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Twins Place Willi Castro On Injured List

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11:16am: Castro can currently run, play defense and hit from the right side of the plate but cannot take a left-handed swing without pain, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports. He’s dealing with a Grade 1 strain.

9:50am: The Twins announced this morning that they’ve placed utilityman Willi Castro on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 21, with a strained right oblique muscle. Fellow utilityman Mickey Gasper was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul in his place.

Castro hasn’t played in a week due to ongoing discomfort in his right side. The Twins had clearly hoped to avoid an IL stint but finally bit the bullet rather than continuing onward with a short bench. Injured list placements can only be backdated by a maximum of three days, so despite Castro’s already weeklong absence, he’ll be sidelined for at least another week. The team hasn’t provided a more concrete timetable on his potential recovery yet.

It’s been a tough start to the season for Castro, as has been the case for the majority of Minnesota’s roster. The versatile 28-year-old has appeared in 18 games and tallied 72 plate appearances but mustered only a .227/.292/.364 batting line. That’s a far cry from the solid .251/.334/.395 output turned in by the switch-hitter across the 2023-24 seasons.

The switch-hitting Castro originally signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the 2022-23 offseason, and it’s proven to be a steal. He joined the roster early in 2023 and has produced slightly better-than-average results in the batter’s box while chipping in a hefty 47 steals and playing every position on the diamond other than catcher or first base (including 4 2/3 innings of mop-up relief).

Castro isn’t necessarily a plus defender anywhere, but he’s drawn average defensive grades for his work at second base, third base and in the outfield corners during his time with the Twins. He’s miscast as a regular shortstop or center fielder but can capably handle either spot in a pinch, which is no small perk for a Twins team that has seen frequent injuries to both Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton over the years.

Minnesota is out to a dismal 9-15 start this season, which makes any injury situation to a veteran player a bit more notable. If the Twins can’t recover from their slow start, a healthy Castro would stand as an obvious candidate to be flipped for some younger talent ahead of July’s trade deadline. He’s earning $6.4MM in his final season of club control. And, as a pending free agent, Castro will hope to avoid any lengthy stay on the injured list. If he can right the ship and post numbers more closely in line with his 2023-24 production, he’d surely be in line to command a multi-year deal ahead of what would be his age-29 season in 2026.

MLBTR Podcast: Justin Steele, Triston McKenzie, And Tons Of Prospect Promotions

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Can high-caliber early-career players like Paul Skenes demand trades or are they stuck where they are? (44:45)
  • With constant injuries and DFAs, could the new CBA lead to some changes in roster rules? (49:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Twins Release Matt Canterino

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The Twins released righty Matt Canterino, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That was the likeliest outcome when Minnesota designated the injured pitcher for assignment last week. Canterino underwent season-ending shoulder surgery midway through Spring Training.

Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. The Twins therefore needed to trade Canterino or release him after the DFA. A trade of a pitcher rehabbing shoulder surgery seemed unlikely. Assuming he goes unclaimed on release waivers, Canterino will become a free agent. The Twins can look to bring him back on a two-year minor league contract, though the former second-round pick will have the ability to explore other opportunities.

Canterino was once one of Minnesota’s most promising young arms. The Rice product ranked in the top half of Baseball America’s ranking of the organization’s top 30 prospects every season between 2020-24. A mid-90s fastball and plus slider gave him a chance at a mid-rotation role or potential leverage work out of the bullpen.

He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy for almost his entire professional career. Canterino battled elbow issues early in his minor league tenure. That was a precursor for 2022 Tommy John surgery. He missed two seasons recovering from that procedure. Minnesota added him to the 40-man roster during the 2022-23 offseason so as not to lose him in the Rule 5 draft, but he hasn’t thrown a regular season pitch since then. They were hopeful that he’d return from the elbow problem this year. The shoulder issue arose during Spring Training and will cost him yet another season.

Canterino has been very effective in his intermittent stints. He has a 1.48 ERA with a 39.1% strikeout rate over 85 career minor league frames. He’ll turn 28 in December.

Poll: Can The Twins Still Bounce Back?

