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Twins To Place Miguel Sano On 10-Day Disabled List

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Miguel Sano won’t join the Twins on their upcoming road trip and he is headed to the 10-day DL due to a stress reaction in his left shin, the slugger told reporters (including Chad Graff of the St. Paul Pioneer Press).  No move has yet been announced by the team, though Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reports that Kennys Vargas was removed from the Triple-A lineup today and will replace Sano on Minnesota’s 25-man roster.

Sano fouled a ball off his shin on Friday, and then left Saturday’s game early due to continued soreness (the Twins used Sano as the DH on Saturday to limit his time on his feet).  The seriousness of Sano’s injury or a timetable for his return isn’t yet known.

Going without Sano’s bat for even the minimum 10 days is a blow to a Twins team that is thick in the midst of the AL wild card hunt, plus still with an outside shot at catching the Indians for first place in the AL Central.  Sano is hitting .267/.356/.514 with 27 homers through 475 plate appearances, seemingly making the breakout from blue chip prospect to established big league hitter.  While he’s had some good fortune in the form of a .379 BABIP and there is still a lot of swing-and-miss in Sano’s approach (a league-high 170 strikeouts), he makes little mistake when he does make contact — his 45.3% hard-hit ball rate ranks fifth among all qualified hitters in baseball this season.

Vargas will be called up to handle DH duties or perhaps spell Joe Mauer at first base, while Sano’s customary spot at third base will likely be filled by Eduardo Escobar and Ehire Adrianza.  Needless to say, that’s a big dropoff in production for a Twins team that is already just middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories, so clearly Minnesota needs Sano back soon if the team is to continue its surprising push towards a playoff spot.

Twins Notes: Garver, Colon, Enns, Ervin, Rosario

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In the wake of Robbie Grossman’s fractured thumb, the Twins are turning to one of their top organizational prospects. Catcher Mitch Garver, who ranked ninth on Fangraphs’ summer edition of the team’s top prospects, is being called up to the Majors, the club announced. In addition to his work behind the plate, the 26-year-old Garver has played 14 games in left field this season, so he can serve as a third catcher as well as a spare outfielder or first baseman.  Garver’s bat also could be a nice addition to the team’s bench. In 372 Triple-A plate appearances, Garver has slashed .291/.387/.541 with 17 homers and 29 doubles.

A few more notes out of the Twin Cities…

  • Right-hander Bartolo Colon has enjoyed some success with the Twins after a terrible start to the season in Atlanta, and he tells John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he’s open to playing beyond the 2017 season. There was some brief talk of retirement for Colon, but the 44-year-old has turned in a solid 4.21 ERA in 36 1/3 innings with the Twins (albeit with more concerning peripheral metrics). Colon also tells Shipley that a phone call from former Angels teammate Ervin Santana may have been the tipping point in Colon signing with the Twins. The Mets were also pursuing a reunion with Colon, but the veteran righty said some urging from Santana, the Twins superior place in the standings and the opportunity to serve as a mentor for a number of young Twins pitchers all appealed to him. “…I thought it’s not only an opportunity for me to pitch, but an opportunity to teach other young players how to pitch and how to be big-leaguers,” said Colon.
  • The Twins placed lefty Dietrich Enns, who was only just acquired from the Yankees as part of the Jaime Garcia swap, on the 10-day disabled list with a shoulder strain yesterday. Enns missed more than two months of the season with a shoulder issue as a member of the Yankees’ Triple-A club, and Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press suggests that the Twins could potentially seek additional compensation from the Yankees if Enns’ shoulder issue proves to be serious.
  • The Astros and Mariners have both showed plenty of interest in right-hander Ervin Santana this summer, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports in his latest podcast (audio link, Twins talk starts up around the 45:00 mark). However, Minnesota has never shown any real willingness to deal him, and there’s no reason to expect that they’d change that mentality now with a Wild Card spot still in the crosshairs.
  • Minnesota GM Thad Levine joins Wolfson to discuss several Twins topics ranging from outplaying their run differential, to the performance of young players to the fine line between making short-term and long-term moves this time of year. Of surging outfielder Eddie Rosario, Levine notes that he and Twins chief baseball office Derek Falvey received quite a few inquiries from other clubs regarding Rosario. Many teams wanted to gauge whether the new front office duo valued Rosario (and others, though Levine doesn’t get into specific names) as highly as their predecessors. “We made it clear to them that we view this guy as part of the core, part of the future of this franchise,” said Levine of Rosario. The 25-year-old Rosario is hitting .297/.337/.500 with 16 homers, 25 doubles and a pair of triples this season.

