Young Twins center fielder Byron Buxton was diagnosed with a contusion to his right knee after a scary collision with the wall. That could just be a preliminary diagnosis, though, and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger noted on Twitter that Buxton required a cart and appeared to have difficulty putting pressure on the leg.
Twins Rumors
Twins Willing To Listen On "Just About Anybody"
Ervin Santana is the “most likely” member of the Twins to be traded this summer, per ESPN’s Jayson Stark. However, executives that have spoken to the Twins about trades tell Stark that Minnesota is willing to talk about virtually anyone on their roster. Per one exec to whom Stark spoke, the Twins are telling potential trade partners, “If you’ve got any ideas, throw them out there.” Santana is far from the only trade candidate on the Twins’ roster; Fernando Abad, Eduardo Nunez, Ricky Nolasco and Trevor Plouffe are all free agents at the end of the 2017 season, and Kurt Suzuki is set to hit the open market following the current season. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd has listed several Twins among the game’s top trade candidates over the past few weeks. As for Santana, who tossed a shutout yesterday in Oakland, he’s earning $13.5MM this year and in each of the next two seasons, so he’d be considerably more than a rental piece for an interested club. However, that remaining salary might mean that some interested parties would want the Twins to include some cash in a deal to make the trade more financially palatable.
Ervin Santana Drawing Scouts
Potential trade candidate Ervin Santana tossed a complete-game shutout yesterday for the Twins, limiting the Athletics to two hits without a walk while tossing just 100 pitches. Santana dropped his ERA 44 points in the process and is now sporting a 1.63 ERA over his past four starts. Obviously, a nice four-start stretch isn’t going to undo all of the damage Santana did to his trade stock with a rocky start to the season, but 93 innings with a 4.06 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 42.9 percent ground-ball rate looks rather solid on the whole. He has about $6.5MM remaining on his salary in 2016 and is owed $13.5MM in each of the next two seasons, plus a $1MM buyout of a 2019 option. He’s not a cheap option, but given how few starters will be on the open market this winter, adding a durable mid-rotation cog could make sense for a number of contenders this summer.
- Santana wasn’t the only starter of note in that contest, as Athletics righty Sonny Gray was also on the bump. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the match-up drew attention from quite a few scouts, with representatives from the Blue Jays, Royals, Orioles, Marlins and Cardinals among those in attendance to see the two potential trade candidates throw. Oakland skipper Bob Melvin said that he felt Gray may be turning a corner after the showing, in which he battled through six innings with only one earned run on the board. Gray did allow four walks, but worked through some tough spots and, in Melvin’s words, “found a little of his mojo.” With Gray showing some life and the A’s continuing to muddle through the season, Slusser says that some rival executives feel there’s daylight for a deal on Oakland’s staff ace. There’s little question that the Twins would at least be open to moving Santana, and he’d represent a less costly addition for those organizations in need of rotation help (on the prospect side of the equation, at least; his contractual obligations would need to be worked out).
Rays Have Interest In Kevin Jepsen
- Assuming he clears waivers, the Rays have interest in a reunion with reliever Kevin Jepsen, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Jepsen was designated recently by the Twins, who had picked him up from the Rays last summer. The 31-year-old righty has fallen off badly after a long track record of solid pen work; given his salary ($5.3MM and change), a claim seems unlikely, though perhaps a trade could materialize if Minnesota is willing to keep most of that obligation.
Orioles, Blue Jays Have Been Scouting Twins Games
- The Orioles and Blue Jays have both had talent evaluators watching the Twins recently, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets.
Twins Need Better Return On Signings
- “A low-revenue team cannot afford to miss on so many decisions,” Rosenthal notes in a review of several moves that have recently backfired on the Twins. The signings of Kevin Jepsen and Byung Ho Park were justifiable and Park could still develop into a productive bat, though Minnesota has gotten little return from Phil Hughes’ extension and the acquisitions of Ervin Santana, Ricky Nolasco and John Ryan Murphy.
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Twins Outright Darin Mastroianni
The Twins have outrighted Darin Mastroianni off their 40-man roster, the club announced. The outfielder was just activated off the disabled list, as he has been recovering from a left oblique strain since late May.
As Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes, Mastroianni now has 72 hours to accept an assignment to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. He could elect free agency since he has been outrighted before (in September 2014 by the Blue Jays) but as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, Mastroianni is believed to be staying in the Twins organization.
Mastroianni signed a minor league deal with Minnesota last winter and appeared in seven games with the big club before hitting the DL. Over his career, Mastroianni has a .206/.271/.280 slash line over 317 PA and 25 steals in 29 attempts. All of his big league experience has come with the Twins and Blue Jays (in two separate stint with each team) and he has also played in the Phillies’ and Nationals’ farm systems.