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The 2024 season ended in heartbreaking fashion for Twins fans. Despite Minnesota looking all but locked into a playoff spot at the start of September, a brutal 9-18 record combined with a shocking 17-8 surge for the Tigers was enough to leave Twins players on their couches back home come October. While a fourth-place finish in the AL Central was tough to swallow, the team’s core of talent was largely set to remain in place for 2025, providing some reason for optimism that a team that was held back from the playoffs by one terrible and injury-filled month could turn things around and contend again.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t come to pass. The Twins made were largely inactive for the majority of the offseason, with only minor additions to the roster like the signings of Ty France, Danny Coulombe, and Harrison Bader. In a division where rival clubs made notable additions or reunions (e.g. Gleyber Torres, Jonathan India, Jack Flaherty, Michael Wacha) it was fair to wonder if Minnesota had done enough to keep up. So far, it seems they did not. The Twins are 7-15. That’s the third-lowest win percentage in all of baseball ahead of only the lowly White Sox and Rockies.

A rotation that’s thrown the third-fewest innings in the majors this year with a subpar 4.30 ERA is one factor, but the biggest culprit is a lineup that’s hit just .211/.282/.338 with a wRC+ of 82. That’s 18 points worse than league average and leaves Minnesota with the fifth-worst offense in the league. Byron Buxton and Matt Wallner have been bright spots, but the latter is now on the injured list. Meanwhile, players like Edouard Julien, Ryan Jeffers, and Trevor Larnach have failed to perform. Shortstop Carlos Correa has followed last year’s outstanding .310/.388/.517 performance with a .194/.256/.319 slash line in 78 plate appearances. Royce Lewis has yet to play a game, owing to a hamstring strain.

Dire as things may look, the Twins aren’t even 15% of the way through their season; perhaps it’s too soon to make any grand pronouncements about a club with what looks to be a solid core on paper. After all, the aforementioned Tigers of last season suffered an 8-18 stretch from June 5 to July 4 that featured an even lower winning percentage than Minnesota’s current record, and they went on to fight their way back into contention even after trading away four veterans — including the previously mentioned Flaherty — at the deadline.

That’s not the full story, of course. While the 162-game schedule is a marathon, a major checkpoint is approaching much more quickly: trade season. The trade deadline is 100 days from today. The Twins would have to play at a 91-win pace from now on to even make it back to .500 in time for the All-Star break. It’s anyone’s guess if the club would consider parting ways with major pieces under team control like Pablo Lopez or Jhoan Duran, but even shipping out rental pieces like France, Coulombe, Willi Castro and Harrison Bader would surely stifle the club’s attempts to contend.

The most important x-factor for the Twins, as is the case most years, will be player health. Lopez is expected back from the injured list later this week to help out the rotation, while the lineup figures to receive reinforcements when Wallner and Lewis are activated next month. If those key players make it back healthy and effective within the next few weeks, that could spark a turnaround. By the same token, a setback for any of those players or a long-term injury for another key player could wind up being a nail in the coffin for a team that has given itself very little margin for error with such a dismal start.

What do MLBTR readers think the future holds for the Twins? Will the club be able to get healthy and bring playoff baseball back to Minnesota, or are the Twins staring down a second consecutive disappointing finish? Have your say in the poll below:

Twins Designate Matt Canterino For Assignment

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The Twins have designated right-hander Matt Canterino for assignment, reports Phil Miller of the Minnesota Star Tribune. That’s the corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for prospect Luke Keaschall, whose promotion was reported yesterday. Catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper has been optioned to Triple-A Saint Paul to open an active roster spot for Keaschall.

Canterino, 27, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery about a month ago. Injured players aren’t allowed to be placed on outright waivers. Unless some club out there wants to trade for Canterino, he’ll be on release waivers in the coming days.

That recent surgery is just the latest in a series of health issues that have derailed Canterino’s trajectory. Once upon a time, he was a very promising prospect. The Twins selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. He then put up a 1.44 earned run average in his first 25 professional innings.