Robbie Grossman Diagnosed With Fractured Thumb

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Twins outfielder/DH Robbie Grossman has been diagnosed with a fractured left thumb, the club announced (h/t Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, on Twitter). Grossman is expected to miss at least three weeks, manager Paul Molitor said (also via Berardino, on Twitter).

The Twins have come to lean rather heavily on the switch-hitter over the past two seasons. This year, in particular, he has seen near-regular time in the corners and as the designated hitter. Grossman carries a .242/.367/.363 batting line with seven home runs on the year. He has also walked 60  times against just 64 strikeouts.

Minnesota has managed to remain in the AL Wild Card picture despite moving a few veterans at the deadline. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the club will be angling to add players to make up for the loss of Grossman.

In all likelihood, the Twins will dip into their system for a replacement. Assuming the club prioritizes a bat over outfield capability, Kennys Vargas would be the obvious choice. He has managed only a .243/.289/.429 batting line in 190 major league plate appearances this year, but brings big power from the left side. Byung Ho Park is also still down at Rochester, though he carries a .254/.312/.413 slash in 382 trips to the plate and isn’t on the 40-man roster. Young outfielder Zack Granite will also be a consideration, though he didn’t hit much in his first run at the majors earlier this year.

If the Twins prefer an outfielder and decide to consider outside acquisitions, then Mets veteran Curtis Granderson could represent a potential targets. Role players such as Matt Joyce of the Athletics could also be hypothetical possibilities, or perhaps the Twins could get creative and go after a non-40-man player such as Scott Van Slyke of the Reds. It seems somewhat unlikely that the Rangers will dangle Carlos Gomez, given that they too are still a plausible Wild Card team.

Glen Perkins Nearing Completion Of Rehab Assignment

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  • Former Twins closer Glen Perkins joined the Twins in Minneapolis tonight after a rehab stint in Double-A Chattanooga, writes La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, but Perkins has not yet been activated from the disabled list. Perkins is with the team, but the Twins are waiting to formally make a move regarding him, per Neal. The Twins technically still have until Aug. 21 to activate Perkins if they wish to get him more than the 7 1/3 innings he’s thrown on his rehab assignment thus far, and Neal notes that he could either throw live batting practice in Minneapolis or join Triple-A Rochester for another outing or two. That Perkins is even emerging as a consideration at all is significant; the former All-Star has pitched just two innings since 2015 due to a significant shoulder injury that required surgery last summer.

Twins Rumors: Santana, Waiver Market

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The Mariners have made multiple attempts to acquire right-hander Ervin Santana from the Twins, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. However, with the Twins currently ahead of the Mariners in the standings, Seattle’s dream of adding Santana is “on hold,” notes Divish. It’s unclear whether the Twins have placed Santana on revocable waivers this month, but as a proven mid-rotation type who’s under control through next season at a fair price ($13.5MM), it’s possible another team in front of the Mariners in the waiver pecking order would claim him. Moreover, the Twins aren’t all that interested in trading Santana, FanRag’s Jon Heyman suggested this week. Regardless, considering the injuries in their rotation – including to ace James Paxton – the playoff-contending Mariners need to find starting help. With that in mind, Divish lists a slew of righties (Marco Estrada, Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, Miguel Gonzalez, R.A. Dickey and Scott Feldman) and a southpaw (Derek Holland) as logical August trade targets.

  • The Twins slumped immediately before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, leading them to sell a pair of veterans, closer Brandon Kintzler and lefty Jaime Garcia, for future pieces. Now that the team’s playing well again, the front office is willing to buy. “On a daily basis, we are active on the trade-waiver wire process,” general manager Thad Levine told Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “We’ve placed a lot of claims on players we think can help our team now and in the future. Needless to say, we haven’t made a trade yet, which is evidence to the fact that we may not be the only team that thinks those players would be attractive, and that some of the teams that are feeling the same way have worse winning percentages and hence higher claiming priority.” As team brass has demonstrated in recent weeks, especially when it flipped Garcia after he was a Twin for only a few days, its mindset is subject to change based on where Minnesota is in the standings. As such, another slide over the next couple weeks could lead to the Twins dealing more major leaguers, Bollinger points out.

Could ByungHo Park, Twins reach buyout deal?

