Carlos Correa was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis and a muscle strain in his left foot back in late May. The Twins shortstop has played through the issue, avoiding the injured list all season.
It hasn’t been a banner year for the two-time All-Star, whose .226/.309/.398 line through 511 plate appearances is among the worst of his career. It’s not hard to connect the dots, as Correa has spoken about playing through continued discomfort on a few occasions.
Correa expanded on the injury in a recent chat with Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The 28-year-old called it the most painful issue through which he’s played in his career. Correa rather candidly told Rosenthal he “probably would have sat out more time to let it heal” were he an impending free agent but indicated he feels the team needs him to remain as a steadying presence on the active roster — even if his production is below his typical level.
Skipper Rocco Baldelli has pencilled Correa in at shortstop for 117 of Minnesota’s 132 games. He’s logged over 1000 innings, rating as a marginally above-average defender by measure of Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Public metrics have loved Correa’s glove in previous seasons, none more so than in 2021 when he rated anywhere nine and 20 runs above average by measure of OAA and DRS en route to a Platinum Glove award. It stands to reason the foot injury is also playing a role in limiting his mobility on that side of the ball, as Correa’s sprint speed is at a personal-low level.
Perhaps the Twins’ place in the standings will enable them to sprinkle in a few more rest days. Minnesotas optioned starter Bailey Ober to Triple-A this evening in a move that seems largely motivated by a desire to keep an eye on his personal-high innings total. After beating the Guardians tonight, the Twins hold a seven-game margin in the AL Central. While the division isn’t quite sewn up, it’s possible they’ll be in position to ease off a lot of their regulars by the second half of September to keep players fresh headed into the postseason.
While the weakness of the division is a big reason for Minnesota’s comfortable place in the standings, the Twins have also simply played well of late. They’re 24-17 in the second half and have matched their season high by pulling six games above .500 at 69-63. As Aaron Gleeman writes for The Athletic, the Twins’ strong rookie core has played a big role in that success.
Minnesota has received well above-average play from each of Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien and Matt Wallner. None of that trio began the season on the active roster. Lewis started on the injured list rehabbing from a second straight year with a torn ACL. Julien and Wallner opened the year in Triple-A. They’re now all healthy and playing regular roles thanks to their strong performances.
Lewis has secured the third base job, which had been up for grabs after José Miranda struggled early on. The former first overall pick is up to a .317/.366/.521 line through 153 plate appearances after tonight’s game, in which he hit a grand slam off Cleveland righty Xzavion Curry. Lewis had connected on a grand slam in yesterday’s extra-inning win over Texas as well, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit one in consecutive contests.
Julien is working as the primary designated hitter. The lefty-hitting infielder had manned second base while Jorge Polanco was on the shelf. While he struggled defensively, he’s been an excellent offensive player, putting together a .285/.378/.478 line in 292 trips to the plate. Wallner, meanwhile, has grabbed the left field corner opposite Max Kepler with 10 homers, six doubles and a triple through 156 plate appearances. That has pushed the struggling Joey Gallo into a platoon center field role alongside Michael A. Taylor.
Minnesota could soon welcome Byron Buxton back into the outfield rotation. The Twins had limited the Gold Glove winner to designated hitter early in the season in an effort to keep him healthy. Buxton nevertheless landed on the injured list with a hamstring strain a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t seem far off a return. He went through an on-field workout today and could soon head on a minor league rehab stint, tweets Darren Wolfson of SKOR North. The Twins are expected to give Buxton center field reps on that assignment as they evaluate his readiness to handle defensive work for the final few weeks.
If Buxton doesnt make us better I hope they put him back on the IL.
I’m sure Buxton will find his way back on the IL
Correa – Only 35 more years on his contract.
I wouldn’t even bring back Buxton. He takes up a roster spot, has to sit half the time, and most importantly has played poorly all season. Twins have been much better without him, no reason to shoehorn him back in
September roster expansion is around the corner. He won’t be ready until then.
He has a no-trade clause. He’s not going anywhere.
This is a lower comment
Carlos Correa with a few pats on the back for himself. Hats off to those millions of other people going to work dinged-up today, too.
Correa’s comments are typical from him. By telling everyone he’s not self-centered and he’s playing for the team, he is being self-centered. He doesn’t get it.
Didn’t he and Mr Boras seriously play down the injury, I suppose Mets and 49ers were right.
The plantar fasciitis is in the opposite foot from the ankle that gave them concerns.
Idk, the Niners talked about Correa at RB. I’d like to see it.
When you have problems with one side of your body it will cause problems in the other side of your body because you are overcompensating for the injury, creating another injury.
Hence a degenerative condition like plantar fasciitis.
