One week into the season, the Twins have encountered a familiar problem.
Twins put Max Kepler on injured list, call up Matt Wallner from St. Paul
The Twins will use Nick Gordon in the outfield with their options decreasing.
April 8, 2023 at 6:00PM
"We are getting a little short on outfielders," manager Rocco Baldelli said.
That's because Max Kepler's minor knee injury, suffered while running to first base on Monday at Miami, will take more time than expected to heal, Baldelli said.
On Saturday, the Twins put Kepler on the injured list and called up Matt Wallner from Class AAA St. Paul. Wallner was 6-for-20 with a home run in five games for the Saints.
The Twins are already determined not to play Byron Buxton in the outfield until they are convinced his own surgically repaired knee is not endangered by playing defense, and Buxton's hot start to the season at the plate likely makes the Twins even less likely to risk it.
And on Friday, Joey Gallo, playing the outfield for the first time this season, left the game after five innings because of a condition the Twins described as "right-side soreness."
"He was dealing with some soreness a couple of days ago, but played with it," Baldelli said. "One thing we don't want to do is put him in a spot where he's going to miss a bunch of time, so we just made the decision during the game to say, 'Hey, we're not going to battle through it anymore. We're going to get some imaging done and we'll know more by tomorrow."
Fortunately, there's a simple short-term solution while the Twins evaluate their outfielders.
"We have Nick Gordon. He's played a bunch of outfield, obviously," Baldelli said. "A guy I wouldn't mind, personally, getting in the lineup as much as we can."
Etc.
- Jorge Polanco played five innings as the Class A second baseman on Thursday, going 1-for-3 with two strikeouts in a 4-2 loss to Dunedin. He will play again Saturday, "and then he and I will have a phone call," Twins head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said, "to assess where he's at, how he's feeling, and whether the that means more Fort Myers or maybe going to up join the Triple-A team" in St. Paul. "It just depends on how he's feeling at the plate and the level of competition he needs to see."
- At the request of starting pitcher Joe Ryan, the Twins will debut their new "Twin Cities" jerseys with him on the mound Saturday. The cream-colored uniforms will also be worn for every Sunday home game.
- Friday's home opener, rescheduled from Thursday due to cold temperatures, was the first chance for most fans to see the renovations at Target Field, including new scoreboards and video screens throughout the ballpark. There were some improvements behind the scenes, too, Baldelli said. "The training room looks fantastic. It wasn't torn down and rebuilt, but my god, it looks like a completely different space," he said. "It's beautiful."
- After introductions, the Twins showed an "In Memorium" reel of people connected to the team who died in the past year, including former players Bill Campbell and David West, "Minnesota Icon" Bud Grant, and former Twins VP Mike Radcliff. The team draped an empty "scout's seat" behind the plate with a Twins jersey bearing Radcliff's name in tribute.
- Louie Varland struck out nine over five strong innings, Mark Contreras and Hernan Pérez homered and the Saints beat the Iowa Cubs 6-2 at CHS Field. The Saints only had four hits, but three were for extra bases, including Kyle Garlick's RBI double in the fourth inning. Garlick also drew a bases-loaded walk.
The speculation surrounding shortstop Carlos Correa’s availability in a trade was overblown this week, Twins officials indicated at the winter meetings in Dallas.
