26 July 2023
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Tuesday he expects the team’s biggest trade deadline additions will actually be players already on the roster, and they’re expected to start showing up this weekend in Kansas City.
Infielder Jorge Polanco, limited to 30 games so far because of two separate hamstring injuries, is expected to travel with the team when it leaves for Missouri after Wednesday’s games. Polanco was in the St. Paul Saints’ lineup, playing third base for the Triple-A squad, for a 1:07 p.m. first pitch against Toledo.
Reliever Caleb Thielbar, limited to just 10⅓ innings pitched this season because of an oblique injury that has sidelined him twice, is expected to join the team for a three-game series in St. Louis starting Tuesday.
Polanco has been in St. Paul since July 16 but only recently moved to third base, where the Twins plan to play him so that rookie Edouard Julien, the Twins’ hottest hitter this month, can remain in the lineup.
Polanco hasn’t played third base in the majors since he played nine games there in 2016, and hasn’t played a major-league game this season since he was pulled from a June 8 loss at Tampa Bay after one at-bat.
“I think he’s gotten a little bit of his timing back on the offensive side,” manager Rocco Baldelli said Wednesday. “We could sit here and say, ‘Well, I’d love for him to have 10 more games at third base before he comes to the big leagues and plays third base, that would really help.’ But I don’t know if that’s the case.
“I think he’s going to have to make some real-time adjustments at third base, being a new position for him. And he’s gotten a little bit of action over there.”
Thielbar, the Twins’ best left-handed reliever, hasn’t pitched since he threw a third of an inning in a 2-1 loss to Cleveland on June 4. Baldelli said the veteran will make another appearance for St. Paul before “potentially” rejoining the team for a three-game series starting Tuesday in St. Louis.
Shoulder sidelines Kirilloff
Alex Kirilloff was scratched from Wednesday’s game because of a right shoulder injury suffered while making a diving catch at first base, Baldelli said.
Since the Twins returned from the All-Star Game break on July 14, Kirilloff is hitting .283 with four doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBIs in 11 games.
“A few days ago he dove and he felt a little something in his shoulder,” Baldelli said. “He’s got a little bit of inflammation in there and it’s affected his swing over the last couple of days, for sure.”
Baldelli said Kirilloff could play in Kansas City, but might be held out longer.
“We’re facing another lefty (starting pitcher) in KC on Day Three,” the manager said, “and then we have another off day. If he’s not playing in that game, he gets four of the next six days where he doesn’t have to take too many swings, and hopefully that resets him.”
Briefly
Designated hitter Byron Buxton, on paternity leave for the birth of his third son, will be activated for the Kansas City series. … The Twins recalled right-handed pitcher Josh Winder from Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday. He takes the roster spot of right-hander Oliver Ortega, who took the loss in Tuesday night’s 9-7 setback against Seattle. … Reliever Brock Stewart, who hasn’t pitched since throwing a scoreless inning on June 25 at Detroit, still hasn’t been cleared for a rehab assignment.
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