Minnesota Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tried to maintain his boyish grin as he stood in front of the TC logo outside the team clubhouse at Target Field, ticking off an extensive list of injuries to his team. Joe Mauer is feeling concussion symptoms still. Byron Buxton’s toe isn’t getting any better. Ervin Santana and Trevor May haven’t had their usual velocity in their minor league rehab stints. Jorge Polanco is still serving his suspension, and will essentially have a rehab stint before getting back to the majors.
“We have video every day on all our minor league rehab guys, the suspended guys,” he said. “Unfortunately, that folder’s a little bit deeper than I wanted it to be at the outset of the season.”
Minnesota begin their 11-game homestand with four games against the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians. The Twins are 22-29, coming off a 1-5 road trip where they were walked off twice — adding up to an astounding eight total walk-off losses on the season. Ten of their last 11 games have been decided by three runs or fewer, and they are 3-7 in those games. Cleveland (29-25) and the Detroit Tigers (26-30) are ahead of them in the Central, but a strong homestand could reverse their fortunes — especially the next four games.
“It’s a good test for us,” said manager Paul Molitor of the Indians series. “Cleveland has separated itself from us as of late by the fact that they’re playing better. Obviously, we haven’t played well.
“We’ve got to play better against everybody. We’re heading into June. There’s a lot of baseball left. We all get that. But whether it’s Cleveland or Detroit or whomever the opponent is, we need to do things better. These guys will be in here and they’re ready to play.”
Mauer continues to have concussion symptoms
Mauer was out taking batting practice before Thursday’s game, but he curtailed his planned routine because he felt concussion symptoms again.
“I went out there today. I’m going to go back out for BP just to be out there,” said Mauer. “Yeah, it’s been progressing. Today, probably not where I want to be. But they’re telling me that can happen. I kind of had to back off today.”
“He’s going through his workouts today,” said Falvey. “I had a chance to talk to him yesterday while he was here at the ballpark. He said he was feeling good. … My hope is that he’s feeling good after today’s and tomorrow’s workout for us to be able to make a decision on where he’s at.”
He’s had diagnostic tests, according to Falvey, and is not scheduled to have additional testing. The Twins are not calling it a concussion right now.
“I still can’t say about any of that, just because these things aren’t always clear cut in the diagnosis,” said Falvey. “He certainly had symptoms of something like that. He felt good for a period of time, obviously played through it for some stretch. But ultimately we are just focused on getting him healthy and back.”
“I definitely had the symptoms,” said Mauer. “If you have the symptoms, you probably had one. That’s the thing. I talked to you guys after that game. Obviously, my neck is what it was. But on the drive home, the symptoms really started to pour on. That’s why you didn’t see me for a couple days.”
Buxton still feels pain in his big toe
Buxton continues to be plagued by the hairline fracture in his left big toe. While the injury itself is not getting worse, the pain was becoming intolerable.
“It got worse over time, but I think that was my body more getting use to the medicine I was taking before the game,” said Buxton. “It was starting to wear off to where the pain tolerance was getting worse and worse day by day. It’s kind of one of those things where I tolerated it as much as I could. It comes to that point where you feel like you’re not helping the team out, so you’ve gotta give it up to that next person and just root us on.”
Buxton said that the pain did not cause him to hesitate in the field or on the basepaths, but affected his hitting. He remains fearless in the field and a roadrunner between the bases — anyone can see that — but his .156/.183/.200 average stands out like a sore, ahem, thumb.
“Just turning back over trying to get my weight to shift forward was probably the most painful,” he said. “So once you feel it, your body just kind of stops itself. … I started doing that more and more at the plate. So that was kind of the key that it was time to be smart about it.”
“We always put the player first, so ultimately the player felt, as you know Byron, he said he’s ready to go. He’d be in the lineup tonight if he could be,” said Falvey. “I think sometimes we have to step in and take that out of a player’s hands. Ultimately we checked with the [doctors] and made sure that what we were doing in terms of a plan was appropriate, trying to manage the pain through those games.
