CLEVELAND — There was little time for president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, general manager Jeremy Zoll and company to rest after a stressful, emotional day on Thursday. Following a trade deadline in which they executed nine trades — including seven alone on Thursday — they had a major league roster to rebuild.
That roster scored four runs in the first inning on their way to a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in the series finale on Sunday afternoon. A group made primarily of players who had already been in the majors — Austin Martin, Ryan Jeffers, Matt Wallner, Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach — each singled in the first inning to give the Twins a lead they would hold all game.
But who are their new teammates?
Five of the call ups had played for the Twins before this weekend — four of them already this year. The other three hadn’t but only one, Alan Roden, was included in the group of players acquired at the deadline. The rest of the players the Twins traded for have been sent to various minor league affiliates.
José Ureña, a 33-year-old right-handed pitcher, who has now pitched for 10 different major league teams, got the start on Sunday for the Twins in place of Simeon Woods Richardson, who is dealing with a stomach issue. When the veteran took the mound for the Twins, it marked the fourth different team he had pitched for this season. In four innings on Sunday, he allowed two runs, both coming on a José Ramírez two-run home run in the first inning.
The Twins’ other new bullpen additions include Erasmo Ramírez, another veteran who has pitched in parts of 13 different major league seasons and who picked up the save Sunday after Michael Tonkin gave up two ninth-inning runs, and rookies Travis Adams and Pierson Ohl.
Both Adams, the team’s No. 26 prospect per MLB Pipeline, and Ohl have been part of an experiment the Twins have been running in the minor leagues during which select pitchers have been throwing about four innings every four days instead of pitching on a more traditional starter schedule. Both will likely be used in multi-inning outings, perhaps sometimes in piggyback situations. Adams, 25, debuted in early June and Ohl on Tuesday, coming up to start after Chris Paddack was dealt to the Detroit Tigers a day earlier.
On the position-player side, the Twins added Edouard Julien and Martin, two players whom they are very familiar with, as well as Roden and Ryan Fitzgerald.
Julien, a second baseman, began the season in the majors but after a tough start to the year, was sent back to Triple-A, where he was hitting .276/.416/.464 with 11 home runs at the time he was recalled. Martin, who had three singles on Friday and began Sunday’s game by singling and scoring a run, likely would have been up earlier if not for two hamstring injuries earlier in the year. He had primarily been playing the outfield for the Saints this year.
“Every opportunity you have to play at this level is a blessing,” Martin said. “I never want to take it for granted and my mentality is just to go out there and play like it’s my last day every day.”
Fitzgerald, an infielder who was briefly up in May, debuted at age 30 and is still searching for his first-career hit after a lengthy-minor league career.
And Roden the final player added to the roster, is a 25-year-old outfielder who hails from Middleton, Wisconsin, and was part of the return in the trade that sent Louie Varland and Ty France to Toronto. The outfielder was at Triple-A Buffalo at the time of the trade, where he had hit .331 with a .918 OPS this season across 32 games. He had also spent 43 games with the Blue Jays in the majors this year.
“(He’s) a guy that we think is a really, really good bat,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You have a guy that can play all three outfield positions that you think can really hit from the left side and controls the zone a good bit.”
With two months left in the season, that means there’s plenty of time for the newly-called up bunch to make an impression and try to carve out a role moving forward.
“There is going to be a lot of opportunity for people,” Larnach said. “I think the best thing is to look at the positives and not getting caught up in the change and what’s missing or whatever. Get better, work, put your head down and grind.”
Related Articles
After sell-off, Byron Buxton reaffirms desire to be in Minnesota: ‘I ain’t going nowhere’
Bailey Ober returns to mix results in Twins’ loss to Cleveland
Twins kick off new era of opportunity with loss to Guardians
Twins still trying to process deadline moves: ‘A lot of guys were shocked’
Frederick: Next time opportunity knocks for the Twins, don’t slam the door in its face
Leave a Reply