Twins notes: Carlos Correa’s timeline, Simeon Woods Richardson’s big spot, bullpen stock watch

By / / Sports / 7 minutes of reading



Things looked bleak Friday when the Minnesota Twins dropped the opener of their four-game series in Detroit, losing for the seventh time in nine games and also losing star shortstop Carlos Correa to the increasingly crowded injured list.

Put to the test much earlier than hoped, the Twins bounced back to win both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader and took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning of Sunday’s series finale against the Tigers.

Unfortunately, we’ve already learned one thing about this Twins season: It’s not going to be easy.

Caleb Thielbar struggled in his return from the injured list, Griffin Jax couldn’t stop the bleeding and the Twins’ infield defense imploded behind them to turn a 3-0 lead into an ugly 4-3 loss, wasting an excellent Bailey Ober start.

Instead of winning three out of four games from a division rival on the road to claw their way back to .500, the Twins continue to rarely play anything close to their best baseball and will take a 6-8 record to Baltimore for three games with the fearsome Orioles.

But first, here are four takeaways from the Twins’ four games versus the Tigers:

Correa, Castro and Farmer

Correa’s diagnosis was revised from an oblique strain to a mild intercostal strain Saturday following further testing, which qualifies as relatively good news. He’ll be spending at least 10 days on the injured list either way, but the typical return timeline for low-grade intercostal strains is two to three weeks, whereas oblique strains often linger for more than a month.

“I’ve played with pain before, and if I could do that right now I would,” Correa told reporters in Detroit. “But this is not the type of thing you want to do that, especially early in the season. It’s not crazy (pain), but definitely not playable.”

It’s a big blow to a lineup that was already down Royce Lewis and Max Kepler, especially given how well Correa was playing. Fully recovered from the plantar fasciitis that limited him for most of last season, Correa batted .306/.432/.444 through 11 games, making multiple standout defensive plays at shortstop and running faster than he has since 2020.

“What sucks the most,” Correa said, “is that this is the first April in my career that I’ve felt good.”

It’s also rough timing with MLB-ready shortstop prospect Brooks Lee on the Triple-A injured list with lower back soreness. If healthy, Lee almost certainly would be filling in for Correa at shortstop now if he hadn’t already been called up a few weeks ago to replace Lewis at third base. Instead, the combination of the three injuries has scrambled the left side of the Twins’ infield depth chart.

Willi Castro is expected to receive the bulk of the shortstop starts in Correa’s stead, with Kyle Farmer a shortstop option as well. Farmer will also be needed at third base and, despite making a costly misplay there Sunday, he’s considered a far better defensive option than Jose Miranda at the hot corner. Prepare for a lot of adventures defensively without Correa’s calming, sure-handed presence.

Last season, Farmer was the fill-in shortstop for 27 of 28 games not started by Correa, so the fact that the Twins now view Castro as their best option there is noteworthy. Farmer has 249 career starts at shortstop, compared to only 81 for Castro, and this offseason the Twins somewhat surprisingly chose to bring back Farmer as a high-priced, $6.3 million bench player despite slashing payroll.

Woods Richardson’s big spot

Simeon Woods Richardson was called up by the Twins from Triple-A St. Paul to spot start Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader and tossed six innings of one-run ball versus the Tigers in Detroit, the scene of his 2022 big-league debut. It was a brief stay, as Woods Richardson served as the temporary 27th man before being sent back to the minors immediately after the game.

Woods Richardson’s prospect stock sagged last year as he struggled to maintain peak velocity with the Saints, leading to an offseason spent working with Twins coaches to tweak his mechanics. He reported to spring training with a new arm slot and more juice on his fastball, generating renewed optimism that grew even stronger with Saturday’s performance.

Cruising through six innings on 80 pitches, Woods Richardson struck out five, walked one and allowed just two singles, retiring the last 14 batters he faced for his first major-league victory. His fastball averaged 93.0 mph and topped out at 95.1 mph, an encouraging step up from what was too often high-80s velocity in 2024. Still just 23 years old, his prospect stock is on the rise again.

Louie Varland, the Twins’ planned No. 6 starter, was forced into the Opening Day rotation by Anthony DeSclafani’s season-ending elbow surgery, so Woods Richardson’s role as the next-in-line starter is crucial. At the very least, he may be needed for another spot start, and he’s an injury away from being handed a full-time rotation spot.

In mid-2021, the Twins acquired Woods Richardson and Austin Martin from the Blue Jays in the José Berríos trade, which had accrued value exclusively for Toronto’s side of the deal until this weekend. But with Woods Richardson back on track and Martin making a strong first impression jumping into the Twins’ injury-wrecked lineup, Minnesota’s side of the ledger is adding value now.

Sands steps up

Cole Sands spent the past two seasons repeatedly shuttling between the minors and majors, and most of his time with the Twins came as a long reliever used in low-leverage situations. It’s been a different story in the early going this season, as the Twins’ rash of reliever injuries pushed Sands into a more prominent role and he’s responded with a 1.17 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

Sands’ raw stuff has ticked up this season, including his fastball averaging 94.5 mph compared to 93.8 mph in 2023 and 91.6 mph in 2022. In closing out the Game 2 win Saturday, his final pitch clocked in at a career-high 96.5 mph. His low-90s cutter has also emerged as a potential weapon against left-handed bats, all of which is a credit to the work Sands has put in with Twins coaches.

“He’s looked very confident out there,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “His stuff has also been up this year, which is always something that you love to see. And the execution of his offspeed pitches has been better than I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of positives going on with Cole Sands right now.”

Sands may still find himself back in St. Paul at some point, because that’s life as a reliever with a minor-league option, but he’s advanced from being an innings-eating bullpen afterthought to getting some higher-leverage looks at age 26.

“I really do love it when guys force us to make decisions and really force our hand to put them in different positions,” Baldelli said. “He’s in the process of doing that.”

Alcala sent down

Speaking of relievers with a minor-league option being sent back to St. Paul through no real fault of their own, Jorge Alcala is the latest example and the Twins’ overall handling of the 28-year-old right-hander has been peculiar.

Healthy again after back-to-back seasons wrecked by arm problems, Alcala was asked to throw two innings in three of his last five appearances, and would have been used for a third inning on April 6 if he hadn’t complained of arm soreness. He received a clean bill of health, got two days off and then was used on back-to-back days for the first time since 2021.

Despite the surprisingly heavy and multi-inning usage, Alcala pitched very well with a 0.00 ERA and nine strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings, averaging 96.1 mph with his fastball. He got the win in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader by throwing the 10th and 11th innings, only for the Twins to send Alcala back to the minors on Sunday morning to make room in the bullpen for Thielbar.

Thielbar’s return from a spring training hamstring strain is welcome news for the bullpen, but Alcala being the odd man out continues a pattern of the Twins not handling him with the same care seemingly warranted by his performance, raw stuff and injury history. He’ll be back because the revolving bullpen door never stops, but it sure seems like the Twins haven’t done Alcala many favors.

(Photo of Simeon Woods Richardson: Mark Cunningham / MLB Photos via Getty Images)





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Avatar of Miranda Washington
Miranda Washington is the newest member of our news writing team, and she's already making waves. In addition to being a writer, Miranda also has a passion for photography and art. She loves to travel and experience new places, both near and far, whether through her camera lens or in person.

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