September baseball is here, and roster expansion comes with it. What was once a time when any healthy player on the 40-man roster could join the clubhouse has now become an expansion from 26 active players to 28 to keep the dugout from getting too crowded.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Twins returned a few players to the roster. They activated Brooks Lee from the injured list and called up Diego Castillo (the reliever) and infielder Michael Helman, who will make his major league debut at 28. Lee took one of the open spots with roster expansion, but the Twins needed to create 40-man spots to add Castillo and Helman.
To make their spots available, the Twins moved Chris Paddack from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list and designated Caleb Boushley for assignment for the second time this season. They also placed Manuel Margot on the 10-day injured list following a groin strain in Saturday night’s 15-0 loss to the Blue Jays.
Now that the Twins are back in the win column after Sunday’s game, they are heading to Tampa for a four-game series. The makeup of their roster options over their final 26 games looks much clearer than it did going into the weekend.
It’s all but confirmed that Paddack and Joe Ryan are out for the season, leaving Louie Varland and Randy Dobnak as the only starters on the 40-man roster not in the Majors as ‘break glass in case of emergency’ options if another starter struggles or goes down with an injury.
Minnesota may call Varland up to join them in Tampa amid 13 consecutive games without an off-day. They still haven’t listed a starter for Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, leading many to speculate (responsibly) that the Twins will call him up to make another spot start.
Varland may also be looking for redemption. His last start in Tampa Bay was June 6 last year, and it was the worst start of his MLB career. He allowed seven runs on six hits and four walks in six innings.
Zebby Matthews is coming off the worst start of his MLB career on Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Therefore, the Twins may send him back down after he allowed nine runs on 10 hits in only two innings. They could call Varland up to replace him full-time for the rest of the month. However, they may not because Matthews is only four starts into his MLB career.
In addition to rotation help, the Twins require another lefty reliever after DFAing Steven Okert last week. Caleb Thielbar is the only lefty in the Twins bullpen right now, but Kody Funderburk or Brent Headrick will return to the bullpen to provide the Twins with a second lefty by the end of the season.
Funderburk should return to the roster sometime in the middle of the month, according to his last health update from KSTP’s Darren Wolfson. Headrick hasn’t pitched since April 7 with the St. Paul Saints. However, he began a rehab stint in Ft. Myers and could be eligible to join the Twins around the same time as Funderburk.
Funderburk and Headrick are viable lefty options. However, it’s hard to know how they will perform down the stretch despite their limited use this season due to injuries. They’ve combined for 51 ⅓ innings between the majors and minors this season. Their limited roles to this point in the season can become of greater importance as the Twins need another lefty trying to maintain contention for a spot in the postseason.
On the offensive front, the only real question remaining is when the Twins will get Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa back to the team. Since their injuries, they’ve had setbacks in their projected returns.
Correa went down with plantar fasciitis immediately before the All-Star break and still has no clear timeline of return seven weeks after the injury. Buxton has been out since August 12, and the Twins have said he should return sometime before Correa.
The Twins have gone 4-9 in the past two weeks, highlighting their need for their two best hitters to return. They remain tied for second place in the AL Central and sit 3.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for first place. They still want to gain ground over the Royals in their final three games against them this weekend and catch Cleveland next week on the road. Therefore, they will need everything to work right with the health and performance of their players.
