The Twins received bad news following right-hander Joe Ryan’s MRI, as he’s been diagnosed with a Grade 2 teres major strain that’ll threaten the remainder of his season, manager Rocco Baldelli announced to the Twins beat this morning (X link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). It’s a more serious injury than the Twins initially anticipated, and while Baldelli didn’t entirely rule Ryan out for the remainder of the season, he acknowledged that it’ll take “weeks to months” for the right-hander to recover.
Ryan is headed to the 15-day IL for now, and the Twins have also selected the contract of right-hander Scott Blewett from Triple-A St. Paul in his place. Right-hander Brock Stewart, who is headed for season-ending shoulder surgery, was placed on the 60-day IL to open a spot for Blewett. Minnesota also reinstated infielder Kyle Farmer from the injured list, placed infielder Brooks Lee on the 15-day IL due to biceps tendinitis, and called up right-hander Louie Varland as the 27th man for their pivotal doubleheader against the division-leading Guardians.
The injury for Ryan is a gut-punch to a Twins club that was unable to acquire a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline and has already seen its rotation depth stretched thin. The 28-year-old Ryan has been perhaps their steadiest starter in 2024, logging 135 innings of 3.60 ERA ball with a strong 27.3% strikeout rate against an outstanding 4.3% walk rate. He’s been a fixture in the Twins’ rotation since being acquired from the Rays in exchange for Nelson Cruz at the 2021 trade deadline, making 84 starts with a 3.92 ERA and consistently strong strikeout and walk rates.
With Ryan joining Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani — who required season-ending surgery back in spring training — on the injured list, Minnesota will be forced to lean on a rookie-heavy rotation while trying to overtake Cleveland and fight off Kansas City in the AL Central race. Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober provide plenty of big league experience, but they’ll be followed by Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa and likely Varland in the season’s final seven weeks or so. Right-hander Zebby Matthews, who has rocketed up prospect rankings in 2024 while dominating High-A and Double-A, could be called to the big leagues sooner than he otherwise would have with a healthier staff. Veteran righty Adam Plutko is also in Triple-A with the Twins and has pitched to a respectable 4.35 ERA there — including a 3.38 mark over his past seven starts.
Given the increased level of strain on the pitching depth, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see the Twins pursue some additional depth. Their avenues to doing so are limited now that the deadline has passed, but they still have some options. Rich Hill, who pitched for the Twins in 2020, is planning to sign for the stretch run and showcased for teams just today. Some depth options like Xzavion Curry (Guardians) and Jackson Wolf (Padres) were designated for assignment within the past week and could hold appeal — if they make it to the Twins on waivers. As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald recently laid out for MLBTR Front Office subscribers, we could see a handful of notable veterans hit waivers later this month if their teams falter, although the Twins slashed payroll considerably this past offseason and ownership might balk at the notion of absorbing additional payroll for the stretch run.
In the short-term, the Twins will give Varland the first start and slot Blewett, who pitched for the 2020-21 Royals, into the bullpen. Varland opened the season in the rotation after an encouraging run late last year, but the Twin Cities native was hit hard early this season, optioned to Triple-A and eventually leapfrogged by Woods Richardson and Festa on the depth chart. He’s struggled in Triple-A overall but had rattled off a 1.48 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 14 walks in his past six starts there (30 1/3 innings).
As for Blewett, he inked a minor league deal in the offseason. The 28-year-old righty was a second-round pick by the Royals back in 2014 and has bounced around pro ball, also spending time in the White Sox and Braves systems in addition to a nice stint with the Uni-President Lions in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League last year. He’s pitched 56 1/3 innings for the Saints this season and notched a solid 3.66 ERA with a 23.2% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in that time.
The injury to Lee, 23, will open the door for Farmer’s return. Lee was the No. 8 overall pick in 2022 and currently stands as a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport. He missed the beginning of the season with a stress reaction in his back but returned to light fire to Triple-A pitching, hitting opponents at a .329/.394/.635 clip with seven homers in just 94 plate appearances before being summoned to the majors amid other injuries in Minnesota’s infield. He’ll head to the shelf himself now, leaving the Twins with Farmer and Willi Castro at second and short, Royce Lewis at third base and Carlos Santana at first base (in addition to Jose Miranda mixing in at the infield corners).
Oh goodie!
A pitching injury? Well I guess there was no way to foresee that. Too bad there was nothing they could have done to mitigate this risk. Good luck Louie and whats-his-name, Blewitt? (Not an encouraging name, TBH, but nothing new for a team that brought up Grant Balfour.)
Could have put Homer Bailey on the bump after Grant Balfour.
I feel bad for the twins this guy would’ve been huge in October for a twins postseason run
I also feel bad for myself because right when I was about to trade him off my fantasy team in a few days his value goes from high to nothing grrrrrr
Good thing they reinforced the rotation at the trade deadline.
Good point.
