The Twins were able to clear up one bit of news surrounding Kenta Maeda's forearm tightness on Friday: The team's No. 1 starter will have a surgical procedure in Dallas on Wednesday, and his season is over.
The rest — what kind of procedure it will be and how long Maeda will be out — is still unknown.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said Texas Rangers orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister will begin the procedure on Maeda and then have a number of options to repair Maeda's arm. The doctor won't know which course to take until he is able to perform the surgery, Baldelli said.
"We don't know what direction exactly it's going to go in and what the determination will be until Dr. Meister takes a look himself with his own eyes," Baldelli said. "That happens in a lot of different procedures, but that's the way that we're going to approach this one so based on what he finds and based on what exactly he deems in need of fixing up, we will find out after the procedure exactly what was done."
Maeda left Saturday's game against the Yankees because of inflammation in his flexor muscle. Baldelli did acknowledge that Tommy John surgery to repair Maeda's troublesome ulnar collateral ligament is a possibility.
"It's very much a real option, but it's not the only option," Baldelli said.
"Because there are several different options, it's impossible to really set anything, We'll know so much more next Wednesday afternoon. Anything that I say now would be not just speculative; I wouldn't even be basing it on enough good information to make a statement."
The 33-year-old Japanese star has a team-friendly contract, signed with the Dodgers in 2016, with a $3 million base salary. He has pitched through arm difficulties since arriving in the major leagues, but he has been able to reach sizable bonuses — up to $10 million — by hitting a certain number of innings pitched and starts. He was runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award to Cleveland's Shane Bieber a season ago with a 6-1 record and 2.70 ERA.