“But ultimately I think we saw that taking our best crack at it was to put the best version of Byron on the field, we felt that this was the best thing in the long term for him.”
Santana and May have had setbacks
Santana, who was projected to be the staff ace this year, will have a follow-up with his hand surgeon, Dr. Charles Melone, on Monday to “get an update” and “see where things are,” according to Falvey.
“We expect to see more velocity out of him. We all would,” said Falvey. “Ultimately, he is still in the early stages of pitching, pitching in games. I think about guys in Spring Training and their build ups. The normal routine guys go through. I think he’s below where he would want to be. Ultimately, we will take it day by day. He’s a little bit below average.”
Santana was recalled from his rehab assignment on Wednesday due to discomfort in his surgically repaired knuckle at the base of his middle finger.
“For him, it has been relatively normal soreness and swelling, in his estimation, and our estimations, in general.” said Falvey. “These are things, the surgeon said, you should expect and work through over time. I don’t have anything that is overly concerning right now, based on the reports we’ve gotten. Just want to make sure that because he’s feeling soreness and swelling, that we are pacing this appropriately.”
This means his return isn’t going to be as imminent as originally expected.
“When we looked at the original timeline and before the procedure had taken place, we were of the expectation that, after his surgery, could he get the finger moving quickly,” said Falvey. “Ultimately, the decision was made to put a more formal brace on that and cast it. That just delayed the timeline some. Aside from that, these are things you kind of have to take them week to week in terms of how he felt. We felt this was the most appropriate timeline.”
May gave up seven runs over two innings in Rochester on Sunday, and has a 9.28 ERA in three Triple-A starts.
“He’s continuing to progress in Triple-A, had some outings where I think his velocity and command, both of those were a little bit less than he would’ve liked,” said Falvey. “Ultimately, [he’s] a guy coming back from Tommy John surgery in the early stages, you’re going to have some ups and downs, I’ve felt, particularly around command outing to outing.
“We’re going to actually have him piggyback on the back end of his next outing, try and get him a few clean innings out of the bullpen, and see where things go. He’s still got a little more time on his rehab assignment, so we’ll make that decision over the next couple weeks.”
And, finally, Jorge Polanco is preparing to return from suspension
Polanco was suspended for the first 80 games of the season when he tested positive for Stanozolol, a steroid. The Twins have played 51 games entering the series against Cleveland, and Polanco has done extensive work with Sam Perlozzo, the Twins minor league infield/baserunning coordinator, to get ready for Game 81. He will enter a 20-day rehab assignment before his suspension ends, said Falvey, “just like an injury.”
“We’re trying to take this time that he’s down, not just to let him just play and take at-bats, but to do some things,” he said. “Make him better defensively. To work on his range. To do some things that we know can impact him here at the major league level.
“At the beginning of the year, the active day was a little bit later than it is now with the makeup games, because you have to go through 80 games. But we’ll plan for him to be active going into that early July period.”
But the Twins insist they are not losing hope of making the playoffs
With the way the American League is shaping up, Minnesota’s best bet of making the postseason is by winning the AL Central. Either the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, whichever one does not win the AL East, will likely occupy the first Wild Card spot. And the Seattle Mariners lead a pack of teams in the junior circuit all competing for the second Wild Card slot.
Molitor, notoriously patient, says that the team is not waiting to be at full strength to get into either the AL Central or Wild Card race. They need to pick up wins now.
“I don’t know if it’s a patience thing as it is trying to come in here every day with the right attitude with the people that you have,” he said. “We have had our fair share (of injuries). Every club has had some. We’ve probably got a little bit more during the first third of the season. We’re accustomed to it.”
Falvey is well aware that the injuries are piling up, but he thinks there’s enough talent on the roster to win now — and that the team could be scary if it gets to full strength.
“None of those guys in there would be the first to make an excuse,” he said. “We certainly have had our fair share of adversity and the injuries we have faced. We haven’t seen our fully healthy club, that is clear.”
