Twins will be without unvaccinated teammates in Toronto

John Shipley, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
Twins will be without unvaccinated teammates in Toronto
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If it were the postseason, maybe it would be different, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Sunday, but for this week’s three-game series in Toronto, the team will be without a handful of players because they’re not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Neither Falvey nor manager Rocco Baldelli would identify players who won’t be able to travel to Ontario for a three-game series starting Friday at Rogers Centre. That will become clear when the team officially puts them on the restricted list Thursday, per Major League Baseball rules.

“We’ve had discussions with each and every one of the guys that won’t be joining us, but I’ll always prefer to have our full group,” Baldelli said. “We’re going to win more games with the full group, and I think that’s an obvious statement. But we’ll adjust just like we do when guys get injured.”

The Twins started Sunday’s series finale against the Kansas City Royals atop the American League Central, five games ahead of second-place Chicago. The Blue Jays were third in the East, 6½ games behind first-place New York.

Falvey, too, said he was disappointed the Twins would be without some of their regular players but added, “I don’t pass judgment on all the other decisions.” Still, he said, it might be different were the Twins and Blue Jays to meet in the playoffs.

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve had that conversation internally,” he said. “People are generally aware of that. I would just say this: I think there are some guys that have said if that were the case, they might be changing their view of this. But I can’t say that for sure, between now and late fall.

“We would definitely have another conversation ahead of time, let’s put it this way, if it was tracking in that direction well before the beginning of September, I’ll just put it at that.”

Under current Canadian policy, people without a full set of vaccinations – two Pfizer or Moderna shots or one Johnson & Johnson shot – cannot travel to Canada without special exemptions, something teams and players have known for months. Boosters are not required. Under MLB rules, players on the restricted list will not count against the 40-man roster, nor will they be paid or earn service time during their absence.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million Americans have died from complications caused by COVID-19 since February 2020, and 82.7 percent of U.S. citizens have at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.

Falvey said Sunday that it’s too late for a player to change his status before next weekend’s series. Replacement players will be called up from St. Paul and meet the team in Detroit before the team flies to Toronto. Who those players will be remains up in the air, although clearly the team will not recall an unvaccinated player.

“We know the status of everyone in the major leagues,” Falvey said. “So, until we get to that moment where we have to go through that, just out of respect to (the players), we’re probably not going to announce anything until we get to Thursday, because anything can happen between now and then.”

The Twins’ roster has been in a nearly constant state of flux this season. On Sunday, the team recalled Royce Lewis, the No. 1 overall choice in the 2017 amateur draft, and optioned infielder Jose Miranda back to St. Paul. The Twins also were waiting to see if right fielder Max Kepler (right quad/hip flexor) needs to be added to the injured list.

In this case, players filling in for others on the restricted list will have to be placed on the 40-man roster. However, they will not have to pass through waivers before being sent back to the minors. They will accrue service time.

Players sent to the restricted list for the series will return to Minnesota and work out at Target Field.

Baldelli said he called some veteran leaders into his office to discuss the vaccination/Toronto issue so that they could go back into the clubhouse and talk to players and answer any questions.

“We’re not having a team meeting about it, addressing it directly in that sense, but our guys are aware of what’s going on and some of the specifics of what’s going on,” Baldelli said. “That’s the way that we handle it and I think it can be helpful. … Really, just letting our players know what’s going on is the end of it.”

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