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After an underwhelming start to his US career in 2016, Twins first baseman ByungHo Park has yet to appear in the Majors this season, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press notes. Park arrived in the US with fanfare but batted just .191 in his rookie season, and the 31-year-old is now hitting just .260/.318/.417 with just nine home runs over 368 plate appearances with Triple-A Rochester. Park’s friend and South Korean countryman Shin-Soo Choo says Park “really wants to do something here” in the United States. Choo’s comment came in what appears to have been a response to a question from Berardino about whether Park and the Twins might reach a deal on a buyout for the remainder of Park’s contract. Park is set to make $3MM in both 2018 and 2019, plus a $500K buyout or a $6.5MM option for 2020. Berardino quotes a scout, however, who notes that Park might not be able to make that kind of money were he to leave the US to return to the KBO. Here’s more from the American League.

Twins Make More Scouting Changes

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  • The Twins’ first-year front office heads, chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine, continue their organizational shakeup, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (all Twitter links). After firing several scouts last week, Minnesota has now let go of pro scout Greg Orr, who had just joined the team in January, and major league scout Wayne Krivsky. Changes to the Twins’ international scouting department are next on the docket, according to Berardino.

Twins Have Little Interest In Trading Ervin Santana

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  • The Twins reportedly listened to offers for righty Ervin Santana in advance of the deadline, but their interest in dealing the solid mid-rotation starter was minimal, relays Heyman. Santana is under control through next season on fair $13.5MM salaries (his deal also features a $14MM club option for 2019), making it unlikely he’d go unclaimed on waivers this month, notes Heyman.

Phil Hughes Undergoes TOS Revision Surgery

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Twins right-hander Phil Hughes underwent thoracic outlet syndrome revision surgery on Thursday, tweets Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Hughes has been on the 60-day disabled list since July 18 thanks to a recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms, but the hope was that he’d avoid having to go under the knife.

This will go down as the second injury-marred campaign in a row for Hughes, who underwent TOS surgery in June 2016. That concluded a rough year for Hughes, who also struggled in his return this season. The 31-year-old tossed 53 2/3 innings before his DL placement and logged a 5.87 ERA, 6.37 K/9 and 2.18 BB/9. And while Hughes has historically had difficulty generating ground balls, he posted a career-low 30.4 percent mark this year.

In all, it has been an ugly stretch for Hughes since what looked like a breakout 2014 campaign for the ex-Yankee. That year, his first with the Twins, Hughes racked up 209 2/3 innings of 3.52 ERA pitching, ranked sixth among starters in FIP (2.65) and set an all-time record with an 11.63 K/BB ratio, striking out 188 hitters and walking only 16. The Twins awarded Hughes an extension after that season, but he has since recorded an unsightly 5.04 ERA in 268 frames. He’s due to make $13.2MM per year through 2019, the last season of his deal.

Central Notes: Cubs, Candelario, Gonsalves, Sano

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Have the Cubs emptied their farm in a worrying way? It’s not quite that simple, Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago writes. With a youthful and controllable core of position players, GM Jed Hoyer says, “we’re an incredibly healthy organization from a young-talent standpoint.” While the front office will still need to replenish the ranks in the long run, despite lower draft positions and new limitations on international spending, it does indeed seem reasonable not to focus too much on the fact that the club has lost so much from the top of its system (much of it to graduation, not trade).

  • One player that just moved out of the Chicago system — new Tigers corner infielder Jeimer Candelario — is heading right up to the majors, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. While GM Al Avila says he hopes Candelario will push for a regular role next year, it seems he won’t shoulder that burden in his first MLB stint with his new club. Indeed, he may just function as a bench piece for the time being, manager Brad Ausmus suggests and Evan Woodberry of MLive.com tweets.
  • The Twins have moved lefty Stephen Gonsalves up to Triple-A, per an announcement from the team’s top affiliate. The 23-year-old southpaw entered the season as a consensus top-100 prospect leaguewide, and has responded by continuing to dominate the opposition at Double-A — as he did in a half-season there last year. Given the pitching struggles at the MLB level in Minnesota, it’s fair to wonder whether Gonsalves could become an option down the stretch, either to boost the staff if the team stays in the Wild Card hunt or merely to give him a look to see if he’s an option for 2018.
  • Meanwhile, the Twins can breathe easy after seeing Miguel Sano worryingly take a pitch off his hand. As Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reported yesterday, the young slugger received a clean bill of health after undergoing an MRI and CT scan. Sano has missed the last three games but will presumably be able to return once the pain and swelling subside.
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