The Twins are designating reliever Jay Jackson for assignment, manager Rocco Baldelli told the team’s beat after today’s loss to the Rays (relayed on X by Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports (on X) that Minnesota will recall southpaw Kody Funderburk from Triple-A St. Paul to step into the bullpen. Minnesota’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
It’s the second time this season that Minnesota has taken Jackson off the roster. The Twins designated him for assignment in May and successfully ran him through outright waivers. The righty accepted his assignment to St. Paul and pitched his way back to the big leagues a couple weeks later. Jackson had only made a trio of appearances in Triple-A, working three innings of one-run ball.
He has pitched 20 times for Minnesota at the big league level. Despite decent strikeout and walk numbers, he has had a tough time keeping runs off the board. That continued this afternoon. Jackson allowed three runs on homers by Jose Siri and Yandy Díaz, stretching a one-run deficit into a 6-2 gap. Minnesota scored four in the bottom of the ninth to tie it but lost in the tenth inning.
The longball has been Jackson’s biggest concern. He’s up to seven homers surrendered across 26 1/3 innings. That’s the biggest reason he has been unable to strand many baserunners. After today’s outing, he carries a 7.52 earned run average. That’s a sharp downturn from the excellent 2.12 ERA he posted in 29 2/3 frames for the Blue Jays a year ago. Jackson’s strikeout and walk numbers are essentially unchanged from his productive stint in Toronto, but his batted ball results have pushed him off the roster twice.
It is likely that Minnesota will place the 36-year-old on waivers again in the next few days. Jackson could decline an outright assignment if he goes unclaimed, though doing so would require forfeiting what remains of this year’s $1.3MM salary and the $200K buyout on next year’s $3MM club option. He could wind up back in St. Paul as a result.