A hamstring strain will soon land Minnesota Twins outfielder Matt Wallner on the 10-day injured list. Minnesota also lost José Miranda to a bizarre shopping accident after optioning him to Triple-A St. Paul over the weekend, and the club is already without Royce Lewis.
The Twins needed reinforcements, and Minnesota's Chief Baseball Officer decided to swing a trade for Miami Marlins infielder Jonah Bride. According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, it cost the Twins nothing more than cash considerations to acquire the 29-year-old.
Injuries to Matt Wallner and José Miranda force Twins to trade for Marlins' minor-league slugger Jonah Bride
Bride has been your typical Quadruple-A player—dominated Triple-A pitching, but struggles in the major leagues—throughout the majority of his professional career. He had an impressive .267/.409/.454 slash line in 75 games at Triple-A Jacksonville last season, but has hit just .222/.316/.324 over the span of four major league seasons. However, Bride did show much more consistency at the dish in 2024 with the Marlins, posting an .818 OPS and smacking 11 home runs in 71 games.
So far this season, Bride has been unable to duplicate his 2024 performance. Through the first 12 games with Miami, he's hitting just .100/.200/.100 in 40 at-bats and has yet to record an extra-base hit. The Marlins were undoubtedly more than happy to jettison Bride, not necessarily because of his poor performance, but with Miami in full-on rebuild mode, clearing a spot on the 40-man roster will allow them to call up another young prospect.
We have made a trade with the Miami Marlins where we have received INF Jonah Bride in exchange for cash considerations.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 16, 2025
Bride can play both first and third base, and he's also seen time at second as well. Though not an elite defender, Bride can hold his own at all three positions. But with Ty France and Edourard Julien holding things down at first and second base, respectively, when Bride sees the field, it'll likely come at the hot corner.
Bride is out of minor-league options, so if he's is intent on staying in the Twin Cities, he'll need to perform admirably while the trio of Wallner, Miranda, and Lewis are all on the IL. Minnesota has an off day on Thursday, which will help give Bride time to acclimate to his new team, and allow manager Rocco Baldelli to figure out how in the world he's going to fill out his lineup card for Friday's series opener against the Atlanta Braves.