On Friday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins received plenty of injury news, some of which were more startling than others.
Everyone was keeping an eye on Byron Buxton, who had been sidelined since Wednesday’s game due to a knee issue. It turns out that a potential nightmare scenario was avoided, as Buxton will be placed on a 10-day IL for knee inflammation rather than something more catastrophic.
Austin Martin was brought up to replace him, and the roster change occurred just hours after the Twins announced that Jorge Alcalá would return to the bullpen and fill the roster slot opened by Caleb Boushley’s option to Triple-A.
However, the activity did not stop there.
Surprisingly, the Twins announced that reliever Brock Stewart will be placed on the IL with an arm issue. It wasn’t what everyone expected, but it opened the door for someone else to return to the 26-man roster.
Twins place Brock Stewart on IL and recall Kody Funderburk from St. Paul.
With Stewart on the IL, Kody Funderburk will be called up to the big league roster.
Funderburk was the first of several transactions made by the Twins this week. He was demoted to create way for Boushley in the bullpen, following Matt Bowman’s trade to the Diamondbacks to allow Jhoan Duran to return to the squad.
Alcalá took Boushley’s place, but now Funderburk is back with the Twins, with Stewart on the DL.
Funderburk has had a strange season so far, being called up at unexpected times. He began the season on the Opening Day roster after Duran, Justin Topa, and Calen Thielbar were all placed on the injured list. He was identified as a player who could be optioned to create way for Duran, and there is reason to assume he is on borrowed time because Topa will need to be added in the near future.
Funderburk’s demotion for Boushley was nonetheless surprising, and there was speculation that he could have proven himself and won a roster position if given enough time. That could be the case now that he’s back with the Twins and can string together some strong performances to demonstrate that he belongs in the bullpen, not in a taxi back and forth between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
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