Three ex-twins who are incredibly battling to return.
The Minnesota Twins’ spring season appears to be getting off to a respectable start thus far. The club has looked better than early concerns suggested, but nothing has stood out to justify remaining (basically) in place during free agency.
How the Twins will replace Kenta Meada—who is having a fantastic debut with his new team—and Sonny Gray is still up in the air. Though it appears there is a definite idea for how the position groups will look after the most recent round of roster cuts, the Opening Day lineup feels mostly determined elsewhere on the roster.
Even though only one of the players—Barbey Ober, Jorge Alcalá, and Brooks Lee—will be included on the 26-man roster, these guys showed promise this spring. Despite the limited sample size, recent signings like Carlos Santana and Manuel Margot also appear to have adapted well.
Not so for a few former Twins players who are struggling this spring and are hoping for a change of fortune before the end of the month.
Sonny Gray’s career with the St. Louis Cardinals saw significant upheaval rather quickly. Gray had to be substituted out of the game in just his second spring training start because of discomfort that turned out to be a hamstring issue.
Although Gray had only played in less than four innings prior to suffering an injury, he at least appeared to be performing well in the limited sample size. Though he had struck out three hitters and given up just three hits and zero runs, the injury clouds everything.
Fortunately, it appears that the situation is not as dire as it first appeared. Gray has been gradually recovering; he participated in his first bullpen session since the injury this week, though it’s uncertain if he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
Gray, who was relatively healthy during his time in Minnesota until leaving this winter to earn a $75 million contract with the Cardinals, is unlucky to have suffered this setback. That is the background of this injury, which is not how anyone intended for his time in St. Louis to begin, even if it turns out to be mild.
