The Twins made a handful of moves before tonight’s games against the Marlins. Minnesota designated left-hander Cole Irvin for assignment, optioned southpaw Brent Headrick and placed outfielder Matt Wallner on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. They’re replaced on the active roster by Justin Topa, Jorge Alcala and Austin Martin. Minnesota recalled Alcala and Martin from Triple-A St. Paul while activating Topa from the 60-day injured list.
Minnesota brought Irvin in on a waiver claim from the Orioles last week. The 30-year-old southpaw made four appearances out of Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen. He allowed five runs across 3 2/3 innings with four walks and only two strikeouts. Irvin made it through a scoreless inning yesterday against Miami but needed to work around a pair of free passes.
This has been a generally tough season for Irvin, whom the O’s had DFA twice as well. He bounced between Baltimore’s rotation and long relief work, combining for a 4.86 ERA across 107 1/3 innings. Irvin had been a durable source of roughly league average innings for the A’s between 2021-22, but he allowed 4.68 earned runs per nine over a season and a half in Baltimore.
The Twins will put Irvin on waivers in the next few days. He’ll almost certainly clear and would likely elect free agency at that point. Minnesota acquired Irvin after the calendar flipped to September. Even if they make the postseason — which now looks to be a long shot as they’ve fallen two games back of the Royals and Tigers with five to play — Irvin would have been ineligible to participate. It’s possible he’ll need to take a minor league deal this offseason.
Topa, 33, steps right into must-win games for his team debut. The Twins acquired him from the Mariners as part of the Jorge Polanco deal. They no doubt envisioned him as a high-leverage bullpen piece after he’d thrown 69 innings of 2.61 ERA ball in a breakout year for Seattle. A lengthy injury history had prevented Topa from emerging until his age-32 campaign, though, and that unfortunately resurfaced with his new organization.
The right-hander suffered a left knee injury in Spring Training and was eventually diagnosed with a partially torn patellar tendon. A rehab stint in July proved unsuccessful. Topa began a new rehab stint last week, pitching two innings in as many Triple-A appearances. With the minor league season finished and time running low for the MLB club, he’ll head to Target Field.
Minnesota’s bullpen has played a role in their second half collapse. Only the Red Sox have a higher bullpen ERA since the All-Star Break. They haven’t blown many leads but have had a tough time keeping games from getting out of hand. Baldelli might be reluctant to plug Topa into leverage spots after a six-month layoff. He’ll at least be a high-upside option in the middle innings.
The Twins will need to mount their playoff push without one of their more productive offensive players. Wallner is hitting .259/.372/.523 with 13 homers across 261 plate appearances. He’s done for the rest of the regular season and would miss at least the Wild Card series if the Twins qualify. Oblique strains usually cost a player multiple weeks, so there’s a good chance his season is over.
Max Kepler told reporters yesterday that he also won’t make it back during the regular season (link via Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Kepler has missed most of September with a left knee injury. The Twins are going with an outfield of Willi Castro, Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach tonight against Miami righty Edward Cabrera.