Luis Arraez battled tendinitis in his left knee all the way back to summer camp in July.
When he sat out a couple of games in early August because of the same ailment, the Twins described the injury as very minor.
But Arraez continued to tweak it each time he returned from a day or two off. It's now at the point where it no longer is a very minor issue, it's an injured list issue.
The Twins placed their second baseman, and one of the best at-bat takers on the team, on the 10-day injured list as a way to get Arraez healthy instead of nursing him through an ailment that was forcing him to the bench every few games.
"Not an easy call," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, "but even after the day off and then he came in and worked out yesterday, the improvement with even some days off did not seem big enough to where we were getting to the point where we could lean on him or rely on him to play regularly.
"We want him to be able to play regularly, not go out there and be just a piecemeal, complimentary type player that plays a few innings and you have to get him out of there."
With the Twins heading into the stretch drive — the playoffs are less than three weeks away — they want to get Arraez as healthy as possible. Then again, the Twins could have shut down Arraez earlier in the season when he started to aggravate the knee. They could have had him healthy for this week, as they enter the three-team gantlet of Indians, White Sox and Cubs.
But Arraez and the Twins both thought it he was well enough to play. Until now.
"I would fully expect to see Luis back in 2020," Baldelli said. "I would say he's been given multiple days off in an attempt to see if just a couple of days of rest and just not being on his leg would help. The reason the IL stint probably came is because a day or getting two days off didn't seem to help enough to get him where he needed to be."
Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza will handle second base duties in place of Arraez. Lefthander Devin Smeltzer was called from the alternative training site in St. Paul to replace Arraez on the roster.
Arraez was batting just .288 with a .673 on base-plus-slugging percentage, well below his 2019 output of .334 for the batting average and .838 OPS. Perhaps the knee had something to do with it. Baldelli felt not playing every day kept him from getting into a groove.
"He has not been able to probably get fully engrossed in the season and fully comfortable physically," Baldelli said, "and I think that's probably affected him a little bit."
Join the crowd
Arraez joins five other teammates on the injured list. Some of them are getting close to returning.
Jake Odorizzi (chest contusion) pitched in a intrasquad game on Friday. Max Kepler (left adductor muscle strain) and Mitch Garver (intercostal strain) got some at bats in the game, and Garver also caught.
Managers normally don't like to be pinned down on return dates, but Baldelli at least acknowledged that those players could return during the upcoming road trip in Chicago that starts on Monday.
"Yeah, I think that is possible," Baldelli said. "I think we could see one or more of those guys being active in the very, very near future."
Stopping the clock?
Josh Donaldson confirmed he and his fiancée have a baby due on Nov. 8, which is after the World Series is currently scheduled to end.
So it would be tricky for Donaldson to have his fiancée travel with him for the playoffs — since AL teams are expected to play the ALDS and ALCS in California. But what Donaldson is worrying about more is an early arrival.
"There have been some interesting talks about when the bubble and possibly postseason play, and who knows when the baby actually is going to come out?" Donaldson said. "We're trying to talk to the baby now and tell her to stay in there for as long as possible 'til the season gets over. "
