And the injuries just keep piling up. While spring training stats and records do not matter, the Twins do have the worst run differential through nine games across the majors this spring. That being said, we did have some good news on the injury front. Royce Lewis’ recent MRI is clean (Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune), and he’s expected to return to the team this weekend. Meanwhile, while the team expects to place David Festa on the injured list to start the season, Pablo Lopez did not get full reconstructive surgery on his torn UCL and could return by Opening Day next season (Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune). Unfortunately, Walker Jenkins has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain. While he was a long shot to make the Opening Day roster, it’s definitely not providing any confidence to Twins fans that the newest star in the making could also just be another injury-prone player.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
- Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
- We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
- With spring training underway, game threads are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we prepare for Opening Day.
- James Fillmore recaps the Stratton Story for our Twinkie Town Movie Night. Stop Making Sense is now on deck.
- Zach Koenig asks an intriguing question: “What would you do as MLB commissioner?”
- Matt Monitto looks at the shortest-tenured Twins in history.
- We’re onto Round 18 in Zach Koenig’s list of the Greatest Twins Moments and Performances.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
- One of the returns in last year’s Louis Varland trade was Alan Roden. Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune has more on the very interesting outfielder.
- Aaron Gleeman at The Athletic recaps his trip down to Fort Myers to see the Twins at spring training.
- Matthew Leach at MLB.com checks in on Bailey Ober and his offseason work.
- Cody Christie at Twins Daily gives a few reasons why the Twins should extend Pablo Lopez.
In the World of Baseball:
- The MLB.com beat writers identify one prospect from each team that could make a big impact at spring training.
- The World Baseball Classic is also starting soon – Kiley McDaniel at ESPN has his list of prospects that he’ll be watching in the tournament.