30 Parks:
Every day, in almost every article that mentions injured players, critical commenters work through the constant pain of Send-Button Spatulate Finger Syndrome.
He could’ve taken some time off and let Lewis cover SS, his natural position. Lewis has been much better with the bay but probably wouldn’t have the glove CC has. At least Correa would’ve had a chance to get healthy
Lewis has only been back from the IL for a couple weeks himself and Polanco returned around the same time after being unavailable much of the season, so the idea that Correa should have sat down and let someone else play isn’t that realistic. Now that there are better infield options on hand and they’re starting to pull away in the division he will probably get a rest similar to how the starting pitchers are rotating through the IL right now (ie Ryan, Ober).
Correa PF problem was in late May, around the time Lewis was coming back from his acl from last year
I genuinely don’t know how Buxton manages to be as injured as much as he does. Like whatever he has been doing training wise for the last several years – stop doing it. It’s clearly not working.
Wrap him in bubble wrap, get this guy doing Pilates, don’t let him go up or down any stairs or carry anything over 10lbs, no sharp objects, and have someone monitor him while he sleeps at all times to make sure he does sleep in any awkward positions. No spicy food either – can’t risk gastrointestinal issues that land him on the IL.
I mean, the team literally took him off the field defensively and only let him step on the field 4-5x a game, and he STILL managed to get hurt several times this year. At what point is he hurt vs just having zero pain tolerance? Goodness.
Buxton’s pain tolerance isn’t seemingly an issue. He was literally going through a multi-hour rehab process before every single game last year including frequent draining of his knee.
A big part of the issue this year is not having him either repeat the surgery when they discovered it as unsuccessful this past January or completely shutting him down for a couple months to continue recovery and having him lose a month or two early.
How did Correa get the kind of contract that he did?? Looking at his career stats he’s not that good and kind of injury prone. 6 years and 200 million…. SMH
Correa was largely considered the best shortstop in MLB when he signed with the Twins the first time. The biggest ding against him was durability, but he managed to play a full season (qualified for championship trophys) which put a lot of that concern to rest due to having accomplished that 3 seasons in a row.
In a full season, Correa was viewed as a 5-6 WAR kind of guy entering free agency for a second time at only 28. The contract Correa received was:
6 yrs $200MM, front loaded with a decreasing guarantee after age 30. There are vesting options which are pretty hard to hit as Correa ages.
Corey Seager received 10yrs $325MM guaranteed at the same age despite not being as good as Correa and having even more injury history.
While I don’t like the Correa contract, it’s pretty easy to see how he got it.
A 10-day IL stint in early September might not fully heal the foot, but maybe the rest will keep him more serviceable in the postseason.
“Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of the sentence. It needs to be at the start.
For Twins fans, sure he’s been a bum (Carlos) and way overpaid , but… you’re making it easy to the crapshoot of playoffs.
Correa always been a big game guy , can’t argue that. If he is again hot in playoffs , with your strong staff , hey anything can happen.
They should make a bobble head of Buxton but with him in a leg cast or lying down in a stretcher or hospital gurney.
Injury is almost almost always the cause of underperformance by a player in his prime.
You win The Most BS Comment Of The Day.
Why not let Correa sit out a bunch of games now? It’s not as if anyone is going to take the division title away from them down the stretch.
I don’t think more rest days will help anybody on the Twins, TBH. Baldelli has a long standing tradition of giving players lots of rest and it hasn’t helped durability at all. The Twins’ batters have been consistently far below average for IL trips and games missed over the last several years with Baldelli at the helm.
You have to wonder whether or not routine is a little more important to health than just having a bunch of random days off.
I’m not sure how this plays into Rocco’s thinking, but his career was cut short by injuries and a disease. He may just spend more time thinking about injury prevention than someone who’d had a more normal career arc.
“In 2005, Baldelli’s promising career was derailed by channelopathy, a rare metabolic/muscular disorder which causes frequent soft tissue injuries and severe fatigue. He was unable to play at all in 2005 and missed significant time over the following seasons as doctors struggled to diagnose and treat his condition; from 2005 until his retirement in 2010, the former everyday center fielder spent long stretches on the disabled list and only once appeared in more than half of his team’s games.”
I do believe Baldelli is trying to live vicariously through his players and projecting his own issues onto them at least a bit. I do not like his philosophy and I do not think it works.
Twins could have a pretty solid Infield next season with Kiriloff at 1B, Julien at 2B, Lewis at 3B and Correa at SS. Polanco could move to the OF or be a super utility player
Polanco will be gone (and hurt) and Kirilloff will be hurt. Tough to say who will be where 🙂
Oofda-brutal to watch. Wish them all the best, but this is just awful-you’d have to pay me double to buy a ticket. Feel bad for them.