Rangers Looking At Ervin Santana
The Rangers “took a hard look” at Twins righty Ervin Santana during his most recent outing, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star-Tribune (via Twitter). Texas is in need of rotation depth, as its current depth chart shows, and that may well remain an area of interest even if the club is able to add a higher-end starter. While the veteran Santana doesn’t come with a ton of upside at 33 years of age, he has long been a solid pitcher and would deliver some much-needed dependability. He has averaged over 180 innings annually dating back to his rookie campaign in 2005, and is still working with the same velocity and generating about the same swinging strike rate that he has for much of his career. Santana is owed $13.5MM this year and the two to follow, though, so there’d be some financial negotiating to work through.
Trevor Plouffe To 15-Day DL With “Cracked Rib”
10:28am: Minnesota skipper Paul Molitor says he’s expecting Plouffe to miss something on the order of three or four weeks, Bollinger tweets. That would seem likely to take him off the trade table, though an August deal could be possible given his reasonably steep salary.
9:32am: Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has been placed on the 15-day DL with a “cracked rib,” MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter. Slugger Kennys Vargas will return to the majors to take his place on the active roster.
[Related: Updated Twins Depth Chart]
Plouffe had been dealing with some rib soreness, with some concern that a DL stint may be required. While it’s a bit difficult to assess the severity of the injury at this point in time, it seems that it could be more significant than had been hoped.
Minnesota has resisted trading Plouffe in the past, but it seemed that this summer might present an opportunity to make a move — particularly with Miguel Sano failing to take to right field after shifting off of the hot corner. Now, though, he may not be a viable candidate to move in the coming weeks.
Despite taking him out of immediate trade contention, the injury could actually help pave the way for an eventual deal, at least in theory. Sano ought to have a chance to cement himself at third, which would seemingly make Plouffe extraneous. Of course, that had seemed to be a reasonable line of thinking last winter, too.
Plouffe is owed $7.25MM this year and can be controlled for another campaign via arbitration, which had made him a worthwhile target for teams looking to plug a gap now and in 2017. He has typically presented as a solid all-around player with twenty homer pop, but this year has been a struggle. Plouffe owns a .252/.283/.399 bating line with seven home runs over 231 plate appearances for the season.
Twins Option Byung Ho Park To Triple-A
The Twins announced today that they’ve optioned first baseman/designated hitter Byung Ho Park to Triple-A Rochester and replaced him on the roster with Miguel Sano, who has been activated from the disabled list. The decision to option Park, in whom Minnesota invested a total of $24.85MM this offseason (between the posting fee and his four-year contract) is the latest in a season-long series of disappointments for the Twins, although it certainly doesn’t indicate that the investment will ultimately prove to be an error.
[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins depth chart]
Park, 29, was the most prolific power hitter in the Korea Baseball Organization over the past two seasons, prompting the Twins to make a surprise bid of $12.85MM to secure negotiation rights with him, which yielded a four-year, $12MM contract plus a fifth-year option. The slugger struggled out of the gates in Minnesota but found his stride after a couple of weeks. As recently as May 15, Park was hitting a robust .257/.342/.581, having clubbed nine homers, five doubles and a triple through his first 120 big league plate appearances. In 124 plate appearances since that time, however, Park is hitting just .127/.210/.245 with three homers and four doubles. More concerning is the fact that he’s struck out at least once in 26 of the 31 games he’s started over that span. On the whole, Park has punched out at an alarming 32.8 percent clip this season.
An adjustment period was always expected for Park, and unlike countrymen Jung Ho Kang and Hyun Soo Kim, he was thrown right into the everyday lineup with his first big league team. It’s impossible to tell whether a more gradual introduction into the lineup would’ve proved beneficial — Kim, after all, has just 141 PAs on the season, making it rather early to deem him a true success — but Park has looked overmatched at the plate recently.
Park has proven his power to be very real; his average of 420 feet per home run (via Statcast data at Baseball Savant) rates 10th in the Majors, and he’s registered a .219 isolated power mark (slugging minus average). However, his difficulties in making contact have offset his power contributions and slightly above-average walk rate (8.6 percent). The hope for the Twins, presumably, is that Park can continue to adjust to increased velocity and improve his contact skills down at Rochester so that he can better utilize that pop over the remaining three (possibly four) years of his contract.
Park is earning $2.75MM this season and has annual salaries of $2.75MM (2017), $3MM (2018) and $3MM (2019) yet to come, plus at least a $500K buyout of a $6.5MM club option for the 2020 season. Given the fairly minimal nature of the Twins’ investment in him, he still has plenty of time to make their commitment look to be a shrewd move overall.
As for Sano, he’ll return to the Twins after missing the month of June with a hamstring injury. The 23-year-old slugger has struggled to some extent in his own right, as he’s yet to live up to the expectations that came with last season’s .269/.385/.530 debut (with 18 homers in just 80 games played). Sano is hitting .235/.341/.458 with 11 homers in 50 games and has had a difficult time with his transition to the outfield, where both UZR and DRS peg the 6’4″, 260-pounder as below average. The bulk of Sano’s experience as a pro has come at third base, but that spot remains occupied by Trevor Plouffe.
