Minnesota Twins Trade for Infield Help as Injuries Mount

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Jonah Bride
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It hasn’t been a pretty start to the season so far for the Minnesota Twins. They are starting to win some games, though, with the latest coming against the New York Mets this afternoon. Rocco Baldelli’s squad sits at just 7-12, and they are looking up at both the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers in the American League Central Division.

They also grabbed a victory on Tuesday night, but it cost them Carlos Correa and Matt Wallner. The former played in the late innings on Wednesday, but the latter is headed to the injured list. Because this franchise can never have nice things, and because every win this year seems to have a price, their matinee victory on Wednesday afternoon cost them Willi Castro.

Infielder Jonah Bride joins Minnesota Twins

After Castro suffered an oblique injury, the Minnesota Twins found themselves seriously up against it for replacements. Rather than promote a prospect who isn’t quite ready, Minnesota opted to trade for veteran infielder Jonah Bride.

So far this season, Bride has played in just 12 games for the Miami Marlins. He owns a .100/.200/.100 slash line with no extra-base hits and a 15/5 K/BB. Last season he was substantially better however, and posted a .276/.357/.461 slash line across 71 games.

It sure seems like the Minnesota Twins are hoping to see Bride replicate his 2024 production more than his 2025 start. Across 181 career major league games he has never seen time at shortstop, but has spent 63 games at the hot corner. Presumably, that means Brooks Lee would slide to help at shortstop if Castro is going to miss a substantial amount of time.

Minnesota is ultimately running out of options on the 40-man roster. The only healthy outfielder that could replace Wallner is prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez. He has played just 19 games at the Triple-A level, and not to mention has an extensive injury history. On the dirt, it’s only Jose Miranda. He was just demoted, and then hit the injured list thanks to an injury suffered at Target (the store, not the field).

It makes complete sense for the Twins to acquire someone like Bride in the interim. Of course, the bar isn’t very high, but he has shown an ability to provide competitive at bats in a limited sample. That’s about all Rocco Baldelli can ask for at this point, and injuries remain a significant narrative early this season.

Health and victories must be focus for MN Twins

The past two games the Minnesota Twins have traded victories for additional players succumbing to injury. It’s great that they took the series at home against the New York Mets, but they can’t continue to bleed players in the process.

Oblique injuries are difficult to project, and the nature of soft tissue issues can keep a player on the shelf for a substantial amount of time. Hopefully Castro didn’t suffer something more serious, but he was pinch hit for by Mickey Gasper in a critical situation. That is telling in and of itself.

Related: Minnesota Twins Injured List Gains an Outfielder + Willi Castro Update

Minnesota has an off day on Thursday before a weekend series in Atlanta. They return home for three-game series against the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels immediately after. If they can stack wins, Baldelli’s team may be right back it in. The war of attrition must stop though.

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