For as great a start to the season as the Minnesota Twins are having, the razor's edge is getting incrasingly thinner.
It's always a tight rope act to walk the line without having players fall off. Injuries derailed what was -- up to a certain point -- an otherwise fun season for the Twins. It all came crashing down in late summer, though, as the Twins went from leading the AL Central to finishing in third and missing the postseason.
We're still in April and the season is young, but the Twins are already having to navigate a few injuries to key players. Alex Kirilloff and Jorge Polanco began the season on the IL and without a clear timeline to making their season debut.
Polanco is playing at Low-A Fort Myers to rehab his knee and is expected to be ready by the time May rolls around. There's been less said about Kirilloff, although the Twins have been able to platoon Joey Gallo and Donovan Solano in his absence.
Injuries are starting to catch up to Minnesota, and an impressive 6-3 start is in danger with a bench that is getting shorter with each passing game.
Is Carlos Correa playing today? Latest injury update for Twins vs. White Sox (April 10)
The latest Twins player to be bitten by the injury bug is Carlos Correa. He was originally expected to be in the lineup for Monday's game against the Chicago White Sox but was a late scratch.
According to Do-Hyoung Park and other Twins beat reporters, Correa is being scratched from today's lineup due to back tightness. He was held out of the series finale against the Astros on Sunday for the same reason which is a tab bit concerning moving forward.
Specifically, Minnesota will begin its first series of the season against the White Sox with an extremely short bench.
Carlos Correa is out of today’s #MNTwins lineup again with back tightness, Rocco says. He also sat yesterday.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 10, 2023
Very short bench today with Gallo’s availability still questionable, Correa down and Buxton not playing the field yet.
The Twins sent Max Kepler to the injured list on Saturday, calling up Matt Wallner to replace him in the lineup. Gallo was pulled in the sixth inning of Friday's home opener win over the Astros with what was laters described as right side soreness.
Kepler suffered right knee soreness after hustling out an infield single in an 11-1 win over the Miami Marlins last Monday, but didn't hit the IL until five days later. There's hope that the same thing won't happen wtih Gallo, who has been held out of the lineup the last two games and isn't in the lineup for Monday.