Twins Lose Veteran Starter in Latest Roster Moves

The Minnesota Twins are currently in the midst of their longest losing streak this season. They were mopped by the Chicago White Sox, and have continued to lose against the Kansas City Royals.

It’s not exactly surprising a mediocre team would get worse after the front office completed a trade deadline tear down. That has forced Rocco Baldelli to use a roster filled with less-than-ideal talent. It also hasn’t stopped players from getting injured.

Ryan Jeffers left Friday night’s game with a head injury, and the diagnosis has now gotten worse.

Ryan Jeffers dealing with concussion, MN Twins shuffle roster

What was originally called just a head contusion has turned worse for Ryan Jeffers. He now has a full-blown concussion and is being placed on the injured list.

#MNTwins roster moves:

– C Ryan Jeffers placed on concussion injured list
– RHP Brooks Kriske designated for assignment
– COF Carson McCusker recalled from Triple-A
– RHP Pierson Ohl recalled from Triple-A

Mickey Gasper and Jhonny Pereda are now the Twins' catching duo.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) September 7, 2025

It was unlikely that Jeffers would have reached a new career-high in games played this season. He sits at 114 with the team having just 20 to go. However, it’s now likely he has played his last game of the season.

Jeffers owns a .262/.353/.394 slash line with nine homers on the season. It’s bee an overall productive year at the plate, though his lack of power has been confusing. With 1.9 fWAR, he was Minnesota’s best chance to be the second player to surpass the 2.0 threshold this season.

The catching situation is now grave for Baldelli. Despite Jhonny Pereda having previously been promoted, he went unused behind the dish. Instead the Twins have opted to look at Mickey Gasper and his abysmal 35 OPS+.

Related: Twins Fans Happy to See Carlos Correa Traded?

Now Pereda and Gasper are the only catchers on the roster, and for 20 games Baldelli will have no one else to turn to. Christian Vazquez would like to return from an emergency surgery spurned by an infection, but time has all but run out.

Fringe additions come after latest DFA for Minnesota Twins

Rather than add anything of substance when rosters expanded, Minnesota chose to promote holdovers and leave their uninspiring talent in the mix. Since, Noah Davis continued to be terrible and was DFA’d. Brooks Kriske has finally seen the same fate.

We have seen Pierson Ohl before, and the results have been mixed (5.66 ERA 4.83 FIP in 20 2/3 innings). Still, there is future function there, and Minnesota using the September runway to play him makes infinitely more sense than what they have been doing for the past couple of weeks.

Related: MN Twins Fans Make Hatred for Pohlads 98.5% Loud and Clear

McCusker has been promoted previously, and drawn excitement from fans due to his ridiculous power. His season has flamed out substantially since his initial hot streak (.761 OPS last 18 games, .601 OPS in 49 games after initial demotion), but he’ll finally be given a bit of runway to end the year.

He’s not much of an outfielder, but a right-handed bat with pop could certainly be infused into the lineup.