BREAKING NEWS: The Minnesota Twins have finally demoted Joe Ryan to make room for Edouard Julien due to…..

Although nothing has been officially announced, all indications point to Julien being the player who would forfeit his roster spot to make place for Royce Lewis, who is expected to return to Minnesota’s starting lineup this week. A few Twins writers noticed that Julien was seen hugging his teammates after being called into Rocco Baldelli’s office during Sunday’s game, including Phil Miller, the beat writer for the Star Tribune.

The move is a little surprising. While Julien was undoubtedly not performing at his best, he was also far from the player most likely to be transferred to make place for Lewis. Sending him to St. Paul may have been a blessing in disguise because he went hitless in Sunday’s victory, bringing his batting average down to.206.

Lewis’s return means that, should Julien succeed in being the player he was in St. Paul last season, the Twins may effectively quadruple their offensive output. This decision had long-term benefits, but it was also not entirely necessary, especially considering that there were at least two alternative options that could have, and probably should, have been taken instead.

The Twins’ decision to option Edouard Julien puts pressure on Kyle Farmer to improve the situation.
While Julien’s decision to travel to St. Paul makes sense in terms of providing him an opportunity to slightly reset his offense, the Twins are forfeiting the opportunity to make one of two other potentially significant moves.

Both Manuel Margot and Kyle Farmer have had a really difficult year. With the expectation that Margot would help offer more offensive than if the team had brought back Michael A. Taylor, Minnesota acquired him as insurance for Byron Buxton. Thus far, it appears to be a poor wager, although Margot has thankfully raised his batting average above.200 in the past few games, but he is not nearly the power hitter the Twins had anticipated.

Farmer is having even worse luck as he continues to hit.163 and doesn’t seem to play a specific part for the team. When Carlos Correa takes days off, Willi Castro has been starting at shortstop, and Farmer has been forced off of third base responsibilities due to the return of Jose Miranda.