The Minnesota Twins placed veteran shortstop Carlos Correa on the injured list on Wednesday after he aggravated the plantar fasciitis in his left foot earlier this week. Correa was forced to depart Monday night's game against the Cincinnati Reds in the second inning because of the condition. In a corresponding move, the Twins recalled outfielder Trevor Larnach.
It's fair to describe the timing of Correa's absence as suboptimal. With just a week-and-a-half remaining in the regular season, he'll have a thin margin of error for returning to game shape ahead of the Twins' postseason series. That does appear to be the plan based comments he made on Monday night. The Twins will clinch the AL Central in the coming days and will almost certainly host a Wild Card Series as the AL's No. 3 seed starting Oct. 3.
The Twins have started Kyle Farmer at shortstop during Correa's absence.
Correa, 29 come Friday, has had a disappointing season to date. He's batted .230/.312/.399 with 18 home runs and 65 RBI. His 94 OPS+ would serve as the second-worst figure of his career, better than only his 93 mark in 2020. Correa's contributions have been estimated to be worth only 1.3 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference's calculations. This will represent the first time he's amassed fewer than three WAR in a full season. (He managed to tally 1.7 WAR during the pandemic-shortened 2020.)
Correa is in the first season of a six-year, $200 million pact with the Twins. He rejoined Minnesota after having free-agent contracts with both the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants fall through because of concerns about his right ankle.
The Twins entered Wednesday with an 80-72 record that gives them an eight-game advantage in the American League Central over the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins' magic number, in turn, is down to three -- as in, any combination of three Twins' victories and Guardians' losses. Once they get to October, the Twins will be looking to snap a historic 18-game postseason losing streak.