There was a good chance they would have messed up the trade anyway. In the recent past, aside from Lopez and Ryan, the FO has whiffed on SP trades. Paddock was a risk at the time, DeScalfini or Topa (I know he’s a RP) haven’t been healthy yet, and there was that trade with the Reds a few years ago for Mahle, who maybe pitched a month? They gave up Steer and CES for him. A not yet established Rooker was part of the Paddock deal. The Polanco deal with SEA looked decent at the time, but no one has pitched yet there. They need to change up the personnel evaluating talent.
Suddenly, the Twins become a team you want to face in the playoffs. GRod has a similar injury, but it’s classified as a teres minor strain. Ryan as a partial tear in a larger muscle. Very likely that their no. 3 postseason starter will be Woods Richardson.
Either the Os or Yankees will be the top wild card in all likelihood. Not a bad postseason spot with the Twins, Guardians or Bosox as the opposition.
The Twins have 6 games remaining against the Royals as well as 3 with the Red Sox, 3 with the Orioles and 8 with the Guardians and a game and half lead is their only hold on a playoff spot. I wouldn’t be planning on playing them in October just yet
“The injury for Ryan is a gut-punch to a Twins club that was ‘unable’ to acquire a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline and has already seen its rotation depth stretched thin.”
I am ‘unable’ to dunk a basketball because I’m 5’8″ and not Muggsy Bogues. The Twins CHOSE not to acquire an extra starting pitcher. Don’t make excuses for them.
Ah the old Caleb Killian injury. He got his in ST and just started pitching again. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say his season is over. Sorry.
If he tore it in grade 2, why are they just finding out about it?
The universe is triggering my fears of another Randy Dobnak playoff start at Yankee Stadium.
For his sake, I hope the new kid succeeds or all we’ll hear is he Blewett… I’ll show myself out
Adam Plutko, Rich Hill, and Xzavion Curry joining the Twins rotation and taking the division from the Guards would be my personal hell
It’s too cold in Minnesota for Trevor Bauer but if they asked him nicely, he may be willing to help them out.
Summer isn’t too bad in Minnesota. Very humid though. Winters are brutal though.
No bauer at all costs
At this point if someone in the media asks the twins prez about Bauer he would probably say “who’s Trevor Bauer?)
Blacklisted, god knows what he has done without the public knowing
Lol, doubt Twin cities and Trev would be a good fit, polar opposites., as their Minne hero guy tampon Timmy and his brand of extremism would not gel with nor welcome a Trevor.
TB belongs in a Texas, or deep south, or FL, not a leftist haven like Minne.
With a Bauer signing, Target Field would protest and likely burn to the ground, kinda like the ’20 Summer of Love, when real Targets Burnt down, with all the twin cities “peaceful protests”,…lol
That’s terrible. I knew something was wrong when he called for the trainer against the Cubs. Hoping he has a speedy recovery
Time to stretch out every reliever and washed-up-position player who have no legit shot at the majors anyway. Find a diamond. Stretch out tortuga, jose bautista, bartolo, rick ankiel
Everyone says the Rays fleece teams in their trades. This will go down as one of the worst trades they ever made. Ryan is a great dude and a stud of a pitcher. I hope he recovers quickly and comes back stronger!
I feel for Twins fans. They were already short a reliable starter.
I wouldn’t expect this, but it would be fun to see a prospect swap, such as Logan Evans (Mariners) for Emmanuel Rodriguez. Evans is being built back up to starter status after bailing on the plan to use him as reliever down the stretch. But he could be ready by the end of the month and has the makeup of a number three starter.
Seattle might put more value on the possibility of him helping them this year, whereas Rodriguez won’t likely debut until mid-season next year, but they have other options.
It’s one of the few ways I can think of Minnesota addressing an important, immediate need, and Seattle addressing a near-future need.
@Stevil hey curious to hear your thoughts on the Mariners at this point in time and if you’re hopeful we can take the division. Man I am sure glad we pulled that one out last night, because I was getting pretty despondent about the liklihood of a Tigers sweep in our ballpark. Maybe that walk-off will spark something and we can pull off 8 or 10 in a row. Anyways cheers man.
They have to get to full-strength first. Even then, they’ll probably need more bullpen help. I’m guessing we’ll see Troy Taylor in September.
If they can play consistently when they get healthy, sure, I think they can take the division.
September…
Or today. Too funny.
I told them, but they wouldn’t listen. I said, hey look, you might want to consider taking on some inexpensive SR depth at the deadline…you know, someone cheap like Martin Perez or Zack Littel. But my calls go straight to voicemail.
Maybe hit them up on their pager. Tho prolly gets straight to fax
My beeper ran out of batteries or I woulda. Had to borrow the towel attendant’s fancy flip phone.
The string broke on your tin can?
That Motorola z phone looks crucial
When all else fails, got a couple carrier pigeons in my back pocket. Always Be Prepared my Pa used to say. Or was that my parole officer….
Typical Twins medical staff move underestimating the severity of an injury “triceps tightness”, “might miss a start”. Oh, well, um, well, “we got nothing”.
Uh oh spaghetti
“The injury for Ryan is a gut-punch to a Twins club that was unable to acquire a starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline and has already seen its rotation depth stretched thin.”
Oh, they were able to acquire starting pitching they just weren’t willing.