (once a highly-touted pitching prospect) has yet to much deliver on that promise over three Major League seasons.  This made Bradley expendable in the Rays’ eyes, and the Twins jumped in to land a 24-year-old starter that may well benefit from a change of scenery.

Bradley has a 4.70 ERA over 354 career innings in the Show, along with an 8.6% walk rate and a 25% strikeout rate.  That latter number is a concern since Bradley’s K% this season is only 20.2% over 111 1/3 innings, which contributed to his 4.61 ERA.  Home runs have been an issue for Bradley during his brief career, and while he has improved on that front overall in 2025, the Rays’ temporary move to Steinbrenner Field didn’t help — Bradley had a 5.43 ERA and nine homers allowed in 56 1/3 innings at the Stein, as opposed a much more palatable 3.76 ERA and four homers allowed in 55 away innings.

Minnesota’s plan with both Bradley and fellow deadline acquisition Mick Abel was to start both pitchers in Triple-A for tune-up purposes, rather than immediately insert them into the big league rotation.  In Abel’s case, he looked really sharp in St. Paul but then struggled in his Twins debut yesterday, allowing six runs in a three-inning start against Chicago.  Bradley has a 7.53 ERA in 14 1/3 innings for St. Paul, as he pitched really well in his first two outings before being hit hard in his latter two starts.  With the Twins out of the playoff race, Bradley and Abel figure to get regular starts the rest of the way as the team evaluates them as rotation pieces for 2026 and beyond.

Ramirez signed a minor league deal with Minnesota last winter, but shoulder problems kept him from any game action until June 20, as part of a rehab assignment with the Twins’ rookie ball affiliate.  He went on to post a 6.55 ERA in 11 Triple-A innings before his contract was selected to the Twins’ active roster on August 1, as Minnesota had tons of roster spots to fill in the wake of its deadline fire sale.

This return to the Show made it seven different teams over 14 Major League seasons for Ramirez, who posted an impressive 2.45 ERA in 11 innings and nine appearances with the Twins.  Within the small sample size, Ramirez delivered his usual strong walk rate, though an 11.9% strikeout rate was low even by the righty’s standards of not missing many bats, and a .242 BABIP helped Ramirez limit the damage.

Bottom-line ERA notwithstanding, it always seemed like Ramirez was a spare part on the Twins’ pitching staff, and he’ll now return to DFA limbo.  Another team might consider claiming Ramirez if they need to cover some innings in the bullpen, but assuming he clears waivers, Ramirez can elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.  The 35-year-old might well choose to move on in search of another late-season deal elsewhere, or play out the string in the Twins organization.

Twins Designate Jose Urena For Assignment

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10:51AM: Urena’s DFA and Abel’s call-up were both officially announced by the Twins.

7:09AM: The Twins designated right-hander Jose Urena for assignment yesterday, according to The Athletic’s Dan Hayes.  Right-hander Mick Abel will be called up today in the corresponding move, and Abel will get the start in today’s game against the White Sox.

Urena was Thursday’s starter, and he was tagged for six earned runs over five innings in the Twins’ 8-3 loss to the Athletics.  This boosted Urena’s ERA to 4.58 over 17 2/3 innings since Minnesota selected his contract on August 1, as one of many roster moves the Twins made the day after their major selloff at the trade deadline.  Urena started three of his four appearances in a Twins uniform, and took a 2.13 ERA into Friday’s action, though neither his 12.8% strikeout rate or his 10.3% walk rate were anything impressive.

It was almost exactly two months ago that Urena signed a minor league contract with Minnesota, continuing a nomadic season that has seen the veteran log big league innings for four different teams.  Urena has a 5.00 ERA over 36 combined innings with the Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, and Twins, with a 12.5% strikeout rate and 8.1BB%.

In all three of his previous stops, Urena was designated for assignment, outrighted off the 40-man roster, and he then elected free agency rather than accept that outright assignment to Triple-A.  With more than eight full years of MLB service time, Urena has more than enough experience to allow him to turn down outright assignments in favor of return trips to the open market.

It seems probable that he’ll elect free agency again here in the likely event that he clears waivers, though Urena might prefer some stability after bouncing around the league in 2025, and his options are more limited given the lack of time remaining in the regular season.  Another team in search of innings could also potentially just claim Urena off the waiver wire and insert him into their bullpen as a swingman, or into the rotation.

Abel made his Major League debut earlier this season in the form of six starts and 25 innings with the Phillies, posting a 5.04 ERA in his first taste of action against big league hitters.  In perhaps the largest of Minnesota’s many deadline moves, Abel and Eduardo Tait were acquired from Philadelphia in exchange for Jhoan Duran, as the Twins opted to part ways with the closer in exchange for a top catching prospect in Tait and a big league-ready starter in Abel who is himself a former top-100 prospect.

Now in line to make his official Twins debut today, Abel has already shone in the minors, with a 1.76 ERA over three starts and 15 1/3 innings for Triple-A St. Paul.  Minnesota president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told Hayes and other reporters earlier this month that the Twins wanted to deploy both Abel and fellow deadline pickup Taj Bradley at Triple-A to begin their tenure with the team, since “sometimes you need to get your legs under you in a new organization before you take that next step.”  Bradley also figures to be called up relatively soon, with Hayes speculating that Bradley might also be promoted to start Sunday’s game in Chicago.

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