He hasn’t been able to pitch much more than that in the subsequent years. The 2020 minor league season was canceled by the pandemic. Canterino logged 23 innings in 2021 with a 0.78 ERA and 37 innings in 2022 with a 1.95 ERA, battling through ongoing elbow problems. He eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in August of 2022.

The talent was enough that the Twins didn’t want him to be exposed to the Rule 5 draft, so he got a 40-man roster spot in November of 2022. He then missed all of 2023 while recovering from his surgery. A return in 2024 seemed possible until shoulder problems set him back. As mentioned, those shoulder issues ultimately resulted in surgery about a month ago.

At this point, Canterino hasn’t pitched in any official game action since the summer of 2022 and he won’t be returning soon. The numbers have been good, including huge strikeout totals, but the health problems have been so considerable that the Twins would be forgiven for running out of hope about his future.

Sometimes, in these situations, a player will be released and then rejoin his club via a minor league deal. The Twins would likely have interest in that scenario, as they could keep Canterino around without giving him a roster spot. However, he would have the ability to speak with the 29 other teams before signing a new pact.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Twins To Promote Luke Keaschall

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The Twins are going to promote prospect Luke Keaschall, reports Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the club will need to open a spot for him. The club is off today, so that corresponding move might not be reported until tomorrow.

Keaschall, 22, was selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2023 draft. Since then, he has been cruising through the minors, showing strong plate discipline. He has taken 662 plate appearances across 147 games for multiple minor league clubs since being drafted. In that time, his 13.6% walk rate is almost as high as his 17.5% strikeout rate. That has helped him produce a combined .297/.415/.470 batting line and 151 wRC+.

He has shown other attributes as well. He has 38 stolen bases in 45 tries. Defensively, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as center field. He required Tommy John surgery in August but has already returned to the field, since position players can return from that procedure much faster than pitchers.

That performance has made him a consensus top 100 prospect. Baseball America has him at #43, FanGraphs at #56, MLB Pipeline at #57, ESPN at #43 and Keith Law of The Athletic at #62. Scouting reports on him generally heap praise on his abilities at the plate, with bigger questions about his defense. He isn’t considered especially strong anywhere in the field. If he can stick at second, there will be less pressure on him to hit, whereas eventually getting bumped to first base or an outfield corner will give him a higher bar to clear offensively.

Despite his obvious skills, it’s a bit of an aggressive promotion, probably faster than the Twins had initially planned on. As mentioned, he just had Tommy John surgery not too long ago. He has been back on the field, playing second base and serving as the designated hitter, but has yet to play his other possible positions.

In an ideal world, the Twins probably would have given him more time to build up his post-surgery repertoire but the injury bug has hit them hard, particularly in the infield. Royce Lewis is on the major league injured list while Austin Martin and José Miranda are each on the minor league IL. Carlos Correa and Willi Castro are each still on the active roster but both are banged up. Correa didn’t start yesterday due to some wrist soreness, with Castro getting the nod at shortstop. However, Castro was removed with some oblique tightness, forcing Correa to sub in defensively. In addition to all those infield injuries, outfielder Matt Wallner also landed on the IL today.

Those injury issues have left the Twins scrambling a bit. They acquired infielder Jonah Bride, who had been designated for assignment by the Marlins, in a cash deal. He has experience at all the non-shortstop infield positions. The Twins have Ty France and Edouard Julien getting regular playing time at first and second base, respectively. Brooks Lee should be able to cover shortstop or third. If Correa or Castro feel better soon, they would obviously be in the mix.

There’s also the designated hitter spot, which has mostly been filled by Trevor Larnach this year. However, Wallner’s injury might push him into the outfield more regularly, alongside Byron Buxton and Harrison Bader, with DaShawn Keirsey Jr. around as well.

Time will tell exactly how the Twins want to arrange the defensive alignments, but with so many key contributors on the shelf or banged up, they can use all the help they can get. Perhaps Keaschall and Julien will platoon a bit at second, since Keaschall is a righty and Julien a lefty, though the Twins presumably prefer to have a key prospect like Keaschall playing more regularly than in a short-side platoon role.

At this point, it’s too late in the season for Keaschall to earn a full year of service time, at least in the traditional way. That means the Twins will not be eligible to receive an extra draft pick via the prospect promotion incentive. It will be possible for Keaschall to retroactively earn a full year if he finishes in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, though guys like Kristian Campbell and Jacob Wilson already have a headstart on him. It’s also possible that the Twins get some guys healthy again in the coming weeks and return Keaschall to the minors. Though if he continues hitting the way he has on the farm, he might make that a tough call for them.

Photos courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Twins Acquire Jonah Bride

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April 17: The Twins officially placed Wallner on the IL today, with Bride taking his spot on the active roster.

April 16: The Twins announced that they have acquired infielder Jonah Bride from the Marlins. Miami, who designated Bride for assignment yesterday, will receive cash considerations in return. Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those to report the move prior to the official announcement. The Twins have had an open 40-man spot since righty Scott Blewett was designated for assignment a few days ago. It was reported earlier today that outfielder Matt Wallner is heading to the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain, which will open an active roster spot. Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune was among those to relay the Wallner news.

Bride, 29, has a pretty good track record of minor league performance. Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, he has stepped to the plate 1,166 times on the farm with a 17.1% walk rate, higher than his 16% strikeout rate. That helped him produce a combined .289/.421/.489 batting line and 137 wRC+ in that time.

That got him some brief major league opportunities with the Athletics in 2022 and 2023, but he didn’t hit will in those, slashing .192/.296/.232. He was acquired by the Marlins going into 2024 and seemed to show some promise. He got into 71 games for the Fish last year, hitting 11 home runs and walking at an 11% pace. That led to a .276/.357/.461 line and 123 wRC+.

But he got out to a rough start here in 2025, with a .100/.200/.100 line and 33.3% strikeout rate through 45 plate appearances. Now out of options, he got bumped off Miami’s 40-man roster this week when Jesús Sánchez returned from the injured list.

Though the Twins are going to put Wallner on the injured list, they need more help on the infield, particularly on the left side. In terms of outfielders, without Wallner, they have Byron Buxton, Harrison Bader, Trevor Larnach and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. on the active roster and prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez on optional assignment.

The infield mix is pretty banged up, however. Shortstop Carlos Correa was removed from yesterday’s game with some left wrist soreness. He told Nightengale that he’s been dealing with it since late last year. He’s out to a rough start this season, hitting .164/.227/.246 thus far.

Correa didn’t start this afternoon’s contest, with Willi Castro plugging in at short. However, Castro was removed with some tightness in his right oblique, per Hayes. Correa was subbed in defensively in the ninth but the Twins were not planning to let him hit if that spot in the order came around, per Matthew Leach of MLB.com. The Twins walked off the Mets in the tenth, so manager Rocco Baldelli didn’t have to figure out a plan for what to do once Correa’s spot in the order came up.

The Twins are already without Royce Lewis, who is on the IL with a strained hamstring. They optioned the struggling José Miranda to the minors recently and he got hurt almost immediately after in a strange accident. Per Nightengale, Miranda was shopping at Target and dropped a case of water. He caught it and suffered a left hand strain in the process, getting placed on the minor league seven-day IL. Austin Martin is also on the minor league IL, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com, getting put on the shelf with a right hamstring strain on April 11.

The Twins have Ty France and Edouard Julien at first and second but shortstop and third are more up in the air with Lewis, Correa, Castro, Martin and Miranda all banged up or out of commission. Bride has played all of the non-shortstop infield positions, so he will give them another guy capable of playing third. Perhaps Brooks Lee will then cover shortstop while Correa and Castro get some time off to heal up.

The Twins are off tomorrow, so they have a bit of time to assess how things go before the weekend, but Bride was available and fits nicely with their current predicament. As mentioned, he is out of options, but he has less than two years of service time. That means he can be affordably retained well into the future if he manages to hold onto a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of John Jones, Imagn Images

Twins, Tyler Beede Agree To Minor League Deal

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Right-handed pitcher Tyler Beede has reportedly agreed to a minor league contract with the Twins, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. He will suit up for Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints.

Beede, 32 in May, was once a highly promising pitching prospect. He was selected in the first round of the draft twice, first in 2011 by the Blue Jays (with whom he did not sign) and again in 2014 by the Giants. The righty impressed as he worked his way up San Francisco’s system, with Baseball America ranking him as one of the top three prospects in the organization each year from 2015-18. Yet, Beede started to show signs of weakness following his promotion to Triple-A in 2017, and he continued to struggle upon reaching the majors. After giving up seven runs over 7 2/3 big league innings in 2018, he pitched to a 5.08 ERA and 4.71 SIERA in his first extended run of MLB action the subsequent year. Tommy John surgery kept him out of commission in 2020, and he made just one MLB appearance in 2021 before converting to a swingman role for the 2022 campaign. Over 61 1/3 innings for the Giants and the Pirates (he was DFA’d and claimed off of waivers mid-season), he put up a 5.14 ERA and 4.94 SIERA.

After being DFA’d once again that September, Beede elected free agency in the fall and took his talents to Japan in 2023. In his lone season with NPB’s Yomiuri Giants, he made 30 appearances (six starts) and pitched to a 3.99 ERA. His 16.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate were mediocre, even by the different standards of NPB, and he did not look meaningfully better over 25 1/3 innings with the Giants’ minor league club in the Eastern League. Nevertheless, he pitched well enough overseas to catch the eye of the Guardians, who signed him to a minor league deal over the 2023-24 offseason and ultimately gave him a spot on their Opening Day roster. He made 13 appearances for Cleveland before he was DFA’d at the beginning of May, producing an unfortunate 8.36 ERA through 14 innings of lower-leverage work. With that said, he did manage to collect a win and two holds, and his 26.5% strikeout rate was above average, as was his 29.7% whiff rate. All that to say, he wasn’t entirely ineffective.

Beede spent the remainder of the 2024 season with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Between and around two stints on the injured list, he pitched to a ghastly 11.28 ERA in 12 games (five starts). He walked 16 batters and gave up five home runs in just 22 1/3 innings of work. His second injury, an elbow strain, ultimately ended his season in August. Despite all of those reasons for concern, Beede drew interest from the Astros and Royals over the offseason and has now landed an opportunity with the Twins.

Given his uneven track record and rough numbers at both the MLB and Triple-A levels last season, Beede is facing an uphill battle back to the majors. Then again, the Twins don’t have much relief depth on their 40-man roster beyond the pitchers already in the big league bullpen. Beede could be a candidate to eat some low-leverage innings in the case of an injury to another Minnesota reliever, though he will have to compete with other depth arms on minor league contracts, such as Darren McCaughan, Richard Lovelady, and Anthony Misiewicz.

Orioles Claim Scott Blewett

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The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Scott Blewett off waivers from the Twins, who’d designated him for assignment over the weekend. In a corresponding move, Baltimore designated left-hander Luis Gonzalez for assignment. Blewett is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to be plugged right into manager Brandon Hyde’s bullpen.

Blewett, 29, pitched 4 2/3 innings with the Twins before being designated for assignment. He held opponents to a run on four hits and no walks (but one hit batter) with five strikeouts. He also pitched 20 1/3 innings with Minnesota last year, logging a 1.77 ERA but with shakier strikeout and walk rates of 21.4% and 9.2%, respectively, both of which are worse than league average.

Those two brief stints in Minnesota were the most recent big league work for Blewett since a similarly short look with the Royals in 2020-21. In all, he’s pitched 33 innings in the majors and has a tidy 2.18 ERA to show for it, albeit with a 22% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. Even while keeping runs off the board, Blewett has been hit fairly hard; the right-hander has surrendered an average exit velocity of 92.6 mph in the majors and seen nearly half (47.9%) of his opponents’ batted balls travel at 95 mph or more.

Blewett pitched well for the Twins’ Triple-A club in 2024, logging a 3.79 ERA in 54 2/3 innings. That’s the most success he’s had in the upper minors, however. The big 6’6″ righty has pitched in parts of five Triple-A seasons between the Royals, White Sox and Twins systems but been roughed up for a 6.93 ERA in 219 1/3 innings there. In addition to those stints, Blewett had a half-season run with the Braves’ Double-A club in 2023 and also pitched for the Uni-President Lions of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League that year, recording a 3.95 ERA in 41 innings overseas.

Gonzalez, 33, hasn’t pitched in a Triple-A game since April 8. The Orioles placed him on the minor league injured list on April 11 but did not publicly disclose the exact nature of his ailment. It’s not currently clear how long he’ll be sidelined. However, injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers, meaning Gonzalez is all but certain to end up being placed on release waivers. The O’s can renegotiate a minor league deal with him at that point if they wish, but he’ll have the chance to talk to the league’s other 29 clubs in that scenario.

Baltimore selected Gonzalez to the 40-man roster last November rather than risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft. He’s a true journeyman — a former Phillies signee who has also spent time in the Giants’ system in addition to pitching in Japan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and even Italy’s top league. Gonzalez spent the 2024 season with the O’s after signing a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason. He pitched 60 innings out of the bullpen in Triple-A Norfolk, working to a pedestrian 4.50 earned run average but showing a far more interesting 28.9% strikeout rate against a similarly intriguing 4.9% walk rate.

Gonzalez can be placed on release waivers or traded at any point in the next five days.

Twins Option Jose Miranda, Activate Brooks Lee

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TODAY: The Twins officially announced Lee’s reinstatement from the IL, and Miranda being optioned to Triple-A.

APRIL 12: The Twins are set to option infielder Jose Miranda to the minor leagues, according to a report from Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. Gleeman goes on to suggest that Miranda’s departure will make way for the return of infielder Brooks Lee, who he reports is expected to be activated from the 10-day injured list after missing the start of the season due to a bout of lower back tightness.

The demotion for Miranda comes after a baserunning blunder in today’s loss to the Tigers. The Tigers’ defense set up a force out at second base for Miranda, but second baseman Colt Keith failed to touch the bag, leaving the umpire to initially call Miranda safe. However, Miranda began walking back to the dugout before ever touching second base himself under the assumption he had been called out, allowing Keith to tag him for the out and costing Minnesota an opportunity to bat with a runner in scoring position. As noted by Gleeman, manager Rocco Baldelli was candid in his comments on the mistake after the game.

“Jose has to do better on that play,” Baldelli said. “The guy on the other side of the field was not on the bag and Jose didn’t make it to the bag on the slide either way. And the umpire was clearly signaling safe. We have to be paying attention, to say the least. We have to be paying attention there and never allow something like that to happen.”

While the timing of the move can’t be ignored, it’s fair to point out that the decision may have come strictly for performance reasons even ignoring today’s blunder. After all, Miranda has struggled badly this year with a lackluster .143/.143/.229 slash line in 11 games entering play today. That slash line comes with a massive 37.1% strikeout rate and zero walks taken, suggesting the infielder’s swing decisions may not be where they need to be in order for him to succeed in the majors at the moment. Miranda has never walked especially often, but he struck out just 15.4% of the time last season.

While Miranda had only gotten 35 plate appearances this year entering play today, his struggles date back to the 2024 season as well. His overall slash line was good for a 115 wRC+, but Miranda struggled quite badly in August and September with a .217/.243/.312 slash line over his final 144 plate appearances last year. That lengthy period of issues at the plate stretching back to midway through last season suggests the infielder might need a reset in the minors, where he can focus on getting right without the pressure of trying to help lift an 4-11 ballclub out of its early-season hole.

Regardless of the reasoning behind Miranda’s departure, his spot on the active roster will go to Lee. The Twins’ first-round pick in the 2022 draft, Lee made his big league debut last year. His 50 games in the majors weren’t exactly what Minnesota was hoping for, as he hit just .221/.265/.320. He struck out just 14.6% of the time, but walked at a clip of just 5.9% and showed little power, though he did play solid defense all around the infield. In his return to the roster, Lee will likely be tasked handling either second or third base on a regular basis. Edouard Julien is currently handling the keystone while Willi Castro covers the hot corner, though Julien could work his way into the first base and DH mix if bumped off of second base while Castro has the versatility to play anywhere but catcher.

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