Treading Water May Not Be Good Enough For A Battered Twins Team

This might be an understatement, but the Minnesota Twins are…not healthy.

Injuries have battered them up and down the lineup from the pitching staff to the bats.

When they put Pablo López on the IL with a shoulder injury, some thought the Twins would be fine if they could tread water until he returned in late August or early September.

Since then, the Twins have gone 3-9 (including a five-game losing streak) and are a game out of the wild card. They have also lost another starter, Zebby Matthews (shoulder), and third baseman Royce Lewis (hamstring).

The team just got Byron Buxton back on Tuesday, after he took a pitch off his elbow during Saturday’s game in Houston and missed the next game.

While the unorthodox way of saving the bullpen is amusing, the fans have had to suffer through a blowout to even get to that point.

Although they are still hovering around .500, it’s paramount to start winning now to play competitive baseball in September (and avoid missing the playoffs for a second straight season).

Winning and being aggressive at the deadline might be the only way López will rejoin a competitive team in September.

While there is still much of the season to be played, whether the Twins are still competitive at the end of the season comes down to a few crucial factors.

Their current spot in the standings 

The positive is that the Twins are still within striking distance of a wild-card berth.

Entering their series against the Cincinnati Reds, the Twins were just a half game out of the third wild card spot.

The wild card teams were three AL East teams -- the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, and Boston Red Sox.

This is the perfect situation for any team hovering around a wild-card spot before the All-Star break. Those three teams have plenty of chances to face each other as the season progresses, causing an opening for at least one other team to get hot and sneak their way in.

The negative is that the Twins trailed the division-leading Detroit Tigers by nine games while leading the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals by less than five games.

However, the division’s parity is good for Minnesota. All four of these teams still must face one another a few more times before the season concludes, and for the Twins, this includes their last home series against the Guardians.

If the Twins can get the job done against division rivals down the stretch, the margin of error increases, and they can maybe find a backdoor to sneak their way into the playoffs.

Team health

The positive of having a lot more baseball to play is that they have time to get healthy.

López can return in the season, and Matthews and Lewis can hopefully require short stints on the IL. That should give the team the necessary depth if another core player gets injured down the stretch.

The trade deadline will also be crucial. More depth and healthy players could lead to a better result as the season progresses.

Still, even if the Twins add at the deadline, the injury bug could become more of a menace. Let's face it: A 162-game season leads to physical and mental fatigue, which can affect the rest of the team.

That can lead to more injuries team-wide, further thinning the team's current depth. In addition to the uncertain ownership situation and Minnesota’s history of standing pat at the deadline, depth could become an integral part of this season's progress.

If the Twins are healthy, they can compete in the playoffs because of their rotation.

Luck

Looking for a positive? Minnesota’s healthy players can turn around their bad luck and compete for a playoff spot later in the season. They strung together 13 wins in a row to get above .500. They can compete for a postseason spot.

Injuries are mostly random, and the Twins should get healthy again. To start winning again,

The negative is that the current bad luck continues, and the season spirals out of control. The 10+ run losses, inability to string together quality starts, and opponents' strange ability to swing at pitches out of the zone and turn them into hits have all culminated in this unfortunate stretch.

Minnesota is familiar with bad luck during the season. The Twins felt it last season when they sputtered and limped their way to what became a disappointing season.

Maybe the baseball gods were testing the fans, testing their loyalty, which could be rewarded with spectacular luck down the stretch this season.

Ultimately, if the Twins want to be contenders moving forward, the feeling of urgency needs to start progressing. If fans want any hope of seeing their ace play again this season, the feeling that they will be fine just treading water cannot be good enough.

If the Twins can't turn it around, expect the team to shut López